Dorothy McGuire

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Dorothy McGuire
from the trailer for the film Gentleman's Agreement (1947).
Birth name	Dorothy Hackett McGuire
Born	June 14, 1916 Omaha, Nebraska
Died	September 13, 2001, age 85 Santa Monica, California

Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an Academy Award-nominated American actress.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage in numerous summer stock productions. Eventually, she succeeded on Broadway -- first appearing as an understudy to Martha Scott in Our Town, and subsequently starring in the domestic comedy, Claudia.

Brought to Hollywood by producer David O. Selznick on the strength of her stage performance, McGuire starred in her first film, a movie adaptation of her Broadway success, Claudia, and portrayed the character of a child bride who almost destroys her marriage through her selfishness. Her inaugural screen performance was popular with both the public and critics alike and was the catalyst for not only a sequel, Claudia and David (both movies co-starred the fine actor, Robert Young), but also for numerous other film roles, many of which received encomiums.

In most of her films, McGuire emanated a luminous intelligence and sincerity, character traits which appealed to movie-going audiences and which helped to sustain a lengthy Hollywood career. Her versatility enabled her to successfully appear in taut melodramas, such as The Spiral Staircase and Make Haste to Live, as well as in light, frothy comedies, e.g., Mother Didn't Tell Me and Mister 880.

By 1943, at the age of 27, she was already playing mother roles, in such movies as A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1947 for Gentleman's Agreement.

She appeared in other films such as Three Coins in the Fountain, A Summer Place, Friendly Persuasion, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, Summer Magic and The Greatest Story Ever Told.

She died of heart disease at the age of 85 in 2001.

McGuire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd.

Despite her legions of fans, the 2002 Oscars failed to include Dorothy McGuire in its traditional list of actors who had passed the year before! The reason given to her family was they had to cut the content because of time constraints, but some relatively unknown artists were included instead!