Betsy Drake
Betsy Drake | |
---|---|
Born | Paris, France | September 11, 1923
Died | October 27, 2015 London, England | (aged 92)
Other names | Betsy Drake Grant |
Education | Harvard University, M.Ed. |
Occupation(s) | actress, writer, psychotherapist |
Years active | 1948–1965 |
Spouse |
Betsy Drake (September 11, 1923 – October 27, 2015) was an American actress, writer and psychotherapist. She was the third wife of actor Cary Grant.
Early life and education
Betsy Drake, the eldest child of two American expatriates, was born in
Career
Drake began looking for work as an actress in New York City, supporting herself by working as a Conover model. She met the playwright Horton Foote, who offered her a job as an understudy in his play Only the Heart, which enabled her to join the Actors' Equity Association and thus become a professional actress.[2]
After coming to the attention of the producer
Cary Grant spotted her in 1947 while she was performing in London. The two, who both happened to be returning to the U.S. on the
On Christmas Day 1949, Drake and Grant married in a private ceremony organized by Grant's best man, Howard Hughes, and chose a low-key, introspective private life. They delved into transcendentalism, mysticism, and yoga. She took up causes including the plight of homeless children in Los Angeles.[4] In 1954, they bought the "Las Palomas" estate in the Movie Colony neighborhood of Palm Springs, California.[5]
The couple co-starred in the radio series Mr. and Mrs. Blandings (1951).[6] They appeared together in the comedy drama Room for One More (1952), and Drake appeared in leading roles in England and the U.S., and a supporting role in the satiric comedy film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957).
Drake wrote the original script for the film Houseboat (1958) under a pseudonym, basing it on an unpublished story she had written.[7][8] Starring Grant, Drake anticipated co-starring in the film. Grant, however, who began an affair with Sophia Loren while filming The Pride and the Passion (1957),[9] arranged for Loren to take Drake's place in Houseboat with a rewritten script for which Drake did not receive credit.[10] The affair ended in bitterness before The Pride and the Passion's filming ended, causing problems on the Houseboat set.[11]
Drake subsequently gave up acting and pursued other career interests. She earned a
Drake's last screen appearance was in the documentary film Cary Grant: A Class Apart (2005), in which she reflected on Grant and their time together, and denied rumors alleging he was bisexual.
Personal life
In July 1956, Drake survived the sinking of the Italian ocean liner
Grant and Drake separated in 1958, remaining friends, and divorced in 1962. Their marriage constituted his longest union. Grant credited her with broadening his interests beyond his career and with introducing him to the then-legal
Drake spent the latter part of her life in London, where she died, aged 92 on October 27, 2015.[18]
Filmography
- Every Girl Should Be Married (1948) as Anabel Sims
- Dancing in the Dark(1949) as Julie Clarke
- The Second Woman (1950) as Ellen Foster
- Pretty Baby (1950) as Patsy Douglas
- Room for One More (1952) as Anna Rose
- Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) as Jenny Wells
- General Electric Theater as Ellie (one episode, 1958)
- Intent to Kill (1958) as Dr. Nancy Ferguson
- Next to No Time (1958) as Georgie Brant
- Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965) as Julie Harper
Television credits
- General Electric Theater as Ellie in "A Question of Romance" (1958)
- Wanted: Dead or Aliveas Lucy Fremont in "The Spurs" (1959)
- Cary Grant: A Class Apart (2005) as herself
See also
- List of American film actresses
- List of Harvard University people
- List of novelists from the United States
- List of old-time radio people
- List of women writers
References
- ^ History, Drake Hotel, Retrieved 10 September 2016
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ISBN 0-02-542650-8..
Among the original twenty-six actors that Kazan selected were Jocelyn Brando, Joan Copeland, Betsy Drake, Lou Gilbert, Julie Harris, Steven Hill, Cloris Leachman, Nehemiah Persoff, and James Whitmore
- ^ a b Bernstein, Adam (November 11, 2015). "Betsy Drake, actress and writer who married Cary Grant, dies at 92". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
- OCLC 209646547. Archived from the originalon April 4, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
- ^ Bundy, Jane (February 3, 1951). "Television-Radio Reviews: Mr. and Mrs. Blandings". The Billboard. p. 8. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ Connolly, Mike (June 20, 1957). "Hollywood Isn't Hurt?". The Desert Sun. p. 4.
- ^ Barnes, Mike (November 10, 2015). "Betsy Drake, Actress and Third Wife of Cary Grant, Dies at 92". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (October 18, 2014). "Sophia Loren: how Cary Grant begged me to become his lover". The Guardian. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-101-97102-4.
- ^ Jaynes, Barbara Grant & Trachtenberg, Robert (2004). Cary Grant: A Class Apart. Burbank, California: Turner Classic Movies and Turner Entertainment.
- ^ Beauchamp, Cari; Balaban, Judy (August 2010). "Cary in the Sky with Diamonds". Vanity Fair: 4. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-5011-9139-8.
- ^ Drake, Betsy (March 1975). "Psychoanalytically Oriented Psychodrama with Multiple Family Groups". American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (s): 260–1 – via EBSCOhost.
- ^ Grant, Betsy Drake (1971). Children, you are very little. Internet Archive. New York, Atheneum.
- ^ "Betsy Drake, actress and wife of Cary Grant, survivor of Andrea Doria, dies aged 92". U.S. News & World Report Associated Press. November 12, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
- ^ Barnes, Mike (November 10, 2015). "Betsy Drake, Actress and Third Wife of Cary Grant, Dies at 92". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 12, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
Suggested reading
- Grant, Betsy Drake (1971). Children You Are Very Little. OCLC 192964.
External links
- Betsy Drake at IMDb
- Betsy Drake at Turner Classic Movies