Shirley Booth

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Shirley Booth

Born Marjory Ford
August 30, 1898(1898-08-30)
New York City
Died October 16, 1992 (aged 94)
North Chatham, Massachusetts
Spouse(s) Ed Gardner (1929-1942)
William H. Baker (1943-1951)

Shirley Booth (August 30, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was an Academy Award-, Tony-, Emmy-, and Golden Globe-winning American actress whose acclaim on stage and in motion pictures was eclipsed by her late-life popularity as television's sitcom maid Hazel.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Booth was born Marjory Ford in New York City the daughter of Albert James Ford and Virginia Martha Wright. Her sister was Jean Valentine Ford (born 1914).[1]

[edit] Career

She began her career on the stage as a teenager, acting in stock company productions, and was briefly known as Thelma Booth Ford. Her Broadway debut was in the play Hell's Bells opposite Humphrey Bogart on January 26, 1925.

Booth first attracted major notice as the female lead in the comedy hit Three Men on a Horse which ran almost two years in 1935 to 1937. During the 1930s and 1940s, she achieved popularity in dramas, comedies and, later, musicals. She acted with Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1939) and with Ralph Bellamy in Tomorrow the World (1943) and enjoyed one of the most active careers on Broadway for over three decades.

Booth also starred on the popular radio series Duffy's Tavern, playing the lighthearted, wisecracking, man-crazy daughter (the character was said to carry a marriage license reading, "Miss Duffy...and to Whom It May Concern") of the unseen tavern owner on CBS radio from 1941 to 1942 and on NBC-Blue Radio from 1942 to 1943. Her then-real life husband, Ed Gardner, created and wrote the show as well as playing its lead character, Archie, the malapropping manager of the tavern; she left the show not long after the couple divorced, but they were said to have remained friends for the rest of Gardner's life. Booth later auditioned for but did not win the title role of Our Miss Brooks, the role that made Eve Arden a star in 1948.

Booth received her first Tony, for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic), for her performance as Grace Woods in Goodbye, My Fancy (1948). Her second Tony was for Best Actress in a Play, which she received for her widely acclaimed performance of the tortured wife, Lola Delaney, in the poignant drama Come Back, Little Sheba (1950). Her leading man, Sidney Blackmer, received the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as her husband, Doc.

Her enormous success in Come Back, Little Sheba was immediately followed by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), in which she played feisty but lovable Aunt Cissy, which proved to be another major hit.

She then went to Hollywood and recreated her stage role in the motion picture version of Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), with Burt Lancaster playing Doc. Screen legend Bette Davis, her career recently revitalized, was offered to star in the film version, but felt the part of Lola wasn't right for her. After that movie, her first of only four films in her career, was completed, she returned to New York and played Leona Samish in The Time of the Cuckoo (1952) on Broadway.

In 1953, Booth received the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Come Back, Little Sheba, becoming the first actress ever to win both a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. The film also earned Booth "Best Actress" awards from The Cannes Film Festival, the Golden Globe Awards, The New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and National Board of Review. She also received her third Tony, which was her second in the Best Actress in a Play category, for her performance in the Broadway production of Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo.

So prolific was Ms. Booth as an award winner at that time, that during her May 3, 1953 appearance on What's My Line?, John Charles Daly said, "I might say, if I may, without causing you too much embarrassment, that it's a great honor for us to have the young lady who got the Oscar Award and the Antoinette Perry Award and just won the award in Cannes, in fact I think one of our New York columnists, Mrs. Lyon, said the only thing that you hadn't won so far was the Kentucky Derby." Booth jokingly replied, "Well, I almost won it yesterday, but I drew the wrong ticket in the lottery." [2]

Booth was 54 when she made her first movie, although she had successfully deleted a decade off her age, with her publicity stating 1907 as the year of her birth. The correct year of birth was known by only her closest associates until her actual age was announced at the time of her death. Her second starring film, a romantic drama About Mrs. Leslie (1954) opposite Robert Ryan, was released in 1954 to good reviews. In 1953, Booth had made a cameo appearance as herself in the all-star comedy/drama movie Main Street to Broadway.

She spent the next few years commuting between New York and Southern California. On Broadway, she scored personal successes in the musical By the Beautiful Sea (1954) and the comedy Desk Set (1955). Although Booth had become well known to moviegoers during this period, the movie versions of both Cuckoo, which was re-titled for the movie Summertime (1955), and Desk Set (1957) went to Katharine Hepburn.

She returned to motion pictures in 1958 starring in two more films for Paramount Pictures, playing Dolly Gallagher Levi in Thornton Wilder's romance/comedy The Matchmaker (1958) and playing Alma Duval in the drama Hot Spell (1958). She was named runner-up to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! as the year's Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle for her two 1958 films.

In 1957, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work on the stage in Chicago. She returned to the Broadway stage in 1959, starring as the long-suffering title character in the Marc Blitzstein musical Juno, an adaptation of Sean O'Casey's 1924 classic play, Juno and the Paycock.

Frank Capra unsuccessfully attempted to bring Booth back to the screen with Pocketful of Miracles in 1961, but after screening Capra's original version, Lady for a Day (1933), Booth informed him there was no way she could match May Robson's moving, Oscar-nominated performance in the original and so Capra signed Bette Davis instead -- and, indeed, Davis was unfavorably compared to Robson by most reviewers when the film was released.)

Booth as Hazel (1961)
Booth as Hazel (1961)

In 1961, Booth began starring in the television situation comedy Hazel, based on Ted Key's popular comic strip from the Saturday Evening Post about domineering yet endearing housemaid, Hazel Burke. The show reunited her with Harry Ackerman, who produced the show, and she won two Emmys, in 1962 and 1963, and new stardom with a younger audience. Booth received another Emmy nomination for her third season as "Hazel" in 1964 and in 1966 was also Emmy nominated for her performance as Amanda in a television adaptation of The Glass Menagerie.

She told the Associated Press in 1963, at the height of the show's popularity, "I liked playing Hazel the first time I read one of the scripts, and I could see all the possibilities of the character–the comedy would take care of itself. My job was to give her heart. Hazel never bores me. Besides, she's my insurance policy." She proved prescient with the last comment; the show was seen in syndicated reruns for many years after it ceased first-run production in 1966.

Booth was a distinguished and versatile performer, equally at home acting in theatre, radio, and on the big and small screen. She had a long and prestigious list of stage credits and made numerous appearances in TV movies and programs. Her last Broadway appearances were in a revival of Noel Coward's play Hay Fever and the musical Look to the Lilies, both in 1970.

After appearing as Grace Simpson in the TV series A Touch of Grace (1973), which was directed by Carl Reiner, she did voice work for the animated special The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974), playing Mrs. Santa, then retired.

[edit] Personal life

Booth's second marriage, to William Baker in 1943, lasted until his death in 1951; the actress never remarried and had no children from either marriage. She died after a brief illness at age 94 at her home in North Chatham, Massachusetts. She is interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Montclair, New Jersey.

Shirley Booth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

[edit] Work

[edit] Stage

Broadway [3]
Dates of production Title Role Genre Notes
26 January 1925 - May 1925 Hell's Bells Nan Winchester Comedy
2 November 1925 - June 1926 Laff That Off Peggy Bryant Comedy
7 October 1926 - October 1926 Buy, Buy Baby Betty Hamilton Comedy
Oct 6, 1927 - Oct 1927 High Gear Mary Marshall Comedy
Sep 24, 1928 - Dec 1928 The War Song Emily Rosen Drama
Apr 21, 1931 - Apr 1931 School for Virtue Marg Comedy
Oct 2, 1931 - Oct 1931 The Camels are Coming Bobby Marchante Comedy
Nov 30, 1931 - Jan 1932 Coastwise Annie Duval Original drama
May 8, 1933 - Jun 1933 The Mask and the Face Elisa Zanotti Comedy revival
Feb 7, 1934 - Feb 1934 After Such Pleasures Comedy
Jan 30, 1935 - Jan 9, 1937 Three Men on a Horse Mabel Comedy
Apr 9, 1937 - Jul 1937 Excursion Mrs. Loschavio Comedy
Nov 15, 1937 - Nov 1937 Too Many Heroes Carrie Nolan Drama
Mar 28, 1939 - Mar 30, 1940 The Philadelphia Story Elizabeth Imbrie Comedy
Dec 26, 1940 - Jan 16, 1943 My Sister Eileen Ruth Sherwood Comedy
Apr 14, 1943 - Jun 17, 1944 Tomorrow the World Leona Richards Drama
May 31, 1945 - Jul 14, 1945 Hollywood Pinafore Louhedda Hopsons Comedy
Dec 11, 1946 - Dec 14, 1946 Land's End Susan Pengilly Drama
Jan 16, 1948 - Jan 17, 1948 The Men We Marry Drama
Nov 17, 1948 - Dec 24, 1949 Goodbye, My Fancy Grace Woods Drama Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play[4]
Nov 7, 1949 - Nov 19, 1949 Love Me Long Abby Quinn Comedy
Feb 15, 1950 - Jul 29, 1950 Come Back, Little Sheba Lola Drama Tony Award[4]
Apr 19, 1951 - Dec 8, 1951 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Cissy Musical
Oct 15, 1952 - May 30, 1953 The Time of the Cuckoo Leona Samish Drama Tony Award[4]
Apr 8, 1954 - Nov 27, 1954 By the Beautiful Sea Lottie Gibson Musical
Oct 24, 1955 - Jul 5, 1956 Desk Set Bunny Watson Comedy
Dec 26, 1957 - Feb 8, 1958 Miss Isobel Mrs. Ackroyd Drama
Mar 9, 1959 - Mar 21, 1959 Juno Juno Boyle Musical
Apr 13, 1960 - May 7, 1960 A Second String Fanny Drama
Mar 29, 1970 - Apr 18, 1970 Look to the Lilies Musical
Nov 9, 1970 - Nov 28, 1970 Hay Fever Judith Bliss Comedy revival

[edit] Film

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1952 Come Back, Little Sheba Lola Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1953 Main Street To Broadway Herself
1954 About Mrs. Leslie Mrs. Vivien Leslie
1958 Hot Spell Alma Duval
The Matchmaker Dolly 'Gallagher' Levi

[edit] Television

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1954 Welcome Home Jenny on The United States Steel Hour
1957 The Hostess With the Mostess Perle Mesta on Playhouse 90
1961 The Haven on The United States Steel Hour
1961-1965 Hazel Hazel Burke Emmy Award 1962 & 1963, nominated 1965
1966 The Glass Menagerie Amanda Wingfield on CBS Playhouse
Nominated Emmy Award
1967 Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Heloise Michaud CBS Playhouse
1968 The Smugglers Mrs. Hudson
1973 A Touch of Grace Grace Simpson Television series
1974 The Year Without a Santa Claus Mrs. Claus voice actress

[edit] Bibliography

  • Tucker, David C. (2008). Shirley Booth: A Biography and Career Record. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 9780786436002. 
  • Manago, Jim; Manago, Donna (2008). Love is the Reason for It All: The Shirley Booth Story. Albany, GA: BearManorMedia. ISBN 978-1593931469. 


[edit] References

  1. ^ A copy of her birth certificate reflecting the true birth name is located in Booth's clippings file at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, NYC
  2. ^ "What's My Line", May 3, 1953.
  3. ^ Internet Broadway Database: Shirley Booth Credits on Broadway
  4. ^ a b c Past Tony Award Winners.

[edit] External links


Awards
Preceded by
Jane Wyman
for The Blue Veil		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1953
for Come Back, Little Sheba		 Succeeded by
Audrey Hepburn
for Roman Holiday
Preceded by
Lee Grant
for Detective Story		 Award for Best Actress - Cannes Film Festival
1953
for Come Back, Little Sheba		 Succeeded by
None
Preceded by
Vivien Leigh
for A Streetcar Named Desire		 NYFCC Award for Best Actress
1952
for Come Back, Little Sheba		 Succeeded by
Audrey Hepburn
for Roman Holiday


v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Actress

Joan Fontaine (1941) · Greer Garson (1942) · Jennifer Jones (1943) · Ingrid Bergman (1944) · Joan Crawford (1945) · Olivia de Havilland (1946) · Loretta Young (1947) · Jane Wyman (1948) · Olivia de Havilland (1949) Judy Holliday (1950) · Vivien Leigh (1951) · Shirley Booth (1952) · Audrey Hepburn (1953) · Grace Kelly (1954) · Anna Magnani (1955) · Ingrid Bergman (1956) · Joanne Woodward (1957) · Susan Hayward (1958) · Simone Signoret (1959) · Elizabeth Taylor (1960)

Complete list · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series

Gertrude Berg (1950) · Imogene Coca (1951) · Lucille Ball (1952) · Eve Arden (1953) · Lucille Ball (1955) · Nanette Fabray (1956) · Jane Wyatt (1957) · Jane Wyatt (1959) · Jane Wyatt (1960) · Shirley Booth (1962) · Shirley Booth (1963) · Mary Tyler Moore (1964) · Mary Tyler Moore (1966) · Lucille Ball (1967) · Lucille Ball (1968) · Hope Lange (1969) · Hope Lange (1970) · Jean Stapleton (1971) · Jean Stapleton (1972) · Mary Tyler Moore (1973) · Mary Tyler Moore (1974) · Valerie Harper (1975)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Ingrid Bergman / Helen Hayes (1947) · Judith Anderson / Jessica Tandy (1948) · Shirley Booth (1950) · Uta Hagen (1951) · Julie Harris (1952) · Shirley Booth (1953) · Audrey Hepburn (1954) · Nancy Kelly (1955) · Julie Harris (1956) · Margaret Leighton (1957) · Helen Hayes (1958) · Gertrude Berg (1959) · Anne Bancroft (1960) · Joan Plowright. (1961) · Margaret Leighton (1962) · Uta Hagen (1963) · Sandy Dennis (1964) · Irene Worth (1965) · Rosemary Harris (1966) · Beryl Reid (1967) · Zoe Caldwell (1968) · Julie Harris (1969) · Tammy Grimes (1970) · Maureen Stapleton (1971) · Sada Thompson (1972) · Julie Harris (1973) · Colleen Dewhurst (1974) · Ellen Burstyn (1975)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Patricia Neal (1947) · Shirley Booth (1949) · Maureen Stapleton (1951) · Marian Winters (1952) · Beatrice Straight (1953) · Jo Van Fleet (1954) · Patricia Jessel (1955) · Una Merkel (1956) · Peggy Cass (1957) · Anne Bancroft (1958) · Julie Newmar (1959) · Anne Revere (1960) · Colleen Dewhurst (1961) · Elizabeth Ashley (1962) · Sandy Dennis (1963) · Barbara Loden (1964) · Alice Ghostley (1965) · Zoe Caldwell (1966) · Marian Seldes (1967) · Zena Walker (1968) · Jane Alexander (1969) · Blythe Danner (1970) · Rae Allen (1971) · Elizabeth Wilson (1972) · Leora Dana (1973) · Frances Sternhagen (1974) · Rita Moreno (1975)
Persondata
NAME Booth, Shirley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ford, Thelma Marjory
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City, New York, US
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1992
PLACE OF DEATH North Chatham, Massachusetts, US