Judy Holliday

Infobox actor
name = Judy Holliday

---

imagecaption = from the trailer for
"Adam's Rib" (1949)
imagesize = 225px
birthname = Judith Tuvim
birthdate = birth date|mf=yes|1921|6|21
birthplace = New York City, New York
deathdate = death date and age|mf=yes|1965|6|7|1921|6|21
deathplace = New York City, New York
spouse = Dave Oppenheim (1948-1958)
academyawards = Best Actress
1950 "Born Yesterday"
goldenglobeawards = Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1950 "Born Yesterday"
tonyawards = Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1957 "Bells Are Ringing"

Judy Holliday (June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American Academy- and Tony Award-winning actress.

Biography

Early life

Born Judith Tuvim ("Tuvim" is Hebrew for "Holiday") in New York City, she was the only child of Abe and Helen Tuvim, Jewish immigrants from Russia. She attended elementary school at PS 150, a school in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. Her first job was as an assistant switchboard operator at the Mercury Theatre run by Orson Welles and John Houseman.

Career

Holliday began her show business career in December, 1938, as part of a nightclub act called "The Revuers." The other four members of the group were Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Alvin Hammer and John Frank; one of their accompanists was Leonard Bernstein. The Revuers were a staple of the New York nightlife scene until they disbanded in early 1944.

Holliday made her Broadway debut on March 20, 1945, at the Belasco Theatre in "Kiss Them for Me" and was one of the recipients that year of the Clarence Derwent Award. In 1946, she was back on Broadway, as the scatterbrained Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday". Author Garson Kanin had written the play specifically for his friend, the brilliant but difficult Jean Arthur. Arthur played the role of Billie out-of-town, but after many complaints and illnesses, she resigned. Kanin chose Holliday as her replacement.

Garson Kanin's book on Tracy and Hepburn mentions that when Columbia bought the rights to film "Born Yesterday", studio boss Harry Cohn wouldn't consider casting the unknown (outside of Broadway) Holliday. Kanin, together with George Cukor, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, conspired to promote Holliday by offering her a key part in the 1949 film "Adam's Rib". She got rave reviews and Cohn offered her the chance to repeat her role for the film version of "Born Yesterday", but only after she did a screen test (which at first was used only as a "benchmark against which to evaluate" other actresses being considered for the role). [Bill Crow. "From Birdland to Broadway: Scenes from a Jazz Life" (Oxford University Press, 1992), p185.] She won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress, beating out such formidable competitors as Gloria Swanson, who was nominated for "Sunset Boulevard" and Bette Davis for "All About Eve".

Investigated for Communism

In 1950, Holliday was the subject of an FBI investigation looking into allegations that she was a Communist. The investigation "did "not" reveal positive evidence of membership in the Communist Party" and was concluded after three months. Unlike many others tainted by the Communist scandal, she was not blacklisted from movies, but she was blacklisted from performing on radio and television for almost three years.

In 1952, she was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to "explain" why her name had been linked to Communist front organizations. In spite of her 172 IQ, [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945865,00.html What Ever Became of "Geniuses"?] , "Time", 19 Dec 1977.] she was advised to play dumb (like some of her film characters) and did so.Fact|date=August 2007 She used this technique to avoid giving up names of people she knew to be Communists.

In 1954, she starred with a then-rising young star Jack Lemmon for the popular comedy, "It Should Happen to You". Holliday and Lemmon next starred together (in that same year) in "Phffft!". Their comedic chemistry on screen made the two films into big hits.

Later life and death

.

Holliday died from breast cancer, in 1965 at the age of 43. She was survived by her young son, Jonathan Oppenheim, and by her ex-husband, clarinetist and conductor David Oppenheim. She was interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Jonathan Oppenheim grew up to become a documentary film editor of note, editing "Paris is Burning", "Children Underground", and "Arguing the World".

Holliday has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography

tage work

References

External links

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*
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* [http://www.judyhollidayrc.com The Judy Holliday Resource Center]
* [http://www.wtv-zone.com/lumina/FBI/testimony-1.html Transcript of Judy Holliday's Senate Testimony]
* [http://www.wtv-zone.com/lumina/judy/fbi.html Judy Holliday's FBI files]

###@@@KEY@@@###s-achsuccession box
title = Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
before= None
years = 1950
for "Born Yesterday"
after = June Allyson
for "Too Young to Kiss"

Persondata
NAME= Holliday, Judy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Tuvim, Judith
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress
DATE OF BIRTH= June 21, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH= New York City, New York
DATE OF DEATH= June 7, 1965
PLACE OF DEATH= New York City, New York