Judy Holliday
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| Judy Holliday | |
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| Born | Judith Tuvim 21 June 1921 New York City, New York |
| Died | 7 June 1965 (aged 43) New York City, New York |
| Spouse(s) | Dave Oppenheim (1948-1958) |
Judy Holliday (June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an Academy- and Tony Award-winning American actress.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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).[1] 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.
[edit] 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,[2] she was advised to play dumb (like some of her film characters) and did so.[citation needed] 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 amazing comedic chemistry on screen made the two films into big hits.
[edit] Later life and death
In 1956 she starred in The Solid Gold Cadillac, and in 1960 in the film version of Bells Are Ringing, a musical with lyrics by Comden and Green that had debuted on Broadway in 1956, and for which she had won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
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.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Too Much Johnson | Extra | short subject |
| 1944 | Greenwich Village | Revuer | uncredited |
| Something for the Boys | Defense plant welder | uncredited | |
| Winged Victory | Ruth Miller | ||
| 1949 | Adam's Rib | Doris Attinger | Nominated - Golden Globe |
| On the Town | Daisy (Simpkins' MGM date) | uncredited, voice only | |
| 1950 | Born Yesterday | Emma 'Billie' Dawn | Academy Award for Best Actress; Golden Globe |
| 1952 | The Marrying Kind | 'Florrie' Keefer | Nominated - BAFTA Award |
| 1954 | It Should Happen to You | Gladys Glover | |
| Phffft! | Nina Tracey nee Chapman | Nominated - BAFTA Award | |
| 1956 | The Solid Gold Cadillac | Nominated - Golden Globe | |
| 1957 | Full of Life | ||
| 1960 | Bells Are Ringing | Nominated - Golden Globe |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1950 for Born Yesterday |
Succeeded by Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire |
| Preceded by None |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1950 for Born Yesterday |
Succeeded by June Allyson for Too Young to Kiss |
| Preceded by Gwen Verdon for Damn Yankees |
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1957 for Bells Are Ringing |
Succeeded by Gwen Verdon & Thelma Ritter for New Girl in Town |
[edit] Stage work
| Year | Production | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | My Dear Public | with The Revuers | |
| 1945 | Kiss Them for Me | Alice | Tony Award - Theatre World Award |
| 1946 | Born Yesterday | Billie Dawn | |
| 1951 | Dream Girl | ||
| 1956 | Bells Are Ringing | Ella Peterson | Tony Award |
| 1960 | Laurette | ||
| 1963 | Hot Spot | Sally Hopwinder |
[edit] References
- ^ Bill Crow. From Birdland to Broadway: Scenes from a Jazz Life (Oxford University Press, 1992), p185.
- ^ What Ever Became of "Geniuses"?, Time, 19 Dec 1977.
[edit] External links
- Judy Holliday at the Internet Movie Database
- Judy Holliday at the Internet Broadway Database
- The Judy Holliday Resource Center
- Transcript of Judy Holliday's Senate Testimony
- Judy Holliday's FBI files
- Judy Holliday at Find A Grave
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| 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 |
