Mildred Dunnock

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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

Born in

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

After roles 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

Ponds Theater, and, later in her career, several television movies.[citation needed
]

Dunnock was twice nominated for an

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

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

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

Television

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    • (Season 2 Episode 5: "None Are So Blind") (1956) - Aunt Muriel Drummond
    • (Season 2 Episode 35: "The West Warlock Time Capsule") (1957) - Louise Tiffany
    • (Season 3 Episode 4: "Heart of Gold") (1957) - Martha Collins
  • Thriller (American TV series) (1960) – S1 E15 "The Cheaters"
  • The Tom Ewell Show (1960) – episode "The Friendly Man"
  • The Investigators (1961) – episode 11 "The Mind's Own Fire"[citation needed]
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
     (1964) (Season 2 Episode 14: "Beyond the Sea of Death") - Minnie Briggs

Radio appearances

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

See also

References

  1. ^
    Newspapers.com
    .
  2. ^
    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. Newspapers.com
    .
  6. 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. 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. Newspapers.com. Open access icon

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mildred Dunnock.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mildred_Dunnock&oldid=1216175683"