Alexis Smith
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Alexis Smith (June 8, 1921 - June 9, 1993) was a Tony Award-winning Canadian actress.
Born Gladys Smith in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, she was the second Canadian with the name ( following Mary Pickford) to achieve New York City and Hollywood stardom. Later in life she would say she preferred New York, while her husband of 49 years, actor Craig Stevens, favored California. She was quite tall, standing at least 5'9", and to fit her, the long, stylish dresses that former Warners' star Kay Francis had worn were allotted to her.
After being noticed in a play, Smith was signed to a contract by Warner Brothers Studios. Her earliest film roles were uncredited bit parts and it took several years for her career to gain momentum, but her appearance in The Constant Nymph was well received and led to bigger parts. During the 1940s she appeared opposite some of the most popular male stars of the day, including Errol Flynn in San Antonio (1945) (in which she sang a special version of the popular ballad "Some Sunday Morning"), Humphrey Bogart in The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), and Cary Grant in a sanitized, fictional version of Cole and Linda Porter's life in Night and Day (1946).
Some of Smith's other films include Rhapsody In Blue (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946), and The Young Philadelphians (1959).
Smith appeared on the cover of the May 3, 1971 issue of Time with the announcement that she would be starring in the Hal Prince's Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. In 1972 she won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance. She followed this with the 1973 all-star revival of The Women, the short-lived 1975 comedy Summer Brave, and the ill-fated 1978 musical Platinum, which drew decent notices only for her performance and quickly closed.
Smith was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest appearance in the television sitcom Cheers in 1990.
Smith died in Los Angeles, California from brain cancer on the day after her 72nd birthday. She had no children and her husband was her only survivor.
Her final film, The Age of Innocence (1993), was released shortly after her death.
Rumors about her sexuality were prompted by lesbian author Rita Mae Brown's dedication of her book, Rubyfruit Jungle, to Smith.
[edit] Filmography
- Lady with Red Hair (1940)
- She Couldn't Say No (1940)
- The Great Mr. Nobody (1941)
- Flight from Destiny (1941)
- Here Comes Happiness (1941)
- Affectionately Yours (1941)
- Singapore Woman (1941)
- Three Sons o' Guns (1941)
- Dive Bomber (1941)
- The Smiling Ghost (1941)
- Passage from Hong Kong (1941)
- Steel Against the Sky (1941)
- Gentleman Jim (1942)
- The Constant Nymph (1943)
- Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
- The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
- The Doughgirls (1944)
- Hollywood Canteen (1944)
- The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945)
- Conflict (1945)
- Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
- San Antonio (1945)
- One More Tomorrow (1946)
- Night and Day (1946)
- Of Human Bondage (1946)
- The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
- Stallion Road (1947)
- So You Want to Be in Pictures (1947) (short subject)
- The Decision of Christopher Blake (1948)
- Always Together (1948) (Cameo)
- The Woman in White (1948)
- Whiplash (1948)
- South of St. Louis (1949)
- One Last Fling (1949)
- Any Number Can Play (1949)
- Montana (1950)
- Wyoming Mail (1950)
- Undercover Girl (1950)
- Here Comes the Groom (1951)
- Cave of Outlaws (1951)
- The Turning Point (1952)
- Split Second (1953)
- The Sleeping Tiger (1954)
- The Eternal Sea (1955)
- Beau James (1957)
- This Happy Feeling (1958)
- The Young Philadelphians (1959)
- It Intrigues Other Worlds (1974)
- Busby Berkeley (1974) (documentary)
- Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough (1975)
- The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
- Casey's Shadow (1978)
- The Trout (1982)
- Tough Guys (1986)
- The Age of Innocence (1993)
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: Helen Gallagher in No, No Nanette |
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical 1972 for Follies |
Succeeded by: Glynis Johns in A Little Night Music |
