Famous Like Me > Singer > H > Judy Holliday
Profile of Judy Holliday
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Name: |
Judy Holliday |
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Date of Birth: |
7th June 1921 |
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Place of Birth: |
New York City |
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Profession: |
Singer |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia Judy Holliday (June 21, 1921 – June 7, 1965) was an American actress. Born Judith Tuvim in New York City, she was the only child of Abe and Helen Tuvim - Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her first job was as an assistant switchboard operator at the Mercury Theatre run by Orson Welles and John Houseman. She began her show business career in December of 1938 as part of a nightclub act called "The Revuers". The other four members of the group were Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Alvin Hammer and John Frank. The Revuers were a staple of the New York nightlife scene until they disbanded in early 1944.
Holliday made her Broadway debut on March 20, 1945 at the Belasco Theatre in Kiss Them for Me and was one of the recipients that year of the Clarence Derwent Award. In 1946 she was back on Broadway as the scatterbrained "Billie Dawn" in Born Yesterday. In 1949, she was cast in a supporting role opposite Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy on film in one of the year's biggest comedies, Adam's Rib. The part gave her the chance to star in the film version of Born Yesterday the next year for which she won the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress, beating out such formidable competitors as Gloria Swanson, who was nominated for Sunset Boulevard and Bette Davis, who was nominated for All About Eve.
In 1950, Holliday was the subject of an FBI investigaton looking into allegations that she was a Communist. The investigation "did not reveal positive evidence of membership in the Communist Party" and was concluded after 3 months. Unlike many others that were tainted by the Communist scandal, she was not blacklisted from the movie business, but she was blacklisted from performing on radio and television for almost 3 years.
In 1952, she was called to testify before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to "explain" why her name had been linked to Communist front organizations. She was advised to play dumb, like one of her film characters and did so excellently. She used this technique to avoid giving up names of people that she knew to be Communists.
In 1956 she starred in The Solid Gold Cadillac and in 1960 in Bells Are Ringing, in the role she had originated on Broadway in 1956 and for which she had won the 1957 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
In 1965 she died from breast cancer at the age of 43, survived by her young son. She was interred in the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
Posthumously, she was rumoured to have shared her bed with a New York City policewoman, Yetta Cohn, and possibly other members of the same sex.
She has a well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
- Too Much Johnson (1938) (short subject)
- Greenwich Village (1944)
- Something for the Boys (1944)
- Winged Victory (1944)
- Adam's Rib (1949)
- On the Town (1949) (voice only)
- Born Yesterday (1950)
- The Marrying Kind (1952)
- It Should Happen to You (1954)
- Phffft! (1954)
- The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)
- Full of Life (1957)
- Bells Are Ringing (1960)
Stage Work
- My Dear Public (1942) (w./ The Revuers)
- Kiss Them for Me (1945)
- Born Yesterday (1946)
- Dream Girl (1951)
- Bells Are Ringing (1956)
- Laurette (1960)
- Hot Spot (1963)
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