Rosalind Russell

Infobox actor
name = Rosalind Russell


imagesize = 180px
caption = from the trailer for "The Casino Murder Case" (1935)
birthdate = birth date|1907|6|4
birthplace = Waterbury, Connecticut
deathdate = death date and age|1976|11|28|1907|6|4
deathplace = Beverly Hills, California
spouse = Frederick Brisson
(1941-1976)
yearsactive = 1934 - 1972
occupation = actress, singer, screenwriter
academyawards = Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
1973 Outstanding Contributions to Humanitarian Causes
goldenglobeawards = Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1946 "Sister Kenny"
1947 "Mourning Becomes Electra"
Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1958 "Auntie Mame"
1961 "A Majority of One"
1962 "Gypsy"
sagawards = Life Achievement Award
1975 Lifetime Achievement
tonyawards = Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1953 "Wonderful Town"
awards = Walk of Fame - Motion Picture
1708 Vine Street

Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907 – November 28, 1976) was an award-winning American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy "His Girl Friday", as well as originating the role of Auntie Mame on Broadway and in film. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with Meryl Streep for wins until the 2007 awards when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show "Wonerful Town."

Biography

Early life

Rosalind Russell was one of seven siblings born in Waterbury, Connecticut to Clara and James Edward Russell, [ [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/russell.htm rosalind russell ] ] an Irish-American Catholic family. She was not named after the character from Shakespeare's "As You Like It", but rather after the ship on which her parents had travelled. She attended Catholic schools, namely Marymount College in Tarrytown NY, before attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.

Career

She started her career as a fashion model and was in many Broadway shows. In the early 1930s, she began to work for MGM, where she starred in many comedies, such as "Forsaking All Others" and "Four's a Crowd", as well as dramas, including "Craig's Wife" and "The Citadel". In 1939, she was cast as a catty gossip Sylvia Fowler in the all-female comedy "The Women", directed by George Cukor. The film was a major hit, boosting her career and establishing her reputation as a comedienne.

Russell again displayed her talent for comedy in the classic screwball comedy "His Girl Friday", directed by Howard Hawks. She played a quick-witted ace reporter who was also the ex-wife of her newspaper editor (played by Cary Grant).

In the 1940s, she continued to make comedies such as "The Feminine Touch" and "Take a Letter Darling", dramas like "Sister Kenny" and "Mourning Becomes Electra", and a murder mystery "The Velvet Touch".

Over the course of her career, Russell earned four Academy Award nominations for Best Actress: in 1942 for "My Sister Eileen"; in 1946 for "Sister Kenny"; in 1947 for "Mourning Becomes Electra"; and in 1958 for the movie version of "Auntie Mame." She received a Special Academy Award, The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1972. The awarded trophy for The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is an "Oscar" statuette.

Russell appeared as the Mystery Guest on What's My Line? on January 4, 1953. During her appearance, like most other Mystery Guests, Russell disguised her voice. Her voice however, was so well disguised that Dorothy Killgallen was convinced that the Mystery Guest was a man. After Russell's identity was guessed, she told the panel that her voice was so hoarse from "overwork in rehearsing" for her upcoming role in "Wonderful Town" that it made it very easy to diguise her voice in that way.

Russell scored a big hit on Broadway with her Tony Award-winning performance in "Wonderful Town" in 1953. The play was a musical version of her successful film of a decade earlier, "My Sister Eileen". Russell reprised her starring role in the musical version in 1958 in a television special.

Russell returned to her native Waterbury for the world premiere of her movie "The Girl Rush" at the State Theater on August 18, 1955.

Probably her most memorable performance was in the title role of the long-running stage hit "Auntie Mame" and the subsequent movie version, in which she played an eccentric aunt whose orphan nephew comes to live with her. When asked which role she was most closely identified with, she replied that strangers who spotted her still called out, "Hey, Auntie Mame!" She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her iconic role.

From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, she continued to shine with older roles in a large number of movies, giving notable performances in "Picnic", "A Majority of One", "Gypsy" and "The Trouble with Angels".

Russell was the logical choice for reprising her role as "Auntie Mame" when its Broadway musical adaptation "Mame" was set for production in 1966. She claimed to have turned it down since she preferred to move on to different roles. In reality, she did not want to burden the public with her growing health problems, which included rheumatoid arthritis.

Rosalind Russell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1708 Vine Street.

Personal life

She married Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson on October 25, 1941. Fred was often referred to in Hollywood as "The Lizard of Roz" due to his habit of getting choice Broadway play roles for the movie to be played by his wife Roz. They had one child in 1943, a son named Lance. Her father-in-law was the successful Danish actor Carl Brisson.

Russell died after a long battle with breast cancer in 1976 at the age of 69, although initially her age was misreported because she had shaved a few years off her true age. She was survived by her husband and son. She is buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Her autobiography, written with Chris Chase, entitled "Life is a Banquet" was published a year after her death. In the foreword (written by her husband), he states that Russell had a breakdown sometime in the early 1940s. Details are scant (perhaps in 1944, the year she made no films), but it indicates that her health problems can be traced back to the 1940s.

Filmography

*"Evelyn Prentice" (1934)
*"The President Vanishes" (1934)
*"Forsaking All Others" (1934)
*"The Night Is Young" (1935)
*"The Casino Murder Case" (1935)
*"West Point of the Air" (1935)
*"Reckless" (1935)
*"China Seas" (1935)
*"Rendezvous" (1935)
*"It Had to Happen" (1936)
*"Under Two Flags" (1936)
*"Trouble for Two" (1936)
*"Craig's Wife" (1936)
*"Night Must Fall" (1937)
*"Live, Love and Learn" (1937)
*"The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention" (1937)
*"Man-Proof" (1938)
*"Four's a Crowd" (1938)
*"The Citadel" (1938)
*"Fast and Loose" (1939)
*"The Women" (1939)
*"March of Time: The Movies Move On" (1939)
*"His Girl Friday" (1940)
*"No Time for Comedy" (1940)
*"Hired Wife" (1940)
*"This Thing Called Love" (1940)
*"They Met in Bombay" (1941)
*"The Feminine Touch" (1941)
*"Design for Scandal" (1941)
*"You Can't Fool a Camera" (1941)
*"Take a Letter, Darling" (1942)
*"My Sister Eileen" (1942)
*"Flight for Freedom" (1943)
*"What a Woman!" (1943)
*"Roughly Speaking" (1945)
*"Screen Snapshots: 25th Anniversary" (1945)
*"She Wouldn't Say Yes" (1945)
*"Sister Kenny" (1946)
*"The Guilt of Janet Ames" (1947)
*"Mourning Becomes Electra" (1947)
*"Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers" (1947)
*"The Velvet Touch" (1948)
*"Tell It to the Judge" (1949)
*"A Woman of Distinction" (1950)
*"Never Wave at a WAC" (1952)
*"The Girl Rush" (1955)
*"Picnic" (1955)
*"Auntie Mame" (1958)
*"A Majority of One" (1961)
*"Five Finger Exercise" (1962)
*"Gypsy" (1962)
*"The Trouble with Angels" (1966)
*"Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" (1967)
*"Rosie!" (1967)
*"Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows" (1968)
*"Mrs. Pollifax - Spy" (1971)

References

External links

*findagrave|918
*ibdb|58693
*imdb|0751426
*tcmdb name|167490

* [http://www.upress.state.ms.us/catalog/fall2006/forever_mame.html Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell by Bernard F. Dick]
* [http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=161256 Profile] @ Turner Classic Movies
* [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=591 Photographs and bibliography]

###@@@KEY@@@### s-achsuccession box
title=Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
before=Ingrid Bergman
for "The Bells of St. Mary's"
years=1947
for "Sister Kenny"
1948
for "Mourning Becomes Electra"
after=Jane Wyman
for "Johnny Belinda"succession box
title=Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
before=Kay Kendall
for "Les Girls"
years=1959
for "Auntie Mame"
after=Marilyn Monroe
for "Some Like It Hot"succession box
title=Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
before=Shirley MacLaine
for "The Apartment"
years=1962
for "A Majority of One"
1963
for "Gypsy"
after=Shirley MacLaine
for "Irma la Douce"succession box
title=The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
before=Frank Sinatra
years=1972
after=Lew Wassermansuccession box
title=Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award
before=Walter Pidgeon
years=1975
after=Pearl Bailey

Persondata
NAME= Russell, Rosalind
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress, singer
DATE OF BIRTH= June 4, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH= Waterbury, Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH= November 28, 1976
PLACE OF DEATH= Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California