Category: Oscar Profile

Born January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana, David Lynch’s father was a research scientist for the Department of Agriculture and his mother an English language tutor. Because of his father’s job, the family moved around a lot, the future writer-director having spent most of his formative years in Virginia. After attending the School of the…

Born April 14, 1941 in Assam, India, the daughter of an English tea planter and his Welsh painter wife, Julie Christie was sent to a boarding school in England at the age of 6. By 16, she had moved to France and soon thereafter returned to England and the British stage. By twenty, she had…

Born February 8, 1888 in London, the daughter of a civil servant and his wife, Edith Evans is generally regarded as the greatest actress of the British stage in the last century. She trod the boards for sixty years appearing in both classics (Shakespeare, Ibsen, Wilde, etc.) and contemporary works (Shaw, Bagnold, Coward, etc.). Apprenticed…

Born May 16, 1909 in Norfolk, Virginia to a wealthy stockbroker and his heiress wife, Margaret Sullavan had a privileged upbringing that included education at some of the country’s best schools. A member of the University Players at Harvard, along with Henry Fonda and James Stewart, she was on tour with the group when she…

Born May 6, 1915 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Orson Welles’ father was an inventor, his mother a concert pianist. The precocious Welles was a child prodigy who directed a number of high profile theatrical productions in London and New York in his twenties. Actor-writer-producer-director Welles and actor-producer John Houseman formed the Mercury Theatre in 1937, which…

Born in Pendleton, Salford, Lancashire, England to working class parents on May 9, 1936, Albert Finney was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and later became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He made his London stage debut in The Party in support of Charles Laughton who became an early mentor. Finney…

Born April 29, 1957 in Greenwich, England, Daniel Day-Lewis is the second child of British poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon, whose father was legendary British producer Sir Michael Balcon. He made his film debut at the age of 13 as a child vandal in John Schlesinger’s 1971 film, Sunday…

Born April 10, 1929 in Lund, Sweden, Max von Sydow was the son of a professor of ethnology and a baroness who was also a schoolteacher. He developed an early interest in acting and by the time he was twenty had already appeared in his first film. He moved to Malmo, Sweden in 1955 where…

Born August 30, 1906 in New York City, Joan Blondell was the daughter of vaudevillians with whom she toured beginning at the age of four. Having joined a stock company at the age of 17 she was back living with parents in Dallas when she won the title of Miss Texas in 1926 and came…

Born April 30, 1908 in Mill Valley, California, Eunice Quedens took her stage name from two perfume bottles in her Ziegfeld Follies dressing room in 1934. She got “Eve” from Evening in Paris and “Arden” from Elizabeth Arden. In minor roles in two films prior to her Ziegfeld stint, she had another minor role on…

Born June 19, 1905 in Baltimore, Maryland, Mildred Natwick was the grand-daughter of Ole Natwick, one of the earliest Norwegians settlers in the United States. She was the cousin of Myron “Grim” Natwick, the creator of the Betty Boop cartoon character and principal animator of Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A member…

Born June 30, 1906 in San Diego, California, Anthony Mann was the son of Jewish-Austrian immigrants. Although he began his career as a stage actor, Mann came to Hollywood as a casting director for David O. Selznick Productions. While working for Selznick, he directed screen tests for such films as Gone With the Wind and…

Born July 11, 1892 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Thomas Mitchell was the youngest of seven children of Irish immigrants. His father was a journalist and one of his brothers became a member of President Eisenhower’s cabinet. The first person to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony, he began acting in 1913 and was at one…

Fay Bainter was unique among the stage trained actresses who excelled at character roles on screen in the 1930s and 40s. While other prolific performers of the day such as Edna May Oliver, Beulah Bondi and Spring Byington had always been character players, Bainter was a theatrical star of the first magnitude. Her stage roles…

From the 1930s through the mid 1960s no Hollywood director, with the exception of John Ford, was more revered than William Wyler. His reputation has suffered in subsequent years as the measure of greatness has shifted from totality of accomplishment to a unique signature style, which Wyler didn’t have. All his films were different, which…