Barbara Bel Geddes
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| Barbara Bel Geddes | |
 Bel Geddes as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1955 |
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| Born | October 31, 1922 New York, New York, United States |
| Died | August 8, 2005 (aged 82) Northeast Harbor, Maine, United States |
| Spouse(s) | Carl Sawyer (1944 - 1951, divorced) Windsor Lewis (1967 - 1972) |
| Official site | http://www.barbarabelgeddes.com |
| Notable roles | Miss Ellie Ewing in Dallas |
Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 New York City – August 8, 2005 Northeast Harbor, Maine) was an Oscar-nominated American actress, best known for her role on the hit CBS drama, Dallas, as its strong and reasoned matriarch, Miss Ellie Ewing.
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[edit] Career
Bel Geddes began her career as a stage actress at the age of 18, going on to star in fifteen major Broadway productions. Her most notable stage performances included the role of Maggie "the cat" in Elia Kazan's original production of Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway in 1956, and the title role in the long-running Jean Kerr comedy Mary, Mary in 1961, both of which earned her Tony Award nominations. Other highlights include "The Moon Is Blue", John Steinbeck's "Burning Bright" Edward Albee's "Everything In The Garden" and "Silent Night, Lonely Night" with Henry Fonda.
In 1946, Bel Geddes was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award, and the Donaldson Award for "Outstanding Achievement in The Theatre" for her performance in "Deep Are The Roots". In 1952, she received the prestigious "Woman of the Year" Award from Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals, America's oldest theater company; In 1993, she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame (located in the Gershwin Theatre in New York City), a distinction she shares with her father, stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes.
Her film career began opposite Henry Fonda in 1947's The Long Night. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for I Remember Mama (1948). A House Unamerican Activities Committee investigation stalled her film career for a short time. She found new opportunity in television when Alfred Hitchcock cast her in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, including "Lamb to the Slaughter," the seminal episode in which she plays a housewife who kills her husband by bludgeoning him to death with a leg of lamb, cooking the murder weapon and serving it to the investigating police; Mr. Hitchcock cast her again with James Stewart in his classic film Vertigo (1958). Bel Geddes also starred with Danny Kaye and jazz great Louis Armstrong in the screen musical The Five Pennies.
In 1978, Barbara was the first performer signed to star in the CBS prime time soap opera, Dallas. The role of family matriarch, Miss Ellie Ewing, would bring her international recognition among modern-day audiences. She appeared on the series from 1978 to 1990 and remains the only cast member to win the Emmy Award. (Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series).
In March, 1984 Bel Geddes underwent quadruple by-pass heart surgery and was replaced by Donna Reed for the 1984-1985 season. In the early 1970s Bel Geddes had undergone a radical mastectomy, an experience she relived in a series of episodes on Dallas.
Barbara Bel Geddes retired from acting in 1990 to her home in Northeast Harbor, Maine where she continued to work as a fine artist. She was the author of two children's books, I Like to Be Me and So Do I, as well as the creator of a popular line of greeting cards.
[edit] Private life
Bel Geddes was the daughter of Helen Belle Sneider and stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes. Married to theatrical manager Carl Sawyer (aka Carl Schreuer) in 1944, and had one daughter, Susan. They divorced in 1951. Later that year, she married stage director Windsor Lewis with whom she had a daughter, Betsy. When Lewis became ill in 1967, Bel Geddes suspended her career to care for him. He died in 1972.
[edit] Broadway Credits
- Finishing Touches 1973
- Everything in the Garden 1967
- Luv 1964
- Mary, Mary 1961
- Silent Night, Lonely Night 1959
- The Sleeping Prince 1956
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1956
- The Living Room 1954
- The Moon Is Blue 1953
- Burning Bright 1950
- Deep Are the Roots 1946
- Mrs. January and Mr. X 1944
- Nine Girls 1943
- Little Darling 1942
- Out of the Frying Pan 1941
[edit] Filmography
- The Long Night (1947)
- I Remember Mama (1948)
- Blood on the Moon (1948)
- Caught (1949)
- Panic in the Streets (1950)
- Fourteen Hours (1951)
- Vertigo (film) (1958)
- The Five Pennies (1959)
- Five Branded Women (1960)
- By Love Possessed (1961)
- Summertree (1971)
- The Todd Killings (1971)
