Celeste Holm

Infobox actor
name = Celeste Holm


imagesize = 200px
caption = Celeste Holm in "All About Eve" (1950).
birthdate = birth date and age|1917|4|29
birthplace = New York, New York
yearsactive = 1946-present
website=http://www.celesteholm.com
spouse = Ralph Nelson (1938-1939)
Francis Davies (m. 1940)
A. Schuyler Dunning (m. 1946)
Wesley Addy (1961-1996)
Frank Basile (2004-present)
academyawards = Best Supporting Actress
1947 "Gentleman's Agreement"
goldenglobeawards = Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1948 "Gentleman's Agreement"

Celeste Holm (born April 29, 1917) is an American stage, film, and television actress, perhaps best remembered for her Academy Award-winning performance in "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), as well as for her Oscar-nominated performance in "All About Eve" (1950).

Biography

Early life

Born in New York City, Holm grew up in Long Valley, New Jersey as an only child. Her mother, Jean Parke, was an American portrait artist and author, while her father, Theodor Holm, was a Norwegian insurance adjuster for Lloyd's of London. Holm studied acting at the University of Chicago before becoming a stage actress in the late 1930s following a brief first marriage, which produced her first child, son Ted Nelson.

Career

Holm's first professional theatrical role was in a production of "Hamlet" starring Leslie Howard, and she quickly rose to prominence with her portrayal of Ado Annie in the original Broadway production of "Oklahoma!" in 1943.

After she starred in the Broadway production of "Bloomer Girl", 20th Century Fox signed Holm to a movie contract in 1946, and in her first two years as a film actress Holm cemented herself immediately as a formidable performer, especially when she won an Oscar and Golden Globe for best supporting actress in "Gentleman's Agreement". After her famous performance in "All About Eve", however, Holm realized she preferred live theater to movie work, and took on very few film roles over the following decade. The most successful of these were the comedy "The Tender Trap" (1955) and the musical "High Society" (1956), both co-starring Holm with Frank Sinatra. Holm starred in the TV series "Honestly, Celeste!" (1954-1955) and was a panelist on "Who Pays?" (1959). She starred as a reporter in an unsold television show pilot called "The Celeste Holm Show" in 1958, based on the book "No Facilities for Women".

In 1965, she starred alongside Lesley Ann Warren as the Fairy Godmother in the CBS television production of "Cinderella". In 1970 and '71 she was featured on NBC-TV's "Nancy". During the 1970s and 1980s, Holm returned more fully to screen acting, with roles in films such as "Tom Sawyer", "Three Men and a Baby" and in television series (often as a guest star) such as "Columbo" and "Falcon Crest". In the 1990s, Holm was a series regular on the ABC soap opera "Loving" as Isabella Alden #2 (1991-1992) and the CBS primetime series "Promised Land" (1996-1999).

In (1983) Celeste Holm made a London appearance in "Lady in the Dark".

Celeste Holm has received many honors in her lifetime: the 1968 Sarah Siddons Award for distinguished achievement in Chicago theatre; she was appointed to the National Arts Council by then-President Ronald Reagan, knighted by King Olav of Norway, and inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1992. She remains active for social causes as a spokesperson for UNICEF, and for occasional professional engagements.

Private life

Holm's first marriage was to Ralph Nelson around 1938. Their son, Ted Nelson, is the co-creator of Hypertext.

She married Francis E. Davies, a Roman Catholic for whom she was received into the Roman Catholic church for the purposes of their 1940 wedding. They divorced shortly thereafter.

From 1946 until 1952, she was married to airline executive A. Schuyler Dunning, with whom she had a second son, Daniel Dunning. [cite news | author=Staff writers | title=Births, deaths, marriages, divorces | url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806408,00.html | work=Time | date=1952-05-12 | accessdate=2008-05-15]

Holm was married to fellow actor Wesley Addy from 1966 until his death in 1996. It was by far her longest marriage. They had no children. They played a married couple on "Loving".

On April 29, 2004, on her 87th birthday she married opera singer Frank Basile. [cite news |first=Kenneth |last=Jones |title=December Bride: Shocking Guests, Celeste Holm Marries Beau at 85th Birthday Party |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85931.html |work=Playbill |date=2004-04-30]

In 2006, Holm was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the SunDeis Film Festival at Brandeis University. [cite web |url=http://www.brandeis.edu/sundeis/welcome.html |title=SunDeis 2006 |accessdate=2007-10-29 |work=SunDeis Film Festival web site |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060910155056/http://www.brandeis.edu/sundeis/welcome.html |archivedate=2006-09-10]

References

External links

* [http://www.celesteholm.com/ Celeste Holm official website]
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Persondata
NAME= Holm, Celeste
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=actress
DATE OF BIRTH= April 29, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH= New York City
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=