Mercedes McCambridge

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Mercedes McCambridge on the cover of a movie magazine
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Mercedes McCambridge on the cover of a movie magazine

Mercedes Agnes Carlotta McCambridge (March 16, 1916 – March 2, 2004) was an Academy Award-winning American actress.

Contents

[edit] Early life

"Mercy" McCambridge was born in Joliet, Illinois to Irish Catholic immigrant parents; she later falsely claimed to have been born on March 17, 1918.

[edit] Career

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 frequently acted in feature roles in the radio dramas of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

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 0-8129-0945-3), the title making use of her childhood nickname.

[edit] Private life

In an interview in 1950 (Syracuse Herald-Journal, Dec 18, 1950, p. 13) with Earl Wilson--"The Man of the Hour (After Midnight)"--McCambridge explained the philosophy behind the organization she founded:

Women should give up the vote, says Mercedes McCambridge. "We asked for it, we got it, the world's never been more jumbled--so we should get rid of it," says she.

The Academy Award actress spoke these inflammable words at the Algonquin in her position as founder of McCambridge "Magnolias Anonymous."

That's an organization to make women quit trying to prove they are smarter than men--with the slogan, "More rustling, less hustling." The "rustling" refers to rustling garments.

We spoke of Eva Peron, of Perle Mesta, of Anna Rosenberg--of Sylvia Porter, the woman financial columnist.

"How can she buy a brassiere and then go write about Wall Street" she wanted to know. She was assuming, of course, that Miss Porter wears brassieres and not saying this because of any information I had smuggled to her..."At parties the blonde who acts dumb and says, 'Oh, I don't know HOW you ever write a column' is the one who gets the mink," she says.

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.

[edit] Filmography

Preceded by
Claire Trevor
for Key Largo		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1949
for All the King's Men		 Succeeded by
Josephine Hull
for Harvey

[edit] References

  • Terrace, Vincent. Radio Programs, 1924-1984. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. ISBN 0-7864-0351-9

[edit] External links

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