Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dunnock | |
---|---|
Dunnock in the trailer of BUtterfield 8 (1960) | |
Born |
Mildred Dorothy Dunnock January 25, 1901 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Died |
July 5, 1991 90) Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actress & Teacher |
Years active | 1932–1987 |
Spouse(s) |
Keith Merwin Urmy (m. 1933; her death 1991) |
Children | 2 |
Mildred Dorothy Dunnock (January 25, 1901 – July 5, 1991) was an American teacher before becoming an actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice for her performances in Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956).
Early life
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she graduated from Western Senior High School. Dunnock was a school teacher who did not start acting until she was in her early thirties. She attended Goucher College where she was a member of Alpha Phi sorority.
Career
After a couple of roles in Broadway productions during the 1930s, Dunnock won praise for her performance as a Welsh school teacher in The Corn is Green in 1940. The 1945 film version marked her screen debut. During the 1940s she performed mainly on stage, in such dramas as Another Part of the Forest (1946) and Death of a Salesman (1949) and in the musical Lute Song (1946). In 1947, Dunnock became a founding member of the Actors Studio.[1]
Dunnock reprised her Salesman role in the 1951 film version. She originated the role of Big Mama in the Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, although she lost the movie role to Judith Anderson. Her films include The Trouble with Harry (1955), Love Me Tender (1956), Baby Doll (1956), Peyton Place (1957), The Nun's Story (1959), Butterfield 8 (1960), Something Wild (1961) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). She was the woman in the wheelchair pushed down a flight of stairs to her death by the psychotic villain Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) in Kiss of Death (1947). She appeared frequently in guest roles on numerous TV series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Ponds Theater, and later in her career, several television movies, including a remake of Death of a Salesman in which she played Linda Loman for the third time, opposite her original Broadway co-star, Lee J. Cobb.
Dunnock was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Death of a Salesman in 1951, and for Baby Doll in 1956. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Baby Doll, as well as Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Peyton Place in 1957.
Her final film was The Pick-up Artist (1987), which starred Robert Downey, Jr. and Molly Ringwald.
Dunnock has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6613 Hollywood Boulevard. She is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, which she was inducted into in 1983.[2]
Personal life
Dunnock was married to Keith Urmy, an executive at Chemical Bank in Manhattan, from 1933 until her death, and had one child. She died in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts at age 90 from natural causes. At the time of her death she was living in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. [3]
Film appearances
- The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) - Norma - the Chambermaid (uncredited)
- The Corn Is Green (1945) - Miss Ronberry
- Kiss of Death (1947) - Mrs. Rizzo (uncredited)
- Death of a Salesman (1951) - Linda Loman
- I Want You (1951) - Sarah Greer
- Viva Zapata! (1952) - Senora Espejo
- The Girl in White (1952) - Dr. Marie Yeomans
- The Jazz Singer (1952) - Mrs. Ruth Golding
- Bad for Each Other (1953) - Mrs. Mary Owen
- Hansel and Gretel (1954) - Mother (voice)
- The Trouble with Harry (1955) - Mrs. Wiggs
- Love Me Tender (1956) - Martha Reno
- Baby Doll (1956) - Aunt Rose Comfort
- Peyton Place (1957) - Miss Elsie Thornton
- The Nun's Story (1959) - Sister Margharita (Mistress of Postulants)
- The Story on Page One (1959) - Mrs. Ellis
- BUtterfield 8 (1960) - Mrs. Wandrous
- Something Wild (1961) - Mrs. Gates
- Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) - Aunt Nonnie
- Behold a Pale Horse (1964) - Pilar
- Youngblood Hawke (1964) - Sarah Hawke
- 7 Women (1966) - Jane Argent
- What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969) - Miss Edna Tinsley
- The Spiral Staircase (1975) - Mrs. Sherman
- Dragonfly (1976) - Miss Barrow
- The Pick-up Artist (1987) - Nellie (final film role)
Radio appearances
Year | Program | Episode/source |
---|---|---|
1952 | Grand Central Station | Seed of Doubt[4] |
See also
References
- ↑ Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Mildred Dunnock, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, William Redfield, Jerome Robbins, Maureen Stapleton, Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne.
- ↑ "Theater Hall of Fame Gets 10 New Members". New York Times. May 10, 1983.
- ↑ Eric Pace (7 July 1991). "Mildred Dunnock, 90, Acclaimed As Broadway's First Mrs. Loman". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
- ↑ Kirby, Walter (February 17, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved June 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.