Greer Garson
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| Greer Garson | |||||||||||||||
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 in the Random Harvest film trailer (1942) |
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| Born | Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson September 29, 1904 London, England |
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| Died | April 6, 1996 (aged 91) Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
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| Spouse(s) | Edward Alec Abbot Snelson (1933-1940) Richard Ney (1943-1947) E. E. "Buddy" Fogelson (1949-1987) |
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Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE (September 29, 1904 - April 6, 1996) was an Academy Award-winning British-American actress who was very popular during the years of the Second World War. She was often cast as the leading lady opposite Walter Pidgeon.
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[edit] Early life
Known in childhood as "Eggy", Greer Garson was born in Manor Park, Essex (now Greater London), England in 1904. She was the only child of George Garson (1865-1906), a clerk born in London but with Scottish lineage, and his Irish wife, Nancy ("Nina") Sophia Greer (d. 1958). Her maternal grandfather was David Greer a RIC sergeant in Castlewellan Co Down Northern Ireland in the 1880s and who later became a land steward to the Annesleys wealthy landlords who built the the town of Castlewellan. He lived in a large detached house built on the lower part of what was known as Pig Street or known locally as the Back Way near Shilliday’s builder’s yard. The house was called ‘Claremount’ and today the street is named Claremount Avenue. It was often reported that Ms. Garson was born in this house. She was, in fact born in London, but spent many of her childhood days in Castlewellan.
She was educated at the University of London, where she earned degrees in French and 18th-century literature. She had intended on becoming a teacher, but instead began working with an advertising agency, and appeared in local theatrical productions.
[edit] Career
She appeared on television during its earliest years, in the 1930s, most notably in a thirty-minute production of an excerpt of Twelfth Night in May 1937, alongside Peggy Ashcroft. This is the first known instance of a Shakespeare play performed on television.[citation needed]
Louis B. Mayer discovered Garson while he was in London looking for new talent. Garson was signed to a contract with MGM in late 1937, but did not begin work on her first film, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, until late 1938. She received her first Oscar nomination for the role, but lost to Vivien Leigh for Gone with the Wind. She received critical acclaim the next year for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1940 film, Pride and Prejudice.[1]
Garson starred opposite Joan Crawford in When Ladies Meet in 1941 and that same year, became a major box office star with the sentimental Technicolor drama Blossoms in the Dust which brought her the first of five consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations, tying Bette Davis' 1938-1942 record, a record that still stands.[citation needed] Garson won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942 for her role as a strong British wife and mother in the middle of World War II in Mrs. Miniver. (Guinness Book of World Records credits her with the longest Oscar acceptance speech, at five minutes and 30 seconds,[2] after which the Academy Awards instituted a time limit.[citation needed]) She was also nominated for Madame Curie (1943), Mrs. Parkington (1944), and The Valley of Decision (1945).
Garson was a popular dramatic actress for several years when she was teamed with Clark Gable in his first film since returning from war service in 1945, Adventure. The film was advertised with the catch-phrase "Gable's back and Garson's got him!" Gable had argued for "He put the Arson in Garson", she countered "She Put the Able in Gable!", thereafter the safer catchphrase was selected. Garson's popularity dropped somewhat in the late 1940s, but she remained a popular film star until the mid 1950s. In 1951, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States.[citation needed] She made only a few films after her MGM contract expired in 1954. In 1958, she received a warm reception on Broadway in Auntie Mame, replacing Rosalind Russell who had gone to Hollywood to make the film version. In 1960, Garson received her seventh and final Oscar nomination for Sunrise at Campobello, in which she played Eleanor Roosevelt, this time losing to Elizabeth Taylor for BUtterfield 8.
Garson's last film, in 1967, was The Happiest Millionaire, although she made infrequent television appearances. In 1968, she narrated the children's television special The Little Drummer Boy which went on to become a classic children's Christmas television programs which was broadcast annually for many years.
[edit] Personal life
Garson was married three times. Her first marriage, on September 28, 1933, was to Edward Alec Abbot Snelson (1904-1992), later Sir Edward, a British civil servant who became a noted judge and expert in Indian and Pakistani affairs. The actual marriage reportedly lasted only a few weeks, but was not formally dissolved until 1943.
Her second husband, whom she married in 1943, was Richard Ney (1915-2004), the younger actor who played her son in Mrs. Miniver. They divorced in 1949, with Garson claiming that Ney had called her a "has-been" and belittled her age. Ney eventually became a respected stock-market analyst and financial consultant.
That same year, she married a millionaire Texas oilman and horse breeder, E. E. "Buddy" Fogelson (1900-1987), and in 1967, the couple retired to their "Forked Lightning Ranch" in New Mexico. In 1971 they purchased the U.S. Hall of Fame champion Thoroughbred Ack Ack from the estate of Harry F. Guggenheim and were highly successful as breeders. They also maintained a home in Dallas, Texas where Garson funded the Greer Garson Theater facility at Southern Methodist University.
Garson donated millions for the construction of the Greer Garson Theater at the College of Santa Fe on three conditions: 1) that the stage be circular, 2) that the premiere production be William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and 3) that it have large ladies' rooms.[3]
After Mr. Fogelson married the actress Greer Garson in 1949, their ranch house in Pecos, NM became a center for gracious entertaining. Active in ranch life, Mrs. Fogelson unsuccessfully tried to raise white Shorthorns imported from her native Scotland. While attending a cattle auction in 1958, Mr. Fogelson impetuously purchased a purebred Santa Gertrudis bull named "Gee Gee" which, with three heifers purchased at the same auction, became the foundation for the Forked Lightning Santa Gertrudis herd.
Santa Gertrudis, the first officially recognized American breed of cattle, was developed on the famous King Ranch in Texas. A cross between a Brahma and Shorthorn, the breed resulted from an effort to produce good beef animals better suited to the heat, humidity, and range conditions of South Texas. When Mr. Fogelson brought Santa Gertrudis to the Forked Lightning it was the first time the breed was wintered at high altitude. A tireless promoter of the breed, Mr. Fogelson was the first to exhibit Santa Gertrudis at the New Mexico State Fair in 1961.
When Mr. Fogelson died in 1987, the Forked Lightning was divided along the old southern boundary line of Tex's original Forked Lightning. Greer Garson Fogelson received the "old" Forked Lightning Ranch and Mr. Fogelson's son inherited the southern portion. In January 1991, Mrs. Fogelson sold the Forked Lightning to The Conservation Fund which donated it to the National Park Service to become part of Pecos National Historical Park. The parcel includes the valuable historical Indian Pueblo archaeological site as well as the remains of a Catholic Mission.
[edit] Death
Greer Garson died from heart failure in Dallas on April 6, 1996, at the age of 91. She is interred there in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips | Katherine Chipping | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| Remember? | Linda Bronson Holland | ||
| 1940 | The Miracle of Sound | Herself | color test for Blossoms in the Dust |
| Pride and Prejudice | Elizabeth Bennet | ||
| 1941 | Blossoms in the Dust | Edna Kahly Gladney | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| When Ladies Meet | Mrs. Claire Woodruff | ||
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver | Mrs. Miniver | Academy Award for Best Actress |
| Random Harvest | Paula Ridgeway | ||
| 1943 | The Youngest Profession | Herself - Guest Star | |
| Madame Curie | Marie Curie | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress | |
| 1944 | Mrs. Parkington | Susie 'Sparrow' Parkington | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1945 | The Valley of Decision | Mary Rafferty | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| Adventure | Emily Sears | ||
| 1947 | Desire Me | Marise Aubert | |
| 1948 | Julia Misbehaves | Julia Packett | |
| 1949 | That Forsyte Woman | Irene Forsyte | |
| 1950 | Screen Actors | Herself - uncredited | short subject |
| The Miniver Story | Kay Miniver | ||
| 1951 | The Law and the Lady | Jane Hoskins aka Lady Jane Loverly | |
| 1953 | Scandal at Scourie | Mrs. Victoria McChesney | |
| Julius Caesar | Calpurnia | ||
| What's My Line? | Mystery Guest | October 25, 1953 | |
| 1954 | Her Twelve Men | Jan Stewart | |
| 1955 | Strange Lady in Town | Dr. Julia Winslow Garth | |
| 1960 | Sunrise at Campobello | Eleanor Roosevelt | Golden Globe; Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress |
| Pepe | Herself | Cameo appearance | |
| 1966 | The Singing Nun | Mother Prioress | |
| 1967 | The Happiest Millionaire | Mrs. Cordelia Biddle | |
| 1968 | The Little Drummer Boy | Our Story Teller | as Miss Greer Garson |
| 1978 | Little Women | Aunt Kathryn March | |
| 1986 | Directed by William Wyler | Herself | documentary |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joan Fontaine for Suspicion |
Academy Award for Best Actress 1942 for Mrs. Miniver |
Succeeded by Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette |
| Preceded by Elizabeth Taylor for Suddenly, Last Summer |
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama 1961 for Sunrise at Campobello |
Succeeded by Geraldine Page for Summer and Smoke |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (August 9, 1940). Movie Review Pride and Prejudice (1940). nytimes.com.
- ^ The Longest Acceptance Speech. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
- ^ TCM Film Guide, p 83
Quote about tagline for movie with Gable from Tay Garnett book, Light Your Torches and Pull up your Tights, 1973.
[edit] References
- TCM Film Guide, "Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era", Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 2006
[edit] External links
- Greer Garson at the Internet Movie Database
- Greer Garson at the TCM Movie Database
- Greer Garson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Greer Garson Memorial Page at FindaGrave
- Pecos National Monument Forked Lightning Page
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Garson, Greer |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Garson, Eileen Evelyn Greer |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 29, 1904 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 6, 1996 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
