Betty Garrett had a long and distinguished career on film, stage and television in the U.S. She was born in 1919 in Missouri. She had a movie contract with MGM and made such classic movies as “On the Town” and “Words and Music”. In her later years she was very popular on U.S. television in the series “Laverne and Shirley” and All in the Family”. She was married to actor Larry Parks. She died in 2011 at the age of 91.
Ronald Bergan’s “Guardian” obituary:
The most famous role played by the all-round entertainer Betty Garrett, who has died aged 91, was Brunhilde Esterhazy, the taxi driver in Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s musical On the Town (1949). In the film, she introduces herself to a shy sailor played by Frank Sinatra and asks him: “Why don’t you come up to my place?” She is soon vigorously chasing him around her cab, rejecting any of his suggestions about what to see in New York with the rapid retort: “My place!”
In Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949), Garrett had pursued Sinatra with equal zeal, assuring him by singing It’s Fate, Baby, It’s Fate. She also panted after Red Skelton in Neptune’s Daughter (1949), begging him not to leave her apartment with the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. This was a gender role-reversal, contrasting with Esther Williams resisting Ricardo Montalban’s pleas in the same number in that film. Garrett played these man-hungry characters with a great deal of zest, humour and self-mockery, as well as proving herself an excellent singer of witty ditties and no mean dancer. As Sinatra sings to her in On the Town, she was “awful … awful good”.
Larry Parkes
However, she never had the show-business career she deserved. Primarily, Garrett was not a beauty along the lines of Esther Williams, Vera-Ellen or Janet Leigh, three of the stars she worked with in her meagre filmography, but she also suffered from the way she supported her husband, Larry Parks, whom she married in 1944, through difficult times.
In the early 1950s, Parks, who impersonated Al Jolson in The Jolson Story (1946), one of Columbia’s biggest hits, appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee, declared his past membership of the Communist party and refused to name names. As a result, Columbia dropped Parks from their roster, and other studios shunned him. Garrett, who was also a member of the Communist party in the 1940s, had taken time off to bring up their two sons. She did not return to the screen until several years later– ironically, for Columbia – in My Sister Eileen (1955).
Garrett was born in St Joseph, Missouri. Her father was an alcoholic travelling salesman, who died when she was young. She won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, and made her stage debut in 1938 in crowd scenes in Orson Welles’s Mercury theatre production of Danton’s Death by Georg Büchner. She then became a dancer with the Martha Graham company and sang in nightclubs and resort hotels.
Between stage work, she had jobs as a shop assistant and an elevator operator. After appearing in the Broadway revue Let Freedom Sing (1942), which lasted for eight performances, Garrett’s big break came in 1943 in Cole Porter’s Something for the Boys, starring Ethel Merman. But it was her singing and her personality, shown across seven roles, in the revue Call Me Mister (1946), which won her an MGM contract.
Her screen debut was in Big City (1948) as a saloon singer whom an Irish cop (George Murphy) wants to marry in order to supply an orphan (Margaret O’Brien) with a mother. Garrett added a little spice to the sugary concoction, and sang Ok’l Baby Dok’l. She was then badly miscast in Words and Music (1948), the fanciful biopic of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Mickey Rooney played Hart, who is smitten with Garrett’s character, but she feels she can never love him because he is too short. (Actually, the real Hart was gay.)
At least she got to sing There’s a Small Hotel rather touchingly. It was in her three musicals in 1949 – Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Neptune’s Daughter and On the Town – that Garrett really came into her own. The following year, she and Parks appeared at the London Palladium in a programme of songs, before the unofficial blacklist struck. Garrett’s return to the screen in My Sister Eileen revealed her versatility. She played the vivacious, literary-minded sister of Leigh and belted out some good songs. After the minor thriller The Shadow On the Window (1957), in which she played a mother kidnapped by three delinquents, she gave up the cinema to do theatre, often with her husband until his death in 1975.
As vibrant as ever, Garrett also appeared in two successful TV series, All in the Family (1973-75) and Laverne & Shirley (1976-81). In the former, based on the British series Till Death Us Do Part, Garrett was the bigoted Archie Bunker’s liberal neighbour, Irene. In the latter, she played Edna, the eponymous single girls’ tolerant landlady. There followed a number of TV guest spots, the last of which was in Grey’s Anatomy (2006).
Garrett returned to the big screen after 50 years in two lampoons written and directed by Larry Blamire: Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007), a takeoff of 1950s sci-fi movies, and Dark and Stormy Night (2009), in which Garrett co-starred with a man in gorilla suit. Appearing in both films was her son, the actor Andrew Parks. He survives her, along with her other son, the composer Garrett Parks, and a granddaughter.
• Betty Garrett, actor, born 23 May 1919; died 12 February 2011 The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.
Margot Grahame was a British actress who had lead roles in Hollywood movies of the 1930’s but continued her career in the UK from the 1950’s on. She was born in 1911 in Canterbury. She made her film debut in 1930 in the British film “Rookery Nook”. By 1935 she was in Hollywood where she made “The Informer” for John Ford and “The Buckaneer” for Cecil B. De Mille. She died in 1982 in London.
IMDB entry:
Perhaps best remembered as the prostitute inamorata of Gypo Nolan (in that AA-winning performance by Victor McLaglen) in John Ford‘s The Informer (1935).
Britain’s answer to Jean Harlow was dubbed the “Aluminum Blonde” during her peak; however, she turned into a redhead when she returned to films in the post-war years.
She developed a drinking problem in the early 1970s following the death of her third husband and became a recluse.
The highest-paid actress in England during the 1930s, she suffered from camera fright.
Married three times, she had no children.
Reared and stage-trained in South Africa, this statuesque blonde appeared in several UK films of the early 1930s before going to Hollywood, where she performed in a number of films of the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s.
Spent her childhood in South Africa where she was educated at Ladies College Durban. She first appeared on stage there in 1926 with a touring company under Dennis Neilson-Terry and accompanied them to London the following year. She made her film debut in 1929.
Tina Louise was born in 1934 in New York City. She starred in such 1950’s movies as “God’s Little Acre”, and “Day of the Outlaw” in 1959. She had a major success on television in the aeries “Gilligan’s Island” in 1964. In the seventies she starred in “The Stepford Wives”.
TCM overview:
A sultry figure in film and on television and stage since the early 1950s, Tina Louise was, for most viewers, the one and only Ginger Grant, the movie star castaway on the enduring TV series “Gilligan’s Island” (ABC, 1966-69). The breathy, vampish Ginger was an object of erotic fascination for most of the men on the tiny island, as well as at homes across the country, but Louise was used to such attention, having earned wolf whistles since her teenage years as a magazine model and chorus dancer. Hot-blooded turns in Broadway productions of “Li’l Abner” and “God’s Little Acre” (1958) preceded her turn as Ginger that, according to Louise, capsized her career, stereotyping her as the titian-haired, Marilyn Monroe-esque bombshell. In response to this pigeonholing, she distanced herself from any cast reunions while maintaining a low but active profile on television. Despite her protestations, Ginger remained Louise’s defining role, an icon of sanitized sexuality for over four decades.
Born Tina Blacker in New York City on Feb. 11, 1934, she was the daughter of model Betty Horn, who divorced her husband, a Brooklyn candy store owner, when their daughter was four. The following year, she was shipped off to a private school, where she remained until she was eight years old. Her mother remarried Dr. John Myers, who brought Tina into the lap of luxury. While attending Scarborough High School in Westchester, NY, she earned her stage moniker when a drama teacher learned that she had no middle name. She was subsequently dubbed Tina Louise Blacker, and the surname would be soon dropped. At 17, Louise began studying drama and singing in the hopes of landing a role on Broadway. To support herself, she posed for numerous men’s magazines, and cultivated a sultry image that earned her publicity in New York social pages and gossip magazines. No less of a pop culture figure than Lenny Bruce singled her out as a lust object in his routines. While her statuesque figure was splashed across the tabloid pages, Louise began to slowly make her way into Broadway via the chorus line.
Her official acting debut came in 1952’s “Two’s Company,” a disaster-plagued musical revue built around Bette Davis. She enjoyed greater success with “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac” (1953), a musical revue that won a Tony for star Harry Belafonte, while launching her on-screen career with appearances on early variety series and anthology programs like “Climax!” (CBS, 1954-57). An early glimpse of stardom came when she filled out the skimpy costume of Al Capp’s earthy temptress Appassionata Von Climax in the original Broadway production of “Li’l Abner,” though Stella Stevens played the role in the 1967 film version. In 1958, she made her feature film debut as a backwoods temptress in Anthony Man’s “God’s Little Acre,” a racy adaptation of the controversial Erskine Caldwell novel about dirty doings in rural Georgia. Frequent shots of Louise’s heaving décolletage added to the furor over the film. A 1957 album, It’s Time for Tina, featuring breathy renditions of standards and Coleman Hawkins on saxophone, furthered her alluring screen image.
Louise strove for more dramatic roles, but found them to be few and far between. A marital scandal involving her mother and stepfather brought her back to the gossip pages, so she took a page from numerous fledging American actors and headed for Europe to work in the continent’s blossoming film industry. There, she filmed a pair of sword-and-sandal costume epics, as well as a bit part for Roberto Rossellini’s “Garibaldi” (1960), about the Italian national hero who helped to unify his country. These efforts did little for Louise’s stateside career, so she began studying at the Actors Studio upon her return to America in 1961. She soon resumed steady work in features and television; one of her last pre-“Gilligan” movie roles was as a tempo-impaired dancer in “For Those Who Think Young” (1964), a surfing comedy that co-starred Bob Denver as a beach bum. That same year, Louise left the troubled Broadway musical “Fade Out – Fade In,” starring Carol Burnett, to assume the role of a movie star on a ridiculously silly comedy series she had little hope would succeed.
Now officially a cast member of “Gilligan’s Island,” Louise was not the first person to play movie star Ginger Grant; in the unaired 1963 pilot, actress Kit Smythe played a secretary by that name who was among the castaways, but producer Sherwood Schwartz changed the character to add a dose of glamour to the characters. In early scripts, Ginger was written as a more sarcastic and mean-spirited figure, but Louise balked at such a depiction, preferring to play Ginger as a Marilyn Monroe manqué, complete with breathy tones. The issue was the first of many clashes between producers and Louise, who reportedly believed that Ginger was the focus of the show, despite the title’s claims to the contrary. In subsequent interviews, castmates likes Denver and especially Dawn Wells, who played farm girl Mary Ann, cited their struggles to get along with Louise.
After “Gilligan” came to an unexpected close in 1967, Louise strove to distance herself from the series and roles like Ginger. Though she complained that the show had typecast her as a glamorous figure, she appeared to have no trouble finding work throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. Many of her roles, including a femme fatale in “The Wrecking Crew” (1969) and a brief stint as J.R. Ewing’s secretary and lover, Julie Gray, on the first season of “Dallas” (CBS, 1978-1991) were based more on her aesthetic appeal than her acting ability, though she did receive fine showcases for her talents, including a turn as a heroin addict on “Kojak” (CBS, 1973-1978) and a convincingly evil prison honoree in the graphic women-in-prison movie, “Nightmare in Badham County” (ABC, 1976). Her performance as a strong feminist who was transformed into a docile suburbanite in “The Stepford Wives” (1975) also reaped positive critical praise.
Louise refused to participate in any of the numerous “Gilligan” TV-movies or animated spin-offs. She was replaced by Judith Baldwin in the live-action “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” (NBC, 1978) and “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” (NBC, 1979), and later by Constance Forslund in “The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island” (NBC, 1981), while Jane Webb and Dawn Wells provided the voice of Ginger for the Saturday morning cartoons “The New Adventures of Gilligan” (ABC, 1974-76) and “Gilligan’s Planet” (CBS, 1982-83). However, she did appear alongside several of the surviving cast members on an episode of “Roseanne” (ABC, 1988-1997) in which the sitcom’s cast played the “Gilligan” castaways, while Denver, Louise, Wells and Russell Johnson played “Roseanne” characters, with Louise handling Roseanne herself. In 2005, she put to rest long-standing rumors of animosity between her and Denver by eulogizing him in an issue of Entertainment Weekly.
Despite her career ambitions, Louise continued to play well-heeled, sultry types into the 1980s and 1990s. She was a wealthy suburbanite in Robert Altman’s disastrous “O.C. and Stiggs” (1985), and then moved uptown to play a moneyed New Yorker in Tom DiCillo’s offbeat comedy “Johnny Suede” (1992). Television offered the majority of her appearances, with stints on the daytime soaps “Rituals” (syndicated, 1984-85) and “All My Children” (ABC, 1970- ). In addition to her acting career, Louise was a committed advocate for children’s literacy. She served as a volunteer reading teacher in the New York City school system, and penned two books for young readers, When I Grow Up(2007) and What Does a Bee Do? (2009). A third publication, Sunday: A Memoir, was released in 1997.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
2710074 cover The film illustrates Tina Louise; (add.info.: cover The film illustrates Tina Louise 1961); Collection Elzingre.GILLIGANS ISLAND, from left: Bob Denver, Tina Louise, TV GUIDE cover, May 8-14, 1965. ph: Ivan Nagy. TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection Ref:TVGC001 H5670 PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xx TVGC001 H5670
Ms Dunne was one of the great Hollywood stars of the 1930’s and 40’s. She was born in 1898 in Louisville, Kentucky and came to Hollywood via Broadway. She starred in such classics as “Back Street” in 1932, “Magnificent Obsession” with Robert Taylor”Showboat” in 1936, “Penny Serenade” with Cary Grant and “I Remember Mama” in 1948. She died in 1990 at the age of 91 in Los Angeles.
TCM overview:
Affectionately nicknamed “The Iron Maiden,” lovely Irene Dunne hoped to have a career in opera, but her singing skills ultimately led instead to Broadway and movie stardom. On the basis of her early film credits, which were dominated by such dramas as “The Age of Innocence” (1934) and Magnificent Obsession” (1935) and musicals like “Show Boat” (1936), Dunne surprised some critics and audience members with her considerable comedic flair on view in such highly regarded pictures as “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936) and “The Awful Truth” (1937). She also continued to excel in dramatic parts, with her portrayals in “Penny Serenade” (1941) and “I Remember Mama” (1948) being of particular note. In spite of often excellent performances, Dunne never won an Academy Award and that led in later years for her to be called the finest American actress to have never received that honor. Regardless, Dunne was highly respected by her peers and her decision to retire comparatively early was viewed as a way to exit the business on a high note, while she still had some say in the roles being offered. Dunne’s talent in the areas of drama, comedy, song and dance made her one of the most multi-facetted performers of the 1930s and ’40s and the consistent quality of that work made her much beloved among fans of classic Hollywood cinema.
She was born Irene Marie Dunn (the “e” was added later) on Dec. 10, 1898 in Louisville, KY, but spent much of her teenage years in Madison, IN. From an early age, Dunne displayed an aptitude for singing and her skills were further developed through vocal training. Dunne also learned to play piano via instruction from her mother, a professional musician, and had formative performing experiences in school plays and as a member of the local church choir. Following Dunne’s graduation from Madison High School, she attended the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music and Chicago Music College, hoping to utilize her gifts in the world of opera. While that did not pan out, Dunne’s vocal talent opened other doors and she received opportunities to shine as a professional singer. Dunne took her first bow on Broadway in the title role of “Irene” (1919-21), replacing original star Edith Day during the hit play’s two year engagement. A similar experience followed on “The Clinging Vine” (1922-23). As the understudy for star Peggy Wood, Dunne was given her shot when Wood lost her voice to laryngitis. Additional employment came as a cast member in the traveling company of “Show Boat” and return engagements on Broadway, though “Yours Truly” (1927), “She’s My Baby” (1928) and “Luckee Girl” (1928) had far more modest runs than Dunne’s previous Great White Way credits.
On the personal front, Dunne wed dentist Francis Griffin. The couple would go on to adopt a daughter and their union lasted until Griffin’s death almost four decades later. Meanwhile, Dunne’s talent and magnetism inevitably attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was signed to a contract by RKO Radio Pictures. In contrast to the usual trajectory for newcomers, Dunne vaulted right into lead roles with the film adaptation of the musical-comedy “Leathernecking” (1930). The studio thought highly enough of Dunne to next cast her opposite Richard Dix in their large scale western “Cimarron” (1931). Playing a character that provides support to her family but possesses her own share of shortcomings, Dunne received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination and the movie became the first Western to win Best Picture honors. Despite this distinction and enthusiastic reviews, the production was a commercial disappointment in relation to its immense cost. Dunne continued to toil for RKO in potboilers like “Back Street” (1932) and “Thirteen Women” (1932), but soon found an excellent vehicle for her talents in the company’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “The Age of Innocence” (1934). Loaned out to Universal, she enjoyed a further strong dramatic vehicle in the form of “Magnificent Obsession” (1935), but Hollywood was also wise enough to start taking advantage of Dunne’s other talents. This began on “Roberta” (1935), which found Dunne sharing the screen with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and performing two songs, including the highly popular “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Impressed with her talents, Universal brought her back for their cinematic incarnation of “Show Boat” (1936). As the memorably named heroine Magnolia Hawks, Dunne sang several of Jerome Kern’s famous songs and her portrayal of the initially sheltered heroine ranked among the movie’s foremost pleasures. In later years, this version was suppressed in favor of the 1951 remake, making it difficult for Dunne’s fans to view some of her finest work from that period.
One film that thankfully stayed in circulation and won Dunne many fans was the screwball comedy classic “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936), which found her acting for Columbia, the rising studio that had just enjoyed huge success with the engaging romantic farce “It Happened One Night” (1934). Dunne played the titular role of a small town girl-turned-best-selling author whose naughty book scandalizes her local community. Displaying wonderful comedic timing and an excellent rapport with co-star Melvyn Douglas, Dunne received another Oscar nomination for that performance and a third one soon after for “The Awful Truth” (1937), where she and Cary Grant played a soon-to-be-divorced couple determined to scuttle each other’s new relationships. The two stars interacted with all of the amusing precision that made the best 1930s screwball comedies so delightful and the picture did brisk business. Both comedy and drama figured into the storyline of “Love Affair” (1939), one of the actress’ most enduring films. While Dunne and Grant made a wonderful couple in “The Awful Truth,” her pairing with French star Charles Boyer in this superb production made for some especially effective romantic chemistry. The result was yet another Academy Award nod that ended in disappointment.
Dunne and Grant were soon reteamed for a pair of pictures, “My Favorite Wife” (1940) and “Penny Serenade” (1941). The former was an entertaining confection along similar lines to their earlier collaboration, but “Penny Serenade” was a much different enterprise. As a couple forced to deal with a series of events that test their love, Dunne and Grant proved just as adept at conveying more somber dramatic material in what was their final project together. Dunne graced a few other noteworthy films that decade, with the World War I romantic drama “The White Cliffs of Dover” (1944) and the lavish “Anna and the King of Siam” (1946) finding her in especially good form. However, “I Remember Mama” (1948) offered one of her finest turns. As the wise matriarch of a Norwegian family who made San Francisco their home in the early 1900s, she did an admirable job of embodying a woman who made numerous sacrifices to ensure her children good lives. Dunne received the last of five Oscar nominations for the movie and while she did not win, that performance was often cited as the finest she gave. Dunne went on to grace three more films, including a trip to England to star as Queen Victoria in the period drama “The Mudlark” (1950), but retired from the screen after “It Grows on Trees” (1952), making only occasional appearances on television programs during the next decade. Once acting was no longer her primary concern, Dunne found much in her life that provided diversion and fulfillment. In 1957, she was named an alternate delegate to the United Nations and later became the first woman on the Technicolor Corporation’s Board of Directors. Dunne also dabbled in real estate acquisition, supported the Republican Party in various capacities, and contributed to charitable endeavors. In addition to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the actress was presented with the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award in 1985. Dunne succumbed to heart failure at her Los Angeles home on Sept. 4, 1990.
By John Charles
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Morton Downey was an Irish American singer very popular in the 1920’s and 30’s who made a few movies in Hollywood. He was born in 1901 in Connecticut. His movies include “Lucky in Love” in 1929 and “Ghost Catchers” in 1935. He died in 1985.
IMDB entry:
Pianist, songwriter (“Wabash Moon”), composer, singer and businessman, educated in public schools and at Lyman Hall. He began his singing career in a Greenwich Village movie theatre, and was later a vocalist for the Paul Whiteman orchestra aboard the SS Leviathan. In 1927, he toured Europe and then opened his own night club, the Delmonico in New York, in 1930, which offered the chance to sing over radio. He was also a member of the board of directors of Coca-Cola and other corporations. Joining ASCAP in 1949, his chief musical collaborators included Dave Dreyer, Paul Cunningham, James Rule, and Dick Sanford. His other popular-song compositions include “California Skies”, “All I Need is Someone Like You”, “In the Valley of the Roses”, “That’s How I Spell Ireland”, “Sweeten Up Your Smile”, “There’s Nothing New” and “Now You’re in My Arms”.
Born in in Tacoma, Washington in 1922. Paige began singing in public at age five in local amateur shows. She moved to Los Angelesland was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II.
The Hollywood Canteen was a studio-sponsored club for members of the military. A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. She began co-starring in low budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in “Romance on the High Seas,” the 1948 film in which Doris Day made her movie debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place. Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave Hollywood. Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer.
A rare dramatic role was as “Marion,” an institutionalized prostitute, in The Caretakers (1963).
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
This joyous scene-stealer started out playing rather bland film ingénues, but never seemed to be comfortable in those roles–she had too much snap, crackle and pop to be confined in such a formulaic way.
Born in 1922 in Tacoma, Washington, Janis Paige was singing in public from age 5 in local amateur shows. She moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and earned a job as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during the war years. The Canteen, which was a studio-sponsored gathering spot for servicemen, is where she was spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout, who saw potential in her and signed her up. She began co-starring in secondary musicals that often paired her with either Dennis Morganor Jack Carson. Later she was relegated to rugged adventures and dramas that just seemed out of her element. Following her role in the forgettable Two Gals and a Guy(1951), she decided to leave the Hollywood scene. She took to the Broadway boards and scored a huge hit with the 1951 comedy-mystery play “Remains to Be Seen”, co-starringJackie Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer, performing everywhere from New York to Miami to Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Definitive stardom came in 1954 with the feisty role of Babe in Broadway’s “The Pajama Game” opposite John Raitt. Her old Warner Bros. rival Doris Day, however, was a bigger name and went on to play the role on film (The Pajama Game (1957)) with Raitt. After a six-year hiatus, Janis returned to films in tongue-and-cheek support, all but stealing Silk Stockings (1957) from co-starsFred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. She then grabbed her share of laughs in a flashy role with the comedy Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960) opposite Ms. Day. Janis ventured on in summer stock, playing such indomitable roles as Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun”, Margo Channing in “Applause”, Mama Rose in “Gypsy” and Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls”. From the mid-’50s on, Janis also tapped into TV with such series like It’s Always Jan(1955), Lanigan’s Rabbi (1976) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979). In the 1990s, among other TV appearances, she had recurring roles on the daytime serials General Hospital(1963) and Santa Barbara (1984). Married three times, she was the widow of Disney composer Ray Gilbert, who wrote the classic children’s song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.”
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
TCM overview:
An enthusiastic singer from childhood, Janis Paige was discovered by a talent scout while performing at the Hollywood Canteen, which quickly led to a career in movies. As a contract player for Warner Brothers, she graced such musicals as, appropriately enough, “Hollywood Canteen” (1944), “The Time, the Place and the Girl” (1946) and “Romance on the High Seas” (1948). Paige’s spirited work during this period registered positively with the public, even if most of her pictures were formula exercises that rarely exceeded their expectations. After a brief period as a freelancer at the beginning of the 1950s, Paige found her true fame as a stage actress, impressing Broadway patrons in “Remains to be Seen” (1951-52) and the comic blockbuster “The Pajama Game” (1954-56), where she gave one of her trademark performances as a sexy union leader who falls in love with a factory supervisor. While the stage took on a special importance for her, Paige periodically reappeared on the silver screen, with “Silk Stockings” (1957) showcasing her appeal at its peak. She also briefly toplined her own sitcom and was a regular presence on TV programs of several genres. While not considered a top flight star in most circles, Paige was one of the true iron ladies of show business, boasting a career more than seven decades in duration, and was still delighting audiences on stage in her nineties.
A native of Tacoma, WA, Janis Paige was born Donna Mae Tjaden on Sept. 16, 1922. Gifted with an aptitude for singing, she was performing for audiences by age five and appeared with the Tacoma Opera Company in her teens. Upon finishing high school, Paige’s mother moved her daughter to Los Angeles in the hope of establishing an entertainment career for the girl. While showcasing her vocal abilities at the fabled Hollywood Canteen, Paige’s talent and beauty impressed a scout and she made her film debut in the Esther Williams vehicle “Bathing Beauty” (1944). A contract with Warner Brothers followed, along with roles in the studio’s all-star extravaganza “Hollywood Canteen” (1944), as well as “Her Kind of Man” (1945) and “Of Human Bondage” (1946). Paige was well-utilized in Warner musicals like “The Time, the Place and the Girl” (1946), “Love and Learn” (1947), and “Romance on the High Seas” (1948), and while no match for their glossy counterparts from MGM, they possessed a laid-back appeal that went down well with audiences of the time. While she was a consistently engaging presence and able performer, Paige remained relegated to the studio’s second tier productions and after the completion of “The House Across the Street” (1949), her relationship with Warners came to an end.
Entering the 1950s as a freelancer, Paige journeyed to Italy to star in the crime drama “Fugitive Lady” (1950), while also gracing the routine likes of “This Side of the Law” (1950) and “Two Gals and a Guy” (1951). By that point, Paige’s movie career was largely going nowhere, but she soon shifted gears and concentrated on live stage work, a move that not only brightened her prospects, but also generated her most lasting fame. Paige made a splashy Broadway debut in the comedy “Remains to be Seen” (1951-52) and really hit her stride as union spitfire Babe Williams in the first year’s run of the hugely successful musical farce “The Pajama Game” (1954-56). In 1954, she also began what turned out to be a regular guesting gig on “The Bob Hope Show” (NBC, 1952-1975), appearing in a number of the comedian’s specials during his long association with NBC. Capitalizing on her newfound notoriety, Paige accepted an offer to headline her own sitcom, “It’s Always Jan” (CBS, 1955-56), but the program was not renewed for a second season. She returned to movies with a memorable part in the Fred Astaire/Cyd Charisse outing “Silk Stockings” (1957), a splendidly colorful musical variation on “Ninotchka,” where she nearly stole the show with her “Satin and Silk” number. The same year’s film version of “The Pajama Game” gave her role to Doris Day, but no bad blood existed between the two actresses and Paige went on to co-star in Day’s comedy hit “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies” (1960).
Paige’s achievements were also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she became a fixture in Bob Hope’s annual globetrotting USO variety shows. She graced the London stage in a local production of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (1961) and reunited with Hope in the suburban farce “Bachelor in Paradise” (1961). The following year, she wed her third husband, songwriter Ray Gilbert, best known for the Oscar winning favorite “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from “Song of the South” (1946), and enjoyed an offbeat dramatic performance as a troubled prostitute in “The Caretakers” (1963). Frequent guest star outings on various television programs kept Paige’s small screen profile active during this period and she returned to the Great White Way in “Here’s Love” (1963-64), a musical take on “Miracle on 34th Street.” The low-grade Western “Welcome to Hard Times” (1967) offered her little of interest, but the following year presented a new engagement on Broadway when Paige took over from Angela Lansbury as the star of the musical-comedy sensation “Mame” (1966-1970). She also continued her live performing in smaller scale efforts, including “The Gingerbread Lady.”
After a hiatus from film and television work during the late 1960s and early ’70s, Paige was regularly busy, guesting on both sitcoms and dramas, and was a regular on the short-lived crime show “Lanigan’s Rabbi” (NBC, 1976-77). In 1976, Gilbert died, leaving Paige with control of the Ipanema Music Corporation, which she continued to supervise. However, Paige also kept her SAG card active via a pair of quickly cancelled sitcoms, “Gun Shy” (CBS, 1983) and “Baby Makes Five” (ABC, 1983), as well as a recurring part on the last season of “Trapper John, M.D.” (CBS, 1979-1985). She also made her Broadway bow alongside Kevin McCarthy in “Alone Together” (1984-85) and had a run on the soap opera “Santa Barbara” (NBC, 1984-1993). After a 27-year gap, Paige made a one-shot return to movies with a supporting role in the little seen drama “Natural Causes” (1994). After almost six decades, Paige retired from film and television assignments in 2001. Thanks to an unfortunate health scare, Paige was almost not heard again, period. She enlisted professional help to deal with a break in her voice, but the treatment ended up leaving Paige speechless. With the aid of experts at Vanderbilt University and a new instructor, her abilities returned after several years of work and she took to the stage once again. Her one-woman show featured Paige singing various classic songs and discussing memorable times from her life. Paige was praised for the charm and vitality on display throughout the production, which she first performed in 2010 and continued doing right through her eighties and nineties.
Jess Barker was born in 1912 in South Carolina. He made movies in Hollywood in the 1940’s including “Scarlet Street” in 1945. He was married to Susan Hayward. He died in 2000.
Janice Rule was born in 1930 in Norwood, Ohio. She came to fame initially in the early 1950’s on Broadway in “Picnic” with Paul Newman. Her movies include “Bell, Book and Candle” with Kim Novak and James Stewart in 1958, “The Chase” with Marlon Brando in 1966 and “The Swimmer” with Burt Lancaster in 1969. She also starred with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duval in “3 Women” in 1977. Janice Rule died in 2003.
Tom Vallance’s “Independent” obituary:
Janice Rule, actress and psychoanalyst: born Norwood, Ohio 15 August 1931; married first Robert Thom (one daughter; marriage dissolved), second N. Richard Nash (marriage dissolved), third 1961 Ben Gazzara (one daughter; marriage dissolved 1979); died New York 17 October 2003.
The actress, singer and dancer Janice Rule was a tawny-haired beauty who had an active career on stage, screen and television before putting her actor’s insight to use as a psychoanalyst. On Broadway she created the character of Madge in William Inge’s Picnic and bewitched critics with her song and dance skills in The Happiest Girl in the World, and on screen she graduated from ingénues to such complex roles as the mute artist in Robert Altman’s intriguing Three Women.
Born in Ohio in 1931, she studied ballet, and began her career as a dancer at the age of 15 in the Chicago night-club Chez Paree. She was in the chorus of two Broadway musicals, Miss Liberty (1949) and Great to Be Alive! (1950) and made her screen début with an uncredited bit role in Fourteen Hours (1951).
Signed to a contract by Warners, she was given the choice role of a rebellious college student in Vincent Sherman’s Goodbye, My Fancy(1951). Based on Fay Kanin’s play, the film suffered by having both its political and sexual aspects softened for the screen and is best known for the on-set feud that developed between Rule and the film’s star Joan Crawford. Crawford wrote in her 1962 autobiography,Portrait of Joan,
The cast included a young girl named Janice Rule whose personality definitely clashed with mine. I felt she was non-professional in her attitude, that she regarded film work as something less than slumming and one day I told her so. “Miss Rule,” I said, “you’d better enjoy making films while you can, I doubt that you’ll be with us long!”
Rule later said that the tense atmosphere on the set caused her to muff take after take. Though she was pictured on the cover of Lifemagazine on 8 January 1951 as a rising young actress, Warners quickly dropped their new player after just one more film, Starlift(1951), an all-star morale-booster about Hollywood’s valiant work entertaining Korean War troops. The film seemed too self-serving to gain great approval, though Rule shone as a movie star who falls in love with an airman, displaying her dancing skill in two duets with Gene Nelson.
After starring in two minor MGM movies, Holiday for Sinners(1952) and Rogue’s March (1953), Rule returned to the stage, where she had a great personal success in William Inge’s Picnic, originating the role of Madge, the restless small-town beauty played in the film version by Kim Novak. Ralph Meeker played the drifter with whom she falls in love, and Paul Newman had one of his first notable roles as her executive boyfriend. Meeker became a good friend of Rule, and it was at his suggestion that she was cast opposite him in the film A Woman’s Devotion (with the UK title War Shock, 1956), as the wife of a disturbed war veteran.
In Abner Biberman’s superior western Gun for a Coward (1957), she was the heroine torn between two brothers (Fred MacMurray and Jeffrey Hunter) and in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) she played the snooty fiancée of a publisher (James Stewart) who falls in love with a witch (Kim Novak). Her finest opportunities continued, though, to come from the theatre. In 1959 she was acclaimed for her performance as a neurotic beauty ruining several lives in Michael V. Gazzo’s short-lived drama The Night Circus.
Her co-star in The Night Circus was Ben Gazzara, and in 1961 he became Rule’s third husband. Her first two were the writer-director Robert Thom and the playwright N. Richard Nash, and she was once engaged to Farley Granger, a liaison described as the briefest engagement in show business. Her marriage to Gazzara lasted until 1979.
In 1961 Rule had another personal triumph in the musical The Happiest Girl in the World, based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, with the music of Offenbach given wittily fanciful lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. She played Diana, goddess of the moon, who inspires Lysistrata with the idea that women must refuse their favours until men agree to keep the peace. Still recalled affectionately by theatregoers is the show-stopping duet she shared with her uncle Pluto (Cyril Richard), “Vive la Virtue!”, a lilting gavotte in which he points out, “This is man’s ambivalent taste, whatever is chaste has got to be chased.”
The New York Herald-Tribune critic Walter Kerr wrote,
I suppose Cyril Ritchard and Janice Rule could have danced all night; they link arms, lift their ears for a beat, and take off – to the lightest of Offenbach – as though they’d quite forgotten which Palace they’re supposed to have come from. Lovely work.
Howard Taubman in The New York Times lauded her “personal magic” and John Chapman in the New York News called her “a beautiful and bewitching dancer and an all-round musical comedy player.”
The previous year Rule had starred as a man-hating beatnik in a screen version of Jack Kerouac’s “beat” novel The Subterraneans, a film that caused Joan Crawford graciously to admit her error. In 1962 she wrote,
On board a ship last summer I sat watching The Subterraneans, absolutely rapt over the performance of an actress who dances brilliantly, who has a flair for drama, for comedy. “Who is this girl? She’s fantastic!” I said. Well, the girl was Janice Rule. I’ve since
seen her on TV and I can only add superlatives. Miss Rule, my apologies, I think you’re going to be with us a long long time.
Rule’s film career continued to be sporadic. She co-starred with Yul Brynner in a Freudian western, Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), and was one of a fine cast (Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, Angie Dickinson, Miriam Hopkins, Robert Duvall) in Arthur Penn’s muddled melodrama The Chase (1966), which gave her one of her first neurotic roles as Duvall’s slatternly wife who drunkenly swallows a string of pearls. She was a loose woman dallying with both Richard Widmark and William Holden in the western Alvarez Kelly (1966), was splendid as a rugged frontierswoman in the bleak western Welcome to Hard Times (1967) and had a rare chance to display her sense of humour in the spy spoof The Ambushers (1967).
In Frank Perry’s hauntingly enigmatic drama The Swimmer (1968), Rule was powerfully biting as Burt Lancaster’s vitriolic ex-mistress who claims never to have loved him. Her scene with Lancaster was directed, uncredited, by Sydney Pollack. Rule’s screen work, though impressive, had never made her a box-office name, and much of her later work was on television.
In 1972 she appeared in Stephen Frears’s British film Gumshoe, which starred Albert Finney as a bingo-caller with aspirations to be a Bogart-like private detective. Rule was a duplicitous client who is actually a gunrunner and dope smuggler. In 1977 she had one of her most memorable roles as a mute and pregnant artist, painter of weird and vaguely sexual murals which reflect her fear of men, in Robert Altman’s audacious, strange but compelling movie Three Women, co-starring Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek.
Among her last film roles was that in John Badham’s American Flyers (1985) as the dysfunctional mother of two brothers, one of whom is dying, who enter a bicycle marathon. For several years she had been working as a psychoanalyst, having gained a doctorate from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in Los Angeles in 1983.
Tom Vallance
The above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.
TCM overview:
An attractive leading lady who worked constantly during the 1950s and 60s in theater, features and TV, Janice Rule began her career as a nightclub dancer in Chicago and NYC. Her first film was “Goodbye My Fancy” (1951) and she went on to appear in mostly forgettable fare. An exception was 1968’s “The Swimmer”, in which she was Burt Lancaster’s mistress. Perhaps her best screen role was as one of the title characters, a mysterious embittered muralist, in Robert Altman’s “3 Women” (1977). By this time, Rule had begun to concentrate on a second career as a psychoanalyst, although she continued to make occasional film and TV appearances through the 80s.From 1961 to 1979, Rule was married to actor Ben Gazzara.
Article on Janice Rule from Tina Aumont’s Eyes website:
A classy and attractive lady with Broadway experience, Janice Rule was a multitalented actress who could easily switch from playing strong or emotional ladies to wayward women, and even showed a knack for comedy. A force to be reckoned with she always had strict control of her career, even if it meant upsetting the studios.
Born in Ohio on August 15th 1931, Janice’s early years were spent as a dancer before she made her screen debut in the 1951 Joan Crawford drama ‘Goodbye, My Fancy’. Supporting parts followed with the minor Doris Day musical ‘Starlift’ (’51) and the watchable war picture ‘Rogue’s March’ (’53), playing Peter Lawford’s British girlfriend.
Never taking the easy route, Rule always preferred to take on interesting projects, even turning down Eve Marie Saint’s role in ‘On the Waterfront’ (’54), preferring stage work, and was enjoying great success in ‘Picnic’ on Broadway at the time. Back on screen Janice was Jeffrey Hunter’s girlfriend in the western ‘Gun for a Coward’ (’57) and then James Stewart’s fiancée in ‘Bell, Book and Candle’ (’58), having a spell cast on her by Kim Novak’s old college rival.
During this time Janice appeared in a handful of westerns of varying quality. First was the box-office flop ‘Invitation to a Gunfighter’ (’64) as the girl who deserts George Segal’s confederate soldier while he’s off fighting in the Civil War. Better was the William Holden starrer ‘Alvarez Kelly’ (’66) as Richard Widmark’s fiancée, and then the wonderful sleeper ‘Welcome to Hard Times’ (’67) as Henry Fonda’s tragic girlfriend. Another movie of note during this time was the Marlon Brando drama ‘The Chase’ (’66) playing Robert Duvall’s flirtatious wife Emily. After a fun part as Dean Martin’s partner in the Matt Helm adventure ‘The Ambushers’ (’67), a good role came in the cult suburban drama ‘The Swimmer’ (’68) as Burt Lancaster’s bitter ex. Replacing first choice Barbara Loden, it was a one-scene part but she was terrific in it, showing real emotion as the ‘other woman’ unable to forgive Lancaster for his mistreatment of her.
In the UK Janice had a nice little role in the under-rated homage ‘Gumshoe’ (’71) as the object of wannabe detective Albert Finney’s missing person case. After playing Dennis Hopper’s old flame in the comedy-western ‘Kid Blue’ (’73), Rule had one of her most memorable roles in Robert Altman’s wonderfully dreamy drama ‘3 Women’ (’77) as a pregnant artist and owner of the motel where Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall take refuge in. It was a nicely understated performance and won Janice many plaudits. After a five year cinematic break Rule came back with a winner, playing sympathetic journalist Kate Newman in Costa-Gavras’ excellent political thriller ‘Missing’ (’82), a festival favourite starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek as relatives searching for John Shea’s missing writer. Rule’s final movie appearances were as aspiring cyclist Kevin Costner’s mother in ‘American Flyers’ and the sentimental drama ‘Rainy Day Friends’ (both ’85) as a psychotherapist, something that she had qualified for in real-life. Retiring from acting, Rule ran a practice in New York and would only return to the screen for a handful of television spots until 1992.
Married three times, most notably to actor Ben Gazzara, Janice Rule died from a cerebral haemorrhage on October 17th 2003. A rebel who crossed many genres, Janice was able to run the gamut of emotions, it’s just a shame she didn’t have more memorable roles on the big screen.
Favourite Movie: The Swimmer Favourite Performance: 3 Women
The above “Tina Aumont’s Eyes” website:
A classy and attractive lady with Broadway experience, Janice Rule was a multitalented actress who could easily switch from playing strong or emotional ladies to wayward women, and even showed a knack for comedy. A force to be reckoned with she always had strict control of her career, even if it meant upsetting the studios.
Born in Ohio on August 15th 1931, Janice’s early years were spent as a dancer before she made her screen debut in the 1951 Joan Crawford drama ‘Goodbye, My Fancy’. Supporting parts followed with the minor Doris Day musical ‘Starlift’ (’51) and the watchable war picture ‘Rogue’s March’ (’53), playing Peter Lawford’s British girlfriend.
Never taking the easy route, Rule always preferred to take on interesting projects, even turning down Eve Marie Saint’s role in ‘On the Waterfront’ (’54), preferring stage work, and was enjoying great success in ‘Picnic’ on Broadway at the time. Back on screen Janice was Jeffrey Hunter’s girlfriend in the western ‘Gun for a Coward’ (’57) and then James Stewart’s fiancée in ‘Bell, Book and Candle’ (’58), having a spell cast on her by Kim Novak’s old college rival.
During this time Janice appeared in a handful of westerns of varying quality. First was the box-office flop ‘Invitation to a Gunfighter’ (’64) as the girl who deserts George Segal’s confederate soldier while he’s off fighting in the Civil War. Better was the William Holden starrer ‘Alvarez Kelly’ (’66) as Richard Widmark’s fiancée, and then the wonderful sleeper ‘Welcome to Hard Times’ (’67) as Henry Fonda’s tragic girlfriend. Another movie of note during this time was the Marlon Brando drama ‘The Chase’ (’66) playing Robert Duvall’s flirtatious wife Emily. After a fun part as Dean Martin’s partner in the Matt Helm adventure ‘The Ambushers’ (’67), a good role came in the cult suburban drama ‘The Swimmer’ (’68) as Burt Lancaster’s bitter ex. Replacing first choice Barbara Loden, it was a one-scene part but she was terrific in it, showing real emotion as the ‘other woman’ unable to forgive Lancaster for his mistreatment of her.
In the UK Janice had a nice little role in the under-rated homage ‘Gumshoe’ (’71) as the object of wannabe detective Albert Finney’s missing person case. After playing Dennis Hopper’s old flame in the comedy-western ‘Kid Blue’ (’73), Rule had one of her most memorable roles in Robert Altman’s wonderfully dreamy drama ‘3 Women’ (’77) as a pregnant artist and owner of the motel where Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall take refuge in. It was a nicely understated performance and won Janice many plaudits. After a five year cinematic break Rule came back with a winner, playing sympathetic journalist Kate Newman in Costa-Gavras’ excellent political thriller ‘Missing’ (’82), a festival favourite starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek as relatives searching for John Shea’s missing writer. Rule’s final movie appearances were as aspiring cyclist Kevin Costner’s mother in ‘American Flyers’ and the sentimental drama ‘Rainy Day Friends’ (both ’85) as a psychotherapist, something that she had qualified for in real-life. Retiring from acting, Rule ran a practice in New York and would only return to the screen for a handful of television spots until 1992.
Married three times, most notably to actor Ben Gazzara, Janice Rule died from a cerebral haemorrhage on October 17th 2003. A rebel who crossed many genres, Janice was able to run the gamut of emotions, it’s just a shame she didn’t have more memorable roles on the big screen.
Favourite Movie: The Swimmer Favourite Performance: 3 Women
The above article can also be accessed online here.
A classically trained actress from an early age, Amy Irving was a soulful ingénue and leading lady in the 1970s and 1980s, moving effortlessly from dramas like “Carrie” (1976) and “Yentl” (1983) to comedies like “Micki + Maude” (1984) and “Crossing Delancey” (1988). Though an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, her marriage to Steven Spielberg and its 1989 dissolution, which resulted in a massive settlement, overshadowed much of her film work. She moved into indies in the 1990s before returning to play more mature and complex roles in “Traffic” (2001) and “Hide and Seek” (2005). Though her talents rarely received the showcase they deserved, Irving remained a well-respected presence in films and on stage and television for over four decades.
Born Sept. 10, 1953 in Palo Alto, CA, Amy Davis Irving was the daughter of television and stage director Jules Irving and actress Priscilla Pointer. Her childhood was steeped in the theater; at nine months, she made her acting debut in a production starring her mother and directed by her father, and would continue to appear in his plays throughout her adolescence. After graduating from the Professional Children’s School in New York, she studied at the High School of Music and Art in New York while making her Broadway debut in 1965 with a walk-on in “The Country Wife.” The play was directed by Robert Symonds, who would later become her stepfather after Irving’s death in 1979.
After furthering her studies at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Irving made her off-Broadway debut in the play “And Chocolate on Her Chin.” Upon her return to Los Angeles, she began landing guest roles on television series and in TV movies, most notably as one of the romantic leads in the Emmy-winning miniseries “Once an Eagle” (NBC, 1976). That same year, she made her feature debut in “Carrie” (1976), Brian De Palma’s terrifying adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a high school student (Sissy Spacek) who uses telekinesis to wreak revenge on her tormentors. Irving played the sole survivor of Carrie’s rampage, while Pointer played her onscreen mother. The film’s runaway success led to other features, including a reunion with De Palma in the similarly themed “The Fury” (1978) and the country music drama “Honeysuckle Rose” (1980), where she served as temptation for an already wayward singer (Willie Nelson). That same year, she starred in “The Competition” as a classical pianist who finds herself both in love with and competing against fellow musical talent Richard Dreyfuss in an international contest.
During this period, Irving became involved with director Steven Spielberg, who was beginning to emerge as a major talent on the strength of “Jaws” (1976) and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1978). However, the relationship crumbled when Irving reportedly had an affair with Willie Nelson during the shooting of “Honeysuckle Rose.” The break-up cost her many things, not the least of which was the female lead in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), which Spielberg had offered to her before the part eventually went to Karen Allen. It was Irving’s second major loss in terms of starring roles in blockbusters, as she had also auditioned for and failed to land the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars” (1977). Despite these setbacks, Irving settled into a steady string of film and stage appearances, the most successful of which was Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” (1983), in which she played the fiancée of Mandy Patinkin, who falls in love with his best friend, Yentl (Streisand), unaware that he is dressed in male drag in order to study the Talmud. Irving received an Oscar nomination for her performance, as well as a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, which rather ignominiously made her the first woman to earn nods from both ends of the acting spectrum for the same role.
The 1980s proved to be a fruitful period for Irving, both personally and professional. She worked steadily in features and on television and stage in a wide variety of roles that displayed her exceptional versatility. She was the Indian princess who broke from tradition to fall in love with a British soldier (Ben Cross) in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavilions” (1984), then played a concert cellist who becomes entangled in a bigamous relationship with Dudley Moore and Ann Reinking in Blake Edwards’ comedy “Micki + Maude” (1984). The charming romantic comedy “Crossing Delancey” (1988) brought Irving a Golden Globe nomination as a single Jewish woman contending with a meddling grandmother (Reizl Bozyk) and matchmaker (Sylvia Miles) while navigating the dating scene, while “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986) earned her a second Golden Globe nod as Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the lost daughter of Russia’s Czar Nicholas II. Irving also wowed audiences by providing the singing voice for Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (1988). During this time, she was also a fixture on Broadway, most notably in “Amadeus” as Mozart’s wife and “Heartbreak House” opposite her “Anastasia” co-star, Rex Harrison.
Irving had also reconciled with Spielberg during the 1980s, and the couple was married in 1985, with a son, Max, arriving that same year. However, the personal and societal pressures of being married to one of the world’s most popular filmmakers soon undermined the relationship; in interviews, Irving said that she felt like a “politician’s wife” and unable to speak her mind during their marriage. Their union finally collapsed in 1989 when Irving began a relationship with Bruno Barreto, the Brazilian filmmaker who cast her as the lead in his political thriller, “A Show of Force” (1990). Irving earned headlines when a judge awarded her a $100 million settlement based on a controversial prenuptial agreement written on a napkin.
New love Baretto would provide Irving with her most substantive film roles in the 1990s, as well as a second son, Gabriel, born in 1990. She played the wife of a schoolteacher (Dennis Hopper) who becomes embroiled in an affair with a student in Barreto’s “Carried Away” (1996), and later shifted gears to play an FBI agent in “One Tough Cop” (1998) and woman who rediscovered her sensuality in “Bossa Nova” (2000). Her screen work in the 1990s moved along these independent-minded lines, though there were occasional forays back to Hollywood. She had a minor role in Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry” (1997) and reprised her role as Sue Snell in “The Rage: Carrie 2” (1999), which failed to match the intensity of the original.
By the end of the decade, Irving’s film career was making something of a rebound, thanks to major roles in Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning “Traffic” (2000) as drug czar Michael Douglas’ wife, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble. She later reunited with Sissy Spacek for “Tuck Everlasting” (2002) as Alexis Bledel’s strict mother, and played Robert De Niro’s wife, whose death by suicide hid a complicated psychological tangle in the hit thriller “Hide and Seek” (2005). For four years she played Emily Sloane, the wife of international terrorist Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), on the hit spy series “Alias” (ABC, 2001-05). Irving also remained a staple of the New York theater scene, with appearances in acclaimed productions of “The Coast of Utopia” at Lincoln Center in 2007, and a debut with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in “A Little Night Music,” directed by designer Isaac Mizrahi.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
