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Mildred Dunnock

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Mildred Dunnock
Dunnock in 1956
Born
Mildred Dorothy Dunnock

(1901-01-25)January 25, 1901
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
DiedJuly 5, 1991(1991-07-05) (aged 90)
Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeLambert's Cove Cemetery, West Tisbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationGoucher College
Johns Hopkins University
Columbia University (MA)
Actors Studio
OccupationActress
Years active1932–1987
Spouse
Keith Merwin Urmy
​
(m. 1933)​
Children1

Mildred Dorothy Dunnock (January 25, 1901 – July 5, 1991) was an American stage and screen actress. She was nominated twice for an Academy Award for her works in Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956).

Early life

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Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Dunnock graduated from Western High School.[1] She developed an interest in theater while she was a student at Goucher College[2] where she was a member of Alpha Phi sorority[3] and the Agora dramatic society. After graduating, she taught English at Friends School of Baltimore and helped with productions of plays there.[1]

While teaching school in New York, she earned her Master of Arts degree at Columbia University and acted in a play while she was there. She also studied at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg, Robert Lewis and Elia Kazan.[2]

Career

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After roles in Broadway productions of Life Begins (1932) and The Hill Between (1938),[4] Dunnock won praise for her performance as a Welsh school teacher in The Corn is Green[according to whom?] in 1940 — a role that she performed while she was a full-time teacher at Brearley School.[1] The 1945 film version marked her screen debut.[citation needed] During the 1940s she performed mainly on stage, in such dramas as Another Part of the Forest (1946) and Death of a Salesman (1949) and in the musical Lute Song (1946).[4] She also performed in regional theatrical productions, including those of the Long Wharf Theatre and the Yale Repertory Theatre.[5]

In 1947, she became a founding member of the Actors Studio.[6]

Dunnock reprised her role as Linda Loman, Willy's wife, in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman. She originated the role of Big Mama on Broadway in Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, although she lost the film role to Judith Anderson. Several of her films include The Trouble with Harry (1955), Love Me Tender (1956), Baby Doll (1956), Peyton Place (1957), The Nun's Story (1959), Butterfield 8 (1960), Something Wild (1961) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). She was the woman in the wheelchair pushed down a flight of stairs to her death by the psychotic villain Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) in Kiss of Death (1947). She also appeared in guest roles on numerous TV series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Ponds Theater, and, later in her career, several television movies.[citation needed]

Dunnock was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Death of a Salesman in 1951, and for Baby Doll in 1956. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Baby Doll, as well as Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Peyton Place in 1957.

In 1960 she appeared in the play The Crystal Heart at the East 74th Street Theater with Virginia Vestoff (in her first professional appearance), with top seats selling for $4.96 ($51 in current dollar terms).[7]

In 1966, she played Linda Loman for the third time in the television film adaptation of Death of a Salesman,[8] alongside her original Broadway co-star, Lee J. Cobb.[9] This earned Dunnock a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1967, in the category of Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama.[10]

Her final film was The Pick-up Artist (1987), which starred Robert Downey Jr. and Molly Ringwald.

Dunnock has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6613 Hollywood Boulevard.[11] She is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, which she was inducted into in 1983.[12]

Personal life and death

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Dunnock was married to Keith Urmy, an executive at Chemical Bank in Manhattan, from 1933 until her death. The couple had one child. In 1991, at age 90, Dunnock died from natural causes in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, although at that time she was a resident of nearby West Tisbury.[13]

Film appearances

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Television

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Radio appearances

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Year Program Episode/source
1952 Grand Central Station Seed of Doubt[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Winn, Mary Day (June 12, 1949). "The Triple Player". The Baltimore Sun. Maryland, Baltimore. p. 141. Retrieved July 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b Backalenick, Irene (November 19, 1967). "Mildred Dunnock in 'Menagerie' Enjoys Challenge of Williams". The Bridgeport Post. Connecticut, Bridgeport. p. E 3. Retrieved July 17, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ The Alpha Phi Quarterly, Volume XXXIV, number 1 (January 1922), p. 53
  4. ^ a b "("Mildred Dunnock" search results)". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  5. ^ Holley, Tim (February 8, 1970). "Mildred Dunnock Ignores Status And Performs Where the Action Is". The Bridgeport Post. Connecticut, Bridgeport. p. 57. Retrieved July 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Garfield, David (1980). "Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 52. ISBN 0-02-542650-8. Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Mildred Dunnock, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, William Redfield, Jerome Robbins, Maureen Stapleton, Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne.
  7. ^ "Atlantic in Legit Tie-Up," Billboard, February 15, 1960, p. 4.
  8. ^ "Death of a Salesman (TV Movie 1966)". IMDb. May 8, 1966. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  9. ^ Lowry, Cynthia (May 8, 1966). "A Rare Treat: 'Death of a Salesman'". The Tampa Tribune. Florida, Tampa. Associated Press. p. 116. Retrieved July 18, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Mildred Dunnock - Awards". IMDb. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  11. ^ "Mildred Dunnock". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on July 18, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  12. ^ "Theater Hall of Fame Gets 10 New Members". New York Times. May 10, 1983.
  13. ^ Eric Pace (July 7, 1991). "Mildred Dunnock, 90, Acclaimed As Broadway's First Mrs. Loman". The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
  14. ^ Kirby, Walter (February 17, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. The Decatur Daily Review. p. 40. Retrieved June 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
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