Tammy Grimes

Infobox actor
name = Tammy Grimes

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imagesize = 180px
caption =
birthdate = birth date and age|1934|1|30|
birthplace = Lynn, Massachusetts, USA
birthname = Tammy Lee Grimes
occupation = Actress, singer
spouse = Christopher Plummer (1956-1960)
Jeremy Slate (1966-1967)
tonyawards = Best Leading Actress in a Play
1970 "Private Lives"
Best Featured Actress in a Musical
1961 "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"

Tammy Lee Grimes (born January 30, 1934) is an American award-winning actress and singer.

Biography

Early life

Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard (née Niles), a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country club manager, and farmer. [cite web | title=Tammy Lee Grimes Biography | url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/57/Tammy-Grimes.html | work=filmreference | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-07-06] She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and then studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse.

Career

Grimes made her debut on the New York stage in May 1955 in "Jonah and the Whale". In 1956, she appeared in the off-Broadway production, "The Littlest Revue" , and had the lead role in the 1959 Noel Coward play "Look After Lulu".

She starred in the 1960 musical comedy "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" for which she won a Tony Award portraying the title character, a Western mining millionairess who survived the sinking of the Titanic.

In 1966, Grimes starred in her own ABC television series, "The Tammy Grimes Show," in which she played a modern-day heiress who loved to spend money, but it ran for only a month, although an additional six episodes had already been made; earlier, she had turned down the role of Samantha Stephens on "Bewitched" for which she had had right of first refusal.

During her career, she spent several seasons at the Stratford Festival of Canada in Stratford, Ontario and has appeared in a number of television series and motion pictures. Grimes has also entertained at various New York city night clubs and recorded several albums of songs. Her voice can be heard in romantic duets on some of Ben Bagley's anthology albums of Broadway songs under his Painted Smiles record label. In 1982, she hosted the final season of "CBS Radio Mystery Theater".

In 2003, Grimes was inducted into the (American) Theater Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Grimes married Canadian actor Christopher Plummer in 1956, with whom she had a daughter, actress Amanda Plummer. They were divorced in 1960. She was married briefly to the actor Jeremy Slate.

Active in American politics, she is a member of the Republican Party.

Awards

* Theatre World Award - "Look After Lulu" (1959)
* Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical - "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1961)
* Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - "Private Lives" (1970)

Work

Filmography

* "High Art" (1998)
* "Trouble on the Corner" (1997)
* "A Modern Affair" (1995)
* "Backstreet Justice" (1994)
* "Slaves of New York" (1989)
* "Mr. North" (1988)
* "America (film)America" (1986)
* "The Last Unicorn" (Voice) (1982)
* "Can't Stop the Music" (1980)
* "The Runner Stumbles" by Milan Stitt (1979)
* "Somebody Killed Her Husband" (1978)
* "Play It As It Lays" (1972)
* "Arthur! Arthur!" (1969)

tage

* "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1960)
* "Rattle of a Simple Man" (1963)
* "High Spirits" (1964)
* "The Only Game in Town" (1968)
* "Private Lives" (revival) (1969)
* "A Musical Jubilee" (1975)
* "California Suite" (1976)
* "Tartuffe" (revival)(1977)
* "Trick" (1979)
* "42nd Street" (1980)
* "Orpheus Descending" (revival) (1989)

Discography

Grimes released three known one-off singles during the 1960s, none of which charted:
* "Home Sweet Heaven"/"You'd Better Love Me" (ABC 10551) 1964, from "High Spirits"
* "The Big Hurt"/"Nobody Needs Your Love More Than I Do" (Reprise 0487) 1966
* "I Really Loved Harold"/"Father O'Conner" (Buddah 99) 1969

She recorded two albums in the early 1960s, which were re-released in one album in 2004,"The Unmistakable Tammy Grimes."

References

External links

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