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Forever Mame : The Life of Rosalind Russell
by Bernard F. Dick
A biography of the full and rewarding life of a Golden Age star
When it comes to living life to its fullest, Rosalind Russell's character Auntie Mame is still the silver screen's exemplar. And Mame, the role Russell (1907-1976) would always be remembered for, embodies the rich and rewarding life Bernard F. Dick reveals in the first biography of this Golden Age star, Forever Mame: The Life of Rosalind Russell.
Drawing on personal interviews and information from the archives of Russell and her producer-husband Frederick Brisson, Dick begins with Russell's childhood in Waterbury, Connecticut, and chronicles her early attempts to achieve recognition after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Frustrated by her inability to land a lead in a Broadway show, she headed for Hollywood in 1934 and two years later played her first starring role, the title character in Craig's Wife.
Dick discusses all of her films along with her triumphal return to Broadway, first in the musical Wonderful Town and later in Auntie Mame. Forever Mame details Russell's social circle of such stars as Loretta Young, Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra. It traces an extraordinary career, ending with Russell's courageous battle against the two diseases that eventually caused her death: rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. Russell devoted her last years to campaigning for arthritis research. So successful was she in her efforts to alert lawmakers to this crippling disease that a leading San Francisco research center is named after her.
Bernard F. Dick is a professor of communication and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University and is the author of Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars, Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Picturesand the Birth of Corporate Hollywood , and other books.
SEPTEMBER, 289 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, 23 b&w illustrations, filmography, bibliography, index
Cloth, 1-57806-890-8 (978-1-57806-890-6)
Hollywood Legends Series
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Release date: 9/1/2006
List price: $30.00
Buy now: $22.80
Rosalind "Roz" Russell was born on June 4, 1907 in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Irish-American extraction and was the middle of seven children (Clara, James, John, Rosalind, George, Mary Jane, and Josephine). She was named after the S.S. Rosalind at the suggestion of her father, a successful lawyer, on which he had taken a vacation voyage shortly before her birth. Her mother was a teacher and a fashion editor.
A real tomboy, Roz broke several bones in her tall lanky body. Even as an adult, she remained athletic and moderately competitive. When Rosalind was nineteen, her father died leaving her mother to finish raising her family alone. His will was odd in that it stipulated that all the children would recieve financial support as long as they were attending school. But as soon as they graduated, they wouldn't get one red cent until after they had worked three years. Not anxious to ever really work, one of Roz's younger sisters would continue to take classes in just about anything for as long as she could. Once, when Roz asked her what she was then studying, her sister answered, "Smiling." Always ready with a witty remark, Roz retorted "So, do you think you'll get your degree?"
As a child she attended Catholic school and thereafter went to Marymount College in New York and also the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York from 1927 to 1929. She attended class alongside Agnes Moorehead. Her impressive performance in the school's production of "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" led to a summer stock engagement. She made her Broadway debut in 1930 in the Theatre Guild's Garrick Gaieties.
In 1934, with some stock company work and a little Broadway experience, she signed by Universal. However, the contract with Universal did nothing for her career. She mostly just did script reading.
After receiving a better offer from MGM she devised a plan to get out of her contract. She pretended to be imcompentent by wearing big, drab outfits and moping around. When she asked Universal to let her out of her contract they agreed. Universal's loss was MGM's gain.
After carefully planning her strategy, Roz went to the office of Carl Laemmle, Jr., the director of Universal, with her hair vaselined down and hanging in strips, a cast-off dress which was too big for her "and showed all my collarbones". As she said, she had to be careful and not go too far, or he would be suspicious.Speaking with her voice nasal and her jaws clenched, she said "Oym just vairy unhairpy here, oy miss moy family."
Laemmle was only too glad to get rid of this strange creature, and gave her back her contract. Roz rushed right over to Metro and signed her contract there.
They quickly put her in small film roles until finally in 1936 she was cast in the lead role in the screen adaption of George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize winning play "Craig's Wife". She showed dramatic talent playing the icy, controlling housewife.
Though Carole Lombard is generally remembered as the queen of screwball, Roz could match her wisecrack for wisecrack, sneer for sneer. This brunette actress began her screen career in serious roles-as upper-class ladies-in Evelyn Prentice, The President Vanishes (both 1934), Craig's Wife (1936, a prime early showcase in the title role), Night Must Fall (1937), and The Citadel (1938), though traces of the comedienne-to-be were clearly visible in such adventures as China Seas (1935) and Under Two Flags (1936).
She married Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson on October 25, 1941. Her father-in-law was the successful Danish actor Carl Brisson.
At the Awards ceremonies in 1948, she was the odd-on favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in "Mourning Becomes Electra," which had been predicted by a Daily Variety poll. An early issue of the Los Angeles Times had printed a headline: "ROZ RUSSELL WINS OSCAR." However, Loretta Young was the surprise winner for "The Farmer's Daughter."
Though she had proven she could shine in dramatic films, she also had a flair for comedy. She put her sights upon the role of Syliva Fowler in the adaption of Claire Boothe's play "The Women". After she tried out for the part five times she got the role of the gossiping backstabber, Sylvia Flower. Another good comedic film role was as reporter Hildy Johnson in "His Girl Friday" During her forties, she concentrated on her stage career touring with "Bell, Book and Candle" in 1951 and winning a Tony for "Wonderful Town" in 1953. "Auntie Mame" kept her on Broadway for two years; the movie version was her last cinematic triumph.
Oscar nominations:
"My Sister Eileen", "Sister Kenny, " "Mourning Becomes Electra", and "Auntie Mame".
Her last theater film was "Mrs.Pollifax...Spy", and it was during the filming of this that she was stricken with acute rheumatic arthritis. Instead of hiding the disease she went public with it, appearing on talk shows and fundraising campaigns to make money for research. In the Medical Library of the San Francisco General Hospital there used to be a beautiful oil portrait of Rosalind Russell. The Library is just inside the building where the Rosalind Russell Arthritis Foundation Offices are located. This is a foundation begun by Rosalind and her husband for research to find new treatment programs and ultimately a cure for arthritis. The picture is now moved to the University of California Patient Lobby on Parnassus Avenue in San Francisco. Rosalind Russell's husband had contributed again for the rebuilding of the Emergency Department at UC's Long Hospital, and her portrait now graces their walls.
The medicine she took for her arthritis puffed her face up, and hid the symptoms of a pneumonia she developed on top of it.
However, in 1971 she gave one last delightful performance in the TV film "Crooked Hearts" in which she and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. played two clients of a mating agency, both trying to con the other.
In 1973 she finally received an Oscar, but not for her acting. It was the "Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Reward," awarded for her tireless charity work.
Before her death, with writer Chris Chase, she wrote her autobiography, "Life Is a Banquet," (the title taken from her famous quote in Auntie Mame) which was published a year after her death. Roaslind died on November 28, 1976 of metastasized breast cancer, at the of 69. She is buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California (Section M; Lot 536; no. 2). It is a fitting memorial to her brassy screen persona that she lies beneath one of the most ostentatious of monuments: a giant, life-size, white crucifix near the top of the park's eastern slope. Perhaps out of discretion, the bronze marker contains the date of her death (1976) but not of her birth. Rosalind Russell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Publicized Measurements (1942):
Height - 5'6 1/2"
Weight - 120
Bust - 34 1/2"
Waist - 25 1/2"
Hip - 36"
Leg Length - 36 1/2"
Foot size - 6 1/2 AA
A Prayer by Rosalind Russell
"Trust Him when darkest thoughts assail thee.
Trust Him when the faith is small.
Trust Him, when to simply trust Him,
is the hardest thing of all."
Awards
Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award 1975
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award 1972
Golden Globe Award Best Actress in Comedy/Musical "Gypsy" 1962
Golden Globe Award Best Actress in Comedy/Musical "A Majority of One" 1961
Golden Laurel Award Top Female Comedy Performance in "Auntie Mame" 1959
Golden Globe Award Best Actress in Comedy/Musical "Auntie Mame" 1958
Tony Outstanding Actress (Musical) "Wonderful Town" 1953
Golden Globe Award Best Actress "Mourning Becomes Electra" 1947
Golden Globe Award Best Actress "Sister Kenny" 1946
Golden Apple Award Most Cooperative Actress 1942
His Girl Friday
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