Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell (
June 4,
1907 -
November 28,
1976) was an
American film, stage
actress.
She was
not, as some think, named after the character from
Shakespeare's
As You Like It, but rather after a ship her parents had travelled on.
Rosalind Russell was one of seven siblings born to a
Waterbury, Connecticut Irish-American Catholic family. She attended Catholic schools before attending the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts in
New York City.
She started her career as a fashion model and in many
Broadway shows. In the early 1930s she began to work for
MGM, where she starred in many comedies (
Craig's Wife, 1936;
Four's a Crowd, 1938) and dramas (
The Citadel, 1938). In 1939 she was cast as a catty gossip in the great comedy
The Women, directed by
George Cukor, with an all-female cast, including
Norma Shearer,
Joan Crawford, and
Paulette Goddard.
She could prove her brilliant talent for comedy in the unforgettable
His Girl Friday (1940), directed by
Howard Hawks. In this brilliant
screwball comedy she played a beautiful and ace reporter, who is also the former wife of her newspaper editor (played by
Cary Grant), who is still in love with her.
In the 1940s she was still wonderful in comedy (
The Feminine Touch, 1941;
Take a Letter Darling, 1942), but she also starred in many great dramas, where she gave really passionate performances (
Sister Kenny, 1946;
Mourning Becomes Electra, 1947).
Russell scored a big hit on Broadway starring in
Wonderful Town in
1953. The play was a musical version of her successful film of a decade earlier,
My Sister Eileen. Russell reprised her starring role in the musical version in 1958 in a television special.
Probably her most memorable performances was in the title role of the long-running stage hit
Auntie Mame (1956) and the subsequent movie version (1958), in which she played a mature and bizarre aunt whose orphan nephew comes to live with her. When asked what role was most closely identified with her, she replied that strangers who spotted her still called out, "Hey, Auntie Mame!"
From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s she starred in a large number of movies, giving notable performances in
Picnic (1956),
Gypsy (1962) and
The Trouble with Angels (1966).
Russell was the logical choice for reprising her role as "Auntie Mame" when its Broadway musical adaptation
Mame was set for production in 1966.
She claimed to have turned it down since she preferred to move on to different roles. In reality, she didn't want to burden the public with her escalating health problems, which now included
rheumatoid arthritis.
Russell died after a long battle with
breast cancer in
1976 at the age of 69, although initially her age was misreported because she had shaved a few years off her true age. She was survived by her husband, and her son, Lance Brisson.
She is buried in
Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in
Culver City, California.
Rosalind Russell has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street. Her autobiography, written with Chris Chase, entitled
Life is a Banquet was published a year after her untimely death.
She married
Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson on
October 25,
1941. Her father-in-law was the successful Danish actor
Carl Brisson. Frederick and Rosalind Brisson had one child, a son, Lance, in 1943.
Russell was nominated four times for the
Academy Award for Best Actress:
*
1943 -
My Sister Eileen*
1947 -
Sister Kenny*
1948 -
Mourning Becomes Electra*
1959 -
Auntie MameEvelyn Prentice (
1934)
The President Vanishes (
1934)
Forsaking All Others (
1934)
The Night Is Young (
1935)
The Casino Murder Case (
1935)
West Point of the Air (
1935)
Reckless (
1935)
China Seas (
1935)
Rendezvous (
1935)
It Had to Happen (
1936)
Under Two Flags (
1936)
Trouble for Two (
1936)
Craig's Wife (
1936)
The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention (
1937) (short subject)
Night Must Fall (
1937)
Live, Love and Learn (
1937)
Man-Proof (
1938)
Four's a Crowd (
1938)
The Citadel (
1938)
Fast and Loose (
1939)
March of Time: The Movies Move On (
1939) (short subject)
The Women (
1939)
His Girl Friday (
1940)
No Time for Comedy (
1940)
Hired Wife (
1940)
This Thing Called Love (
1940)
You Can't Fool a Camera (
1941) (short subject)
They Met in Bombay (
1941)
The Feminine Touch (
1941)
Design for Scandal (
1941)
Take a Letter, Darling (
1942)
My Sister Eileen (
1942)
Flight for Freedom (
1943)
What a Woman! (
1943)
Screen Snapshots: 25th Anniversary (
1945) (short subject)
Roughly Speaking (
1945)
She Wouldn't Say Yes (
1945)
Sister Kenny (
1946)
The Guilt of Janet Ames (
1947)
Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers (
1947) (short subject)
Mourning Becomes Electra (
1947)
The Velvet Touch (
1948)
Tell It to the Judge (
1949)
A Woman of Distinction (
1950)
Never Wave at a WAC (
1952)
The Girl Rush (
1955)
Picnic (
1955)
Auntie Mame (
1958)
A Majority of One (
1961)
Five Finger Exercise (
1962)
Gypsy (
1962)
The Trouble with Angels (
1966)
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (
1967)
Rosie! (
1967)
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (
1968)
Mrs. Pollifax - Spy (
1971)
*
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Rosalind Russell*
Rosalind Russell at
Findagrave.com
