Geraldine Fitzgerald

Geraldine Fitzgerald

actress, writer, producer

Geraldine Fitzgerald was born on Nov 24, 1913 in Ireland. Geraldine Fitzgerald's big-screen debut came with Blind Justice directed by Bernard Vorhaus in 1934. Geraldine Fitzgerald is known for Kennedy directed by Jim Goddard, John Shea stars as Robert F. Kennedy and E.G. Marshall as Joseph P. Kennedy. Geraldine Fitzgerald has got 3 awards and 3 nominations so far. The most recent award Geraldine Fitzgerald achieved is Daytime Emmy Awards. The upcoming new movie Geraldine Fitzgerald plays is Bump in the Night which will be released on Jan 06, 1991.

Geraldine Fitzgerald was the only actress to appear as both Laurence Olivier's wife and Rodney Dangerfield's mother-in-law, which surely qualifies her as running the gamut (if not the gauntlet, in the latter case) of A to Z for co-starring with cinema immortals. The Irish lass appeared in many masterpieces of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Les Hauts de Hurlevent (1939) and Victoire sur la nuit (1939), to say nothing of her late-career screen work in the blue-collar white-trash classic, Hold-up en jupons (1983).She was born in Dublin, Ireland, on November 24, 1913, and made her theatrical debut at her hometown's Gate Theater in 1932. She appeared in English films from 1934 to 1937 before emigrating to New York City, where she acted with Orson Welles (who had appeared at the Gate when he was all of 16 years old as a protégé of Micheál MacLiammóir). In 1938 she made her Broadway debut with Welles' Mercury Theater in their production of George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House," but her connection with Welles was sundered when she was signed by a Warner Bros. talent scout and decamped to Hollywood. Her first American film turned out to be a masterpiece. Her portrayal of Isabella, the wife of Olivier's Heathcliff in William Wyler's "Wuthering Heights" brought her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in her very first role in Tinseltown. She followed that up with a supporting turn in the Bette Davis three-hankie tearjerker "Dark Victory." Other major films she appeared in at Warner Bros. were Shining Victory (1941), Les folles héritières (1942) and Quand le jour viendra (1943), but her career was stymied by a rebellious streak. Like Warner Bros. divas Davis and Olivia de Havilland, Fitzgerald refused roles she disliked and was put on suspension by the studio. Unlike Davis and de Havilland, however, she never won an Oscar, nor did she ever become a star. She matured into a character actress, appearing in a wide variety of quality movies, including 10 rue Frédérick (1958), Le prêteur sur gages (1964), Rachel, Rachel (1968) and Harry et Tonto (1974). In later years she appeared in several hit comedies, among them Arthur (1981).Fitzgerald appeared on Broadway and off-Broadway in many plays, including revivals of the works of Irish-American playwright Eugene O'Neill (I)'; she was Mary Tyrone in a 1971 off-Broadway production of "Long Day's Journey into Night" opposite Robert Ryan and was in the 1977 Broadway revival of "A Touch of the Poet" with Jason Robards. She also appeared earlier that year on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play "The Shadow Box." The previous year she had performed in her own cabaret act for a one-week engagement on Broadway, which she then revived in New York nightclubs as "Streetsongs." In addition to singing, she would reminisce about her life. Later, she received Tony Award and Drama Desk nominations for directing "Mass Appeal," a play about Catholic priests.Geraldine Fitzgerald died in New York City on July 19, 2005, of complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was 91 years old.

  • Birthday

    Nov 24, 1913
  • Place of Birth

    Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland

Known For

Awards

3 wins & 3 nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards
1979
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming
Winner - Daytime Emmy
NBC Special Treat (1975)
Walk of Fame
1960
Motion Picture
Winner - Star on the Walk of Fame
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Movies & TV Shows

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Movies
TV Shows