fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Thelma Ritter (February 14, 1902 – February 5, 1969) was an American actress, best known for her comedic roles as working-class characters and her strong New York accent. She won the 1958 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and received six nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, more than any other actress in the category.

Thelma Ritter
Ritter in All About Eve (1950)
Born	(1902-02-14)February 14, 1902 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	February 5, 1969(1969-02-05) (aged 66) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1926–1968
Spouse	Joseph Moran ​ ​ (m. 1927)​
Children	2

Early and family life

Ritter was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 14, 1902, the first child of Charles and Lucy Ritter, both natives of the United States.[1][2] Her father at that time was a bookkeeper,[1] and he became a shore company's office manager.[3]

At age 11, Ritter portrayed Puck in a semi-professional dramatic society's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.[3] As a teenager, she appeared in high-school plays and stock companies. She later received formal training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (ADA).[4] That training came after her initial effort to attend the academy was rebuffed. After graduating from Manual Training High School, she achieved her goal of studying at ADA.[3]

Although she subsequently struggled to establish a stage career, Ritter decided to take a hiatus from acting to raise her two children—Monica and Joe—by her husband Joseph Moran (whom she married in 1927).[5] Moran was also an actor, but changed professions in the mid-1930s, opting to become an agent and then an advertising executive.[4]

Career

Ritter's first professional experience came with stock theater companies in New York and New England.[3] Her Broadway credits include UTBU (1965), New Girl in Town (1956), In Times Square (1931), and The Shelf (1926).[6]

Ritter's first movie role was in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She made a memorable impression in a brief uncredited part, as a frustrated mother unable to find the toy that Kris Kringle has promised her son. Her third role, in writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives (1949), left a mark, although Ritter was again uncredited. Mankiewicz kept Ritter in mind, and cast her as Birdie Coonan in All About Eve (1950), which earned her an Oscar nomination. A second nomination followed for her work in the Mitch Leisen ensemble screwball comedy The Mating Season (1951) starring Gene Tierney and John Lund. She enjoyed steady film work for the next dozen years.

She appeared in many of the episodic drama TV series of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, General Electric Theater, and The United States Steel Hour ‘’Wagon Train’’. Other film roles were as James Stewart's nurse in Rear Window (1954) and as Doris Day's maid in Pillow Talk (1959). Although best known for comedy roles, she played the occasional dramatic role, most notably in With a Song in My Heart (1952), Pickup on South Street (1953), Titanic (1953), The Misfits (1961), and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), for which she received her final Oscar nomination. Her last work was an appearance on The Jerry Lewis Show on January 23, 1968.[7]

Death

Ritter died of a heart attack in New York City in 1969, nine days before her 67th birthday.[3]

Work

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1947	Miracle on 34th Street	Peter's Mother	George Seaton	Uncredited
1948	Call Northside 777	Receptionist	Henry Hathaway	Uncredited
1949	A Letter to Three Wives	Sadie Dugan	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Uncredited
	City Across the River	Mrs. Katie Cusack	Maxwell Shane
	Father Was a Fullback	Geraldine	John M. Stahl
1950	Perfect Strangers	Lena Fassler	Bretaigne Windust
	I'll Get By	Miss Murphy	Richard Sale
	All About Eve	Birdie Coonan	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1951	The Mating Season	Ellen McNulty	Mitchell Leisen
	As Young as You Feel	Della Hodges	Harmon Jones
	The Model and the Marriage Broker	Mae Swasey	George Cukor
1952	With a Song in My Heart	Clancy	Walter Lang
1953	Titanic	Maude Young	Jean Negulesco
	Pickup on South Street	Moe Williams	Samuel Fuller
	The Farmer Takes a Wife	Lucy Cashdollar	Henry Levin
1954	Rear Window	Stella	Alfred Hitchcock
1955	Daddy Long Legs	Alicia Pritchard	Jean Negulesco
	Lucy Gallant	Molly Basserman	Robert Parrish
1956	The Proud and Profane	Kate Connors	George Seaton
1959	A Hole in the Head	Sophie Manetta	Frank Capra
	Pillow Talk	Alma	Michael Gordon
1961	The Misfits	Isabelle Steers	John Huston
	The Second Time Around	Aggie Gates	Vincent Sherman
1962	Birdman of Alcatraz	Elizabeth Stroud	John Frankenheimer
	How the West Was Won	Agatha Clegg	John Ford Henry Hathaway George Marshall
1963	For Love or Money	Chloe Brasher	Michael Gordon
	Move Over, Darling	Grace Arden
	A New Kind of Love	Leena	Melville Shavelson
1965	Boeing Boeing	Bertha	John Rich
1967	The Incident	Bertha Beckerman	Larry Peerce
1968	What's So Bad About Feeling Good?	Mrs. Schwartz	George Seaton	final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Lux Video Theatre	Lux Video Theatre Guest	Episode: Christmas in July
1955	The Best of Broadway	Mrs. Fisher	Episode: The Show-Off
	The 20th Century Fox Hour	Abby	Episode: Christopher Bean
	Goodyear Television Playhouse	Aggie Hurley	Episode: The Catered Affair
1956	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Lottie Slocum	Episode: The Baby Sitter
1957	Telephone Time	Mary Devlin	Episode: Plot to Save a Boy
	The United States Steel Hour	Ma Garfield	Episode: The Human Pattern
1960	GE True Theatre	Doris Green	Episode: Sarah's Laughter
	Startime	Mrs. Gillis	Episode: The Man
1961	Frontier Circus	Bertha Marie Beecher	Episode: Journey from Hannibal
1962	Wagon Train	Madame Sagittarius	Episode: The Madame Sagittarius Story

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1926	The Shelf	Miss Paterson	Morosco Theatre, Broadway
1931	In Times Square	Sally Stewart	Longacre Theatre, Broadway
1957	New Girl in Town	McCathy	46th Street Theatre, Broadway
1961	UTBU	Performer	Hayes Theatre, Broadway

Radio

Year	Program	Notes	Ref.
1953	Theatre Guild on the Air	Episode: A Square Peg	[8]

Awards and nominations

During her career, Ritter was nominated for an Oscar six times, giving her the distinction of being one of the three actresses (tied with Deborah Kerr and Amy Adams) with the second most nominations for the award in an acting category without a win, surpassed only by Glenn Close with eight. The current record for all actors is Close and Peter O'Toole with eight nominations without a win, followed by Richard Burton with seven nominations. Both Kerr and O'Toole received honorary awards from the Academy, however. In 1955, Thelma Ritter co-hosted the Oscar ceremony, notably trading wisecracks with Bob Hope.

Academy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1950	Best Supporting Actress	All About Eve	Nominated	[9]
1951		The Mating Season	Nominated
1952		With a Song in My Heart	Nominated
1953		Pickup on South Street	Nominated
1959		Pillow Talk	Nominated
1962		Birdman of Alcatraz	Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1956	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Goodyear Television Playhouse	Nominated	[10]

Tony Award

In 1958, Ritter won a Tony Award in a rare tie (with her co-star, Gwen Verdon) for their work in New Girl.

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1958	Best Actress in a Musical	New Girl in Town	Won	[11]

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
1950	Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture	All About Eve	Nominated	[12]
1951		The Mating Season	Nominated	[12]
1965		Boeing Boeing	Nominated	[12]

References

Further reading

• Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Thelma Ritter". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 221–223. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.

External links

• Thelma Ritter at the Internet Broadway Database
• Thelma Ritter at IMDb

На других языках

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[de] Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter (* 14. Februar 1902 in New York City, New York; † 4. Februar 1969 ebenda) war eine US-amerikanische Schauspielerin. Sie machte sich ab Ende der 1940er-Jahre einen Namen als Charakterdarstellerin und trat vorwiegend als prägnante Nebendarstellerin in Erscheinung. Sie verkörperte häufig Frauen fortgeschrittenen Alters, die durch ihren schnoddrigen Humor auffallen.

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- [en] Thelma Ritter

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[es] Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter (14 de febrero de 1902-5 de febrero de 1969) fue una sólida actriz secundaria del cine estadounidense de las décadas de 1940, 1950 y 1960, conocida mayormente por sus papeles de comedia y su fuerte acento de Brooklyn. Recibió seis nominaciones a los premios Óscar de la Academia como mejor actriz de reparto siendo nominada como ninguna otra actriz en la historia, solo superada después por Glenn Close con siete nominaciones. Ganó un premio Tony a mejor actriz principal en un musical.

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[ru] Риттер, Телма

Те́лма Ри́ттер (англ. Thelma Ritter, Бруклин; 14 февраля 1905 (1905-02-14) — 5 февраля 1969) — американская актриса, обладательница премии «Тони», а также шестикратная номинантка на «Оскар». Все шесть номинаций Телма получила за роли второго плана. Ей принадлежит рекорд в данной категории по количеству номинаций (6) без побед, причём 4 из них были с интервалом в 1 год[1].

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