Mercedes McCambridge
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Mercedes McCambridge on the cover of a movie magazine |
Mercedes Agnes Carlotta McCambridge (
March 16,
1916 â€"
March 2,
2004) was an
Academy Award-winning
American actress.
"Mercy" McCambridge was born in
Joliet, Illinois to
Irish Catholic immigrant parents; she later falsely claimed to have been born on
March 17,
1918.
McCambridge began as a
radio performer in the 1940s and also performed on
Broadway. Her work in this period included a period as Rosemary Levy in the radio program
Abie's Irish Rose. Her big break in
Hollywood came when she was cast opposite
Broderick Crawford in the
1949 film
All the King's Men. McCambridge cemented her fame when she won the
1950 Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, which also won
Best Picture for that year. McCambridge also won the
Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer - Female for that film.
In 1954, McCambridge co-starred with
Joan Crawford and
Sterling Hayden in the offbeat western drama,
Johnny Guitar, now a cult classic. McCambridge and Hayden publicly declared their dislike of Crawford, with McCambridge labeling Crawford "a bad egg." The cast also included a fresh faced, but close to 40 years old, actor named
Ernest Borgnine.
Her performance in "
Johnny Guitar" led to her co-starring with
Burt Lancaster and
Walter Matthau in "
The Kentuckian," in which she played, yet again, a woman of evil intent.
McCambridge was also well-known for providing the dubbed-in voice of the
demonically
possessed character in
The Exorcist, acted by
Linda Blair. McCambridge, however, was not originally credited for the voice in the film's initial release, probably so as to heighten the film's initial
mystique. McCambridge later went public in the
1970s in her dispute with the film's creator
William Friedkin and the
Warner Bros. brass over her exclusion, and with the help of the
Screen Actors Guild, she was ultimately properly credited for her vocal work in future releases of the film. In interviews with
E!'s True Hollywood Story regarding the supposed "
Curse of the Exorcist," it was said that McCambridge's already deep voice was made raspy and frightening-sounding and it "really became the
Devil's" via sleep deprivation, cigarettes, and drinking raw egg yolks and liquor.
McCambridge has two stars on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for
motion pictures, located at 1722 Vine Street, and one for
television located 6243 Hollywood Boulevard.
McCambridge told the story of her life in
The Quality of Mercy: An Autobiography (published in NYC by Times Books c1981; ISBN 0812909453), the title making use of her childhood nickname.
McCambridge's only child, her son John Lawrence Fifield (who later adopted his step-father's surname and became known as John Markle), killed his family and then himself in a murder/suicide in 1987.
McCambridge died on
March 2,
2004 in
La Jolla, California, of natural causes aged 87.
All the King's Men (
1949)
Inside Straight (
1951)
The Scarf (
1951)
Lightning Strikes Twice (
1951)
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards (
1951)
Johnny Guitar (
1954)
The Kentuckian (1955)
*Giant (1956)
*A Farewell to Arms (1957)
*Touch of Evil (1958) (Cameo)
*Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
*Cimarron (1960)
*Angel Baby (1961)
*Run Home Slow (1965)
*99 Women (1969)
*Justine (1969)
*The Last Generation (1971)
*The Other Side of the Wind (1972) (unfinished)
*Sixteen (1973)
*The Exorcist (1973) (voice only)
*Thieves (1977)
*The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979)
*Echoes (1983)
*Terrace, Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. ISBN 0786403519
*
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Mercedes McCambridge
