Hollywood Actors Archives - Page 93 of 128

Jeff Corey

Jeff Corey was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1914. He was developing a reputation as a first class character actor when his caree was curtailed by the witchhunt during the House of Un-American Activities Committee. During his blacklist he started an actors studio which was very successful. He then returned to movies in middle age. His films include “Home of the Brave”, “My Friend Flicka”, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “In Cold Blood”. He died in Santa Monica in 2002.

“The Guardian” obituary:

The reverberations that emanated from the House of Un-American Activities committee, which investigated so-called communist influence in Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 1950s, are still being felt. It affected the lives of many who worked in the film industry. Yet it could be argued that something positive emerged after Jeff Corey, who has died aged 88, was blacklisted in 1951.

Corey had appeared in more than 50 films in small, often uncredited, roles before he was forced to quit acting in films and television for 12 years. During that period, he became one of the most influential of acting teachers; his students included James Dean, Anthony Perkins, Jane Fonda, James Coburn, Leonard Nimoy, Barbra Streisand, Richard Chamberlain, Robin Williams and Jack Nicholson.

Nicholson, who came to Corey as a rebellious 18-year-old, recalled that Corey’s greatest help was stimulating his mind. But there was one occasion when Corey, asking the young actor to “show me more poetry”, received the rebuff, “maybe, Jeff, you don’t see the poetry I’m showing you.” On the whole, Corey, unlike the Method School, did not urge students to delve too deeply into their subconscious. Nevertheless, he created improvisational exercises that allowed actors to engage with their imagination.

His intelligent approach is exemplified by the advice he gave to Kirk Douglas on Spartacus. “Kirk was playing the great leader with a lot of panache, and I said: ‘You’re a slave from generations of slaves. What do you know about leading? You should be struggling to find a leader’s voice and actions’. And he said, ‘by God, you’re right’.”

Corey was born into a working-class Brooklyn family. After high school, he participated in the leftist Federal Theater Project and attended some Communist party meetings, but never joined. It was this activity that was dredged up by the HUAAC two decades later. In the 1930s, Corey worked as a sewing-machine salesman before getting the part of a spear carrier in Leslie Howard’s Broadway production of Hamlet and was promoted to play Rosencrantz on tour. Corey continued to do stage work after arriving in Hollywood in 1940, helping to establish the Actors Lab. He made a less than prestigious debut in films as a game-show contestant, who has to sing a song while stuffing his mouth full of crackers in the creaky Kay Kyser film You’ll Find Out (1940). More walk-ons in B films followed, before he joined the Navy in 1943 as a combat photographer assigned to the USS Yorktown. In October 1945 he received the following citation from the Secretary of the Navy: “His sequence of a Kamikaze attempt on the Carrier Yorktown, done in the face of grave danger, is one of the great picture sequences of the war in the Pacific.”

Back in Hollywood in 1946, Corey picked up where he left off with uncredited bits and occasional speaking parts. Gradually, his rodent features, bushy eyebrows and longish nose, got him bigger parts as sinister or craven characters. In Robert Siodmak’s The Killers (1946), he was a shady gangster, and in Jules Dassin’s prison drama Brute Force (1947), he was the informer who meets his end by being tied to the front of a truck and pushed into a hail of police bullets. In contrast, in Home of the Brave (1949), Corey played the sympathetic shrink who, while analysing a black soldier, uncovers a story of racial prejudice in the US army.

Although it is doubtful whether Corey would ever have had leading roles, the parts he was getting were becoming bigger and better when he was blacklisted at the age of 37 for refusing to name names in front of the committee. Because he had a wife and three daughters to support, he worked as a labourer for a while. The GI Bill then enabled him to take a degree in speech therapy at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Corey then converted his garage into a stage and started his acting classes. Word of mouth got him students and by the mid-1950s, he was the acting coach most in demand in Hollywood. Later, with the blacklist being eased, Corey returned to feature films and television, in both of which he was extremely active in supporting roles. Among his more memorable cinematic performances was the corrupt bishop acting out his sexual fantasies in The Balcony (1963), based on Jean Genet’s play; his wild-eyed wino menacing Olivia de Havilland in Lady in a Cage (1964); the counsellor who helps turn a middle-aged banker (John Randolph, another blacklisted actor) into Rock Hudson in John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966); the understanding sheriff in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), a role he reprised a decade later in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days; the nasty killer of Kim Darby’s father in True Grit (1969), and Wild Bill Hickock in Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man (1970).

Corey was even more active on television in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a household face by turning up as a guest on almost any TV series one could mention from Bonanza to Lou Grant, and played a lawyer in Hell Town, with his former student, Robert Blake.

Corey is survived by his wife of 64 years, and his three daughters.

Jeff Corey, actor and teacher; born August 10 1914; died August 16 2002

The above “Guardian ” obituary can be also be accessed online here.

Melinda Dillon was born in 1939 in Hope, Arknansas. Her first film was “The April Fools” with Jack Lemmon in 1969. She was terrific in two films with Paul Newman, “Slap Shot” in 1976 and in 1981 “Absence of Malice”. Other films include “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “The Prince of Tides” and “How to Make an American Quilt”. Melinda Dillon died in 2023 aged 83.

TCM Overview:

An original member of the Second City improv troupe, Melinda Dillon scored a Tony nomination for her supporting work as the vulnerable Honey in the original Broadway production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” After her Golden Globe-nominated turn in “Bound for Glory” (1976), she earned an Oscar nomination for one of her most famous roles, that of a mother in search of her alien-abducted child in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977). After roles in “Slap Shot” (1977) and “F.I.S.T.” (1978), she earned another Oscar nomination as a woman driven to suicide by the machinations of a reporter (Sally Field) in “Absence of Malice” (1981) and achieved pop cultural immortality as the sweet, slightly goofy mother in the ultimate holiday classic, “A Christmas Story” (1983). Dillon scored important roles as John Lithgow’s wife in “Harry and the Hendersons” (1987) and Nick Nolte’s troubled sister in “The Prince of Tides” (1991), but notched smaller supporting turns in the ensemble pieces “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” (1995), “How to Make an American Quilt” (1995) and “Magnolia” (1999). Working steadily but quietly, the actress continued to pop up in character roles, including an uncredited turn in “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (2012). Equally adept at comedy as well as drama, Melinda Dillon was an exceptionally gifted actress who brought a unique spark to any project in which she appeared.

Born Oct. 13, 1939 in Hope, AR, Melinda Rose Dillon began her career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, IL and subsequently became an original member of the famed Second City improvisational company. She made her Broadway debut creating the role of Honey in the original production of Edward Albee’s classic “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” for which she won a New York Drama Critics Award as well as received a Tony nomination. She became a familiar face to audiences of that era with a string of TV guest spots on such popular programs as “Bonanza” (NBC, 1959-1973) and “The Jeffersons” (CBS, 1975-1985), while also making her film debut in “The April Fools” (1969), where she played an eccentric neighbor of Catherine Deneuve. Dillon’s greatest impact would come on the big screen, and she earned a Golden Globe nomination for playing the dual roles of Woody Guthrie’s abandoned wife and his singing partner in Hal Ashby’s biopic “Bound for Glory” (1976). Her career earned a major boost, elevating her to household name status when Steven Spielberg cast her in his extraterrestrial masterpiece, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977) as a desperate mother coping with the alien abduction of her son. Her frantic search for her young son (Cary Guffey) as the aliens surround the family farmhouse, beaming otherworldly light through every crevice in the wall and floorboards, remained one of the most classic moments put to film. Her heartbreaking performance earned Dillon nominations for an Oscar and Saturn Award.

Dillon proved surprisingly sexy in the hockey comedy “Slap Shot” (1977) and flexed her dramatic chops as the lover of union organizer Johnny Kovak (Sylvester Stallone) in the drama “F.I.S.T.” (1978). After a sweet cameo in “The Muppet Movie” (1979), she starred in several made-for-TV movies, including “The Shadow Box” (ABC, 1980), before notching her most powerful dramatic film role in Sydney Pollack’s “Absence of Malice” (1981). As a loyal but emotionally fragile friend whose attempts to defend a businessman (Paul Newman) result in her own undoing and eventual suicide, Dillon delivered an unforgettable performance which earned her a second Oscar nomination. Dillon’s most iconic and most beloved role, however, came when she played the high-spirited but understanding mother of young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) in “A Christmas Story” (1983). Although the film achieved a quiet, sleeper success at the box office upon its initial release, it was not until later in the decade that annual television airings and word-of-mouth propelled it into a beloved classic. By the 1990s, “A Christmas Story” was universally acknowledged as an annual holiday must-see and, for many viewers, an all-time favorite with oft-quoted lines and sequences immortalized in the popular imagination. Dillon herself provided many of the film’s best moments, showcasing her exceptional ability with comedy as well as drama, including her frazzled, one-sided battle with her husband’s (Darren McGavin) alluring leg lamp, her “mommy’s little piggy” eating lesson with finicky younger brother Randy (Ian Petrella), and a touchingly gentle sequence in which she gracefully defuses a potential dinner table fight between Ralphie and his father.

Dillon went on to anchor an especially memorable nuclear war-themed installment of “The Twilight Zone” (CBS, 1959-1964, 1985-89; UPN, 2002-03), earned another Saturn Award nomination as John Lithgow’s warm wife in the Bigfoot family favorite “Harry and the Hendersons” (1987), and essayed Savannah Wingo, Nick Nolte’s fragile poet sister whose attempted suicide serves as the catalyst for family redemption in Barbra Streisand’s masterful drama, “The Prince of Tides” (1991). Continuing her journey as an acclaimed character actress, Dillon notched a CableACE nomination for her work on the medical ethics drama “State of Emergency” (HBO, 1994) and took small roles in the ensemble films “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” (1995), “How to Make an American Quilt” (1995) and “Magnolia” (1999). Although her professional output slowed in later years, the actress still managed to notch interesting character work, including supporting turns in the gay romance “Adam & Steve” (2005), the 9/11 drama “Reign Over Me” (2007), and the quirky apocalyptic romantic comedy “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (2012).

By Jonathan Riggs

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

New York Times obituary in 2023:

Melinda Dillon, who shot to Broadway stardom at 23, withdrew from acting after a mental breakdown, and then, in her late 30s, staged a comeback, receiving best supporting actress Oscar nominations for her roles in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Absence of Malice,” died on Jan. 9. She was 83.

Her death, which was announced by a cremation service, came to public notice in recent days. The announcement did not specify the cause or location of her death.

Ms. Dillon was best known for playing mothers coping with grave or silly problems in popular movies of the 1970s and ’80s. In “Close Encounters,” the enduring Steven Spielberg hit from 1977, she played an artist and single mother living on a rural farm who watches her son get abducted by aliens.

She played more explicitly archetypal mothers in “Harry and the Hendersons” (1987), a family comedy about having Bigfoot as your pet, and “A Christmas Story” (1983), a series of vignettes depicting an all-American Christmas in midcentury Indiana.

The latter film, long a classic of the holiday season on television, inspired a 2020 tribute in The New York Times, which hailed Ms. Dillon’s character, a frazzled Everymom, as a “damn hero.”

In “Absence of Malice” (1981), Ms. Dillon played against maternal type as a Catholic woman who must admit to having an abortion.

Her star turn of that era came late for an actress — in Ms. Dillon’s late 30s and 40s — and it constituted an unexpected re-emergence, following a crisis that seemed to halt her promising career.

Melinda Ruth Clardy was born in Hope, Ark., on Oct. 13, 1939. Her father, Floyd, worked as a traveling salesman, and her mother, Noreen, was a volunteer at a U.S. Army hospital. Noreen fell in love with Wilbur Dillon, a wounded veteran, and Melinda’s parents divorced when she was 5.

She took her stepfather’s surname and had the peripatetic upbringing of a child of the military, living for a while in Germany. She left home at 16 and soon began pursuing an acting career.

She moved to New York City in 1962, fresh out of acting school. In just a matter of weeks, she landed one of four parts in the Broadway debut of Edward Albee’s play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

She played Honey, the wife in a young couple invited to the home of an older couple for a drink. The premiere, on Oct. 13, fell on her 23rd birthday.

“Critics unanimously hailed her performance as superb,” The Daily News announced in a profile published that month that described Ms. Dillon’s “overnight rise from obscurity to stardom.”

Her agent, Peter Witt, told The News, “What has happened to her is a one in a million shot paying off the first time out in the theater.”

In a 2014 New York Times review of a recording of the play’s original cast, the theater critic Charles Isherwood called the production “one of the seminal theatrical events of the 20th century” and said the actors’ performances, including Ms. Dillon’s, “still feel fresh, fierce and definitive.”

But as time went on, the pressure bore down on Ms. Dillon. Sometimes she would perform in a three-hour matinee in the afternoon, then study acting with Lee Strasberg for two hours, and then do another three-hour performance in the evening. Talking to sophisticated, powerful people in the New York theater world terrified her.

After nine months, she left the play and checked into the mental ward of Gracie Square Hospital in New York, where she found herself feeling suicidal.

“I had had the American dream — to go to New York and study with Lee Strasberg,” she told The New York Times in 1976. “I guess I just wasn’t prepared for it all to happen so quickly.”

After her release from the hospital, she took a few acting roles but then sought safe harbor in marriage, to the actor Richard Libertini, and in motherhood, raising their son, also named Richard.

But she did not find contentment in life away from the spotlight. By the mid-1970s, she was single and being cast in multiple major Hollywood productions, including “Slap Shot,” a 1977 film starring Paul Newman.

“I spent 10 and a half hours naked in bed with Paul and absolutely loved it,” she told People magazine in 1978.

After the apex of her Hollywood career, she continued acting, and into the 21st century she occasionally made appearances on television shows like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Information about her survivors was not immediately available.

Ms. Dillon sang in the choir of a Methodist church as an adult, and she threw herself into film roles as mothers. But she came to reject what she had once sought in the life of a traditional suburban housewife.

“I left home so early that when I found somebody who wanted to take care of me, I just stopped everything; I could have soared ahead — I really know that — and I chose not to,” she told The Times. In marriage, “I got buried alive,” she continued. “That’s what got me to act again

Original Cinema 1-Sheet Poster – Movie Film Posters

Lyle Bettger was born in 1915 in Philadelphia. He was a very interesing character actor who specialised in villians in film noirs and westerns. His films include “No Man of her Own” with Barbara Stanwyck in 1950, “The Greatest Show on Earth” where he was mean to Gloria Grahame and “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”. He died in 2003 aged 88.

IMDB entry:

Handsome, blond-haired, steely-eyed villain in many film Westerns. He was never the grizzled outlaw, covered in trail dust. No, he was the immaculate-looking, “respectable” (but two-faced) dandy in silk damask vest, often puffing suavely on a cheroot, whose ashes he then might contemptuously flick in the hero’s face. He could confront an antagonist wearing a wry smile, even while neatly inserting his dirk between the latter’s ribs. One wonders why Bettger, with his Aryan looks and menacing sneer, never became typecast as the stereotypical Nazi SS officer or Gestapo interrogator. (Perhaps the man was just fortunate in that regard.)

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill Takacs <kinephile@aol.com>

The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.

Grace Zabriskie was born in New Orleans in 1942. She came to prominence as Sally Field’s mother in the movie “Norma Rae” in 1979. Her other films include “An Officer and a Gentleman” as the mother of Debra Winger, “Drugstore Cowboy” and “The Burning Bed”.

TCM Overview:

A character actress given to tasty bit parts, Grace Zabriskie vacillates between erotic exhibitionists and colorful, brassy mothers. Since making her feature debut in “Norma Rae” (1978), the New Orleans-born actress has gone on to leave an indelible mark on both the small and big screens. She has been particularly effective in movies playing mothers, albeit not the kind that would be embraced by June Cleaver. In “An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), Zabriskie portrayed Debra Winger’s mom while in “Drugstore Cowboy” (1989), she was the rejecting parent of Matt Dillon. The actress drew on her roots as Dennis Quaid’s Cajun mom in “The Big Easy” (1986) and was another Southern mother, this time to Sissy Spacek, in “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” (1994). Two of her most memorable feature parts were as a crazed killer (in a role tailored specifically for her) in David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart” (1990) and as Malcolm McDowall’s wife in “Chain of Desire” (1993), for which she donned a maid’s uniform and wig for a softly sadistic sex scene. Aong with a steady string of low-profile indie filsm, Zabriskie has appeared in “A Family Thing” (1996), “Armageddon” (1998), “Gone In Sixty Seconds” (2001), “The House on Turk Street” (2002) and, in a particularly effective turn, as the near catatonic victim of “The Grudge” (2004).

On the small screen, the actress has lent her unique talents to a variety of memorable roles. Zabriskie was effective as a snake-handler who attempts to romance a detective in a two-part 1986 installment of NBC’s “Hill Street Blues” and as the supportive wife of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt in the CBS biopic “My Father, My Son” (1988). Zabriskie went on to play the grandmother of a child stricken with AIDS in “The Ryan White Story” (ABC, 1989), and the therapist of a sexually abused teen in “A Deadly Silence” (ABC, 1989). The following year, David Lynch tapped her to portray the excessively sobbing mother of murder victim Laura Palmer in the quirky primetime serial “Twin Peaks” (ABC), which she reprised in the confusing 1993 feature prequel “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”. Zabriskie had the recurring role of the mother of Susan Ross, George Costanza’s ill-fated fiancee in several episodes of “Seinfeld”. She also offered an effective supporting turn as Jennifer Jason Leigh’s mother in the controversial but critically-praised “Bastard Out of Carolina” (Showtime, 1996). She also had a recurring stint as Yellow Teeth on the sci-fi series “John Doe” (UPN, 2002-2003) and appeared as The Crone on the popular WB witchcraft-lite series “Charmed.”

The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.

“Kris Kristofferson was the first big male star to sport a beard – but then it suited the times, like his denims and open necked shirts and the guitar he carried. He was famous first as a singer-concert artist and recording star, a little bit older than most as these things go, but boyish-looking despite the beard. The background was impossibly romantic – Rhodes scholar and army officer on the one hand, and janitor and barman on the other, with stints as football-player, prize-fighter, helicopter pilot and writer. This was the ne lifestyle in excess: but had he not written ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’. Well this nice man shared his problems with us, we might help him, we might help him make it through the night but he looked so relaxed and relaxing, so confident and masculine in a profession of nonentities”. – David Shipman in “The Great Movie Stars – The Independent Years”. (1991).

Kris Kristofferson. IMDB

Kris Kristofferson was born in 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. He had a sterling career as a singer/songwriter before he ventured into films. His film debut came in “Blume in Love”. Other films include “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”, “Alice Dos’nt Live Her Anymore” with Ellen Burstyn, “The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea” , “Heaven’s Gate” and “A Star is Born”.

IMDB entry:

Kris Kristofferson’s father was a United States Air Force general who pushed his son to a military career. Kris was a Golden Gloves boxer and went to Pomona College in California. From there, he earned a Rhodes scholarship to study literature at Oxford University. He ultimately joined the United States Army and achieved the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot, which served him well later. In 1965, he resigned his commission to pursue songwriting. He had just been assigned to become a teacher at USMA West Point. He got a job sweeping floors in Nashville studios. There he metJohnny Cash, who initially took some of his songs but ignored them. He was also working as a commercial helicopter pilot at the time. He got Cash’s attention when he landed his helicopter in Cash’s yard and gave him some more tapes. Cash then recorded Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, which was voted the 1970 Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. Kris was noted for his heavy boozing. He lost his helicopter pilot job when he passed out at the controls, and his drinking ruined his marriage to singer Rita Coolidge, when he was reaching a bottle and half of Jack Daniels daily. He gave up alcohol in 1976. His acting career nose-dived after making Heaven’s Gate (1980). In recent years, he has made a comeback with his musical and acting careers. He does say that he prefers his music, but says his children are his true legacy.

– IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder <jsack@ka.net>

The above entry from IMDB can also be accessed online here.

George de la Pena was born in 1955 and is an American ballet dancer and actor. He began acting when he was cast in the title role in 1980 in “Nijinsky”. His other films include “Personal Best” and “The Flamingo Kid”.

Hugh O’Connor was born in 1962 in Rome. He was the adopted son of actor Carroll O’Connor. He acted with his father in the television series “In the Heat of the Night”. He also acted in the film “Brass”. He died in Los Angeles in 1995.

JoBeth Williams was born in 1948 in Houston, Texas. She had a supporting part in “Kramer versus Kramer” with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in 1979. Other films included “Stir Crazy”, “Poltergeist”, “The Big Chill”, and “Desert Bloom”. She is currently President of the Screen Actors Guild.

Gary Brumburgh’s entry:

The product of a musical family, Houston-born Jobeth Williams was the daughter of an opera-singing father who encouraged her early interest in theater during high school. She made her professional debut at age 18 in a Houston-based musical production, then studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with the intentions of becoming a child psychologist. The acting bug hit her again, however, and she decided to pursue theater after receiving her B.A. in English in 1970. Working intensely to lose her Texas twang, her early training came as a member of the Trinity Repertory Company, where she stayed for two-and-a-half years.

In New York the lovely Jobeth became a daytime regular in the mid-1970s on bothSomerset (1970) and in a vixenish role on Guiding Light (1952) before making a brief but memorable impact in a highly popular film at the end of the decade. In the Dustin Hoffman starring film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Jobeth plays Hoffman’s gorgeous sleepover who gets caught stark naked by his young, precocious son (Justin Henry) the following morning. She also impressed on the stage with major roles in “Moonchildren” and “A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking.”

Her star maker would could in the form of the strong-willed mother of three who fights to save her brood from home-invading demons in Steven Spielberg‘s humongous critical and box-office hit Poltergeist (1982), which also made a major star out of movie husbandCraig T. Nelson. Officially in the big leagues now, she joined the star ensemble cast ofThe Big Chill (1983), and appeared opposite Nick Nolte in Teachers (1984). Disappointing outcomes in the lackluster sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and the intriguing but overlooked American Dreamer (1984) prodded her to search for more challenging work on TV.

It is the small screen, in fact, that has particularly shown off the range of Jobeth’s talent over the years, particularly in domestic drama. Cast in some of the finest TV-movies served up, Jobeth won deserved Emmy nominations for her real-life mother of an ill-fated missing child in Adam (1983) and real-life surrogate mother in Baby M (1988). Other monumental mini-movie efforts include her nurse in the apocalyptic drama The Day After(1983); her magnetic performance opposite Terry Kinney as an adulterous worshiper and minister who carry out plans to kill their respective spouses in the gripping suspense show Murder Ordained (1987); alcoholic James Woods‘ long-suffering wife in My Name Is Bill W. (1989); a social worker trying to reach a deaf girl in Breaking Through (1996); and the overbearing mother whose son turns to drugs in Trapped in a Purple Haze (2000). She continues to balance both film and TV projects into the millennium.

Behind the scenes she was nominated for an Academy Award for her directorial debut of Showtime’s On Hope (1994)and continues to seek out other directing projects. It doesn’t hurt being married to a director for encouragement. She and John Pasquin, who directed her in the film Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and on the short-lived TV series Payne (1999), have two children. More recent film roles include playing Drew Barrymore‘s mom in Fever Pitch (2005).

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Gale Sondergaard was born in 1899 in Minnesota to parents of Dutch origin. She won an Oscar for her first appearance on film in “Anthony Adverse” in 1936 and had a very successful movie career until the early 50’s when it was stalled by the Hous of Un-American Activities Committee. In the 40’s she made such classic movies as “The Life of Emile Zola”, “The Letter” and “Anna and the King of Siam”. In the 50’s she returned to New York and the stage only returning to films in 1969 in “Slaves”. She was acting up to shortly before her death in 1985.

IMDB entry:

Sly, manipulative, dangerously cunning and sinister were the key words that best described the roles that Gale Sondergaard played in motion pictures, making her one of the most talented character actresses ever seen on the screen. She was educated at the University of Minnesota and later married director Herbert J. Biberman. Her husband went to find work in Hollywood and she reluctantly followed him there. Although she had extensive experience in stage work, she had no intention of becoming an actress in film. Her mind was changed after she was discovered by director Mervyn LeRoy, who offered her a key role in his film Anthony Adverse (1936); she accepted the part and was awarded the very first Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress. LeRoy originally cast her as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but she felt she was not right for that role. Instead, she co-starred opposite Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), a film that won Best Picture in 1937. Sondergaard’s most-remembered role was that of the sinister and cunning wife of a husband murdered by Bette Davis‘ character in The Letter(1940). Sondergaard continued her career rise in films such as Juarez (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), The Black Cat (1941), and Anna and the King of Siam (1946). Unfortunately, she was blacklisted when she refused to testify during the McCarthy-inspired “Red Scare” hysteria in the 1950s. She eventually returned to films in the 1960s and made her final appearance in the 1983 film Echoes (1982). Gale Sondergaard passed away of an undisclosed illness at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 86.