JUDY HOLLIDAY AMERICAN ACTRESS
BORN 1921 JUNE 21 - 1965 JUNE 7
| Born | in New York City, New York, USA |
| Died | in New York City, New York, USA (breast cancer) |
| Birth Name | Judith Tuvim |
| Height | 5' 7" (1.7 m) |
Mini Bio (4)
Judy Holliday was born Judith Tuvim in New York City on June 21, 1921. Her mother, a piano teacher, was attending a play when she went into labor and made it to the hospital just in time. Judy was an only child. By the age of four, her mother had her enrolled in ballet school which fostered a life-long interest in show business. Two years later her parents divorced. In high school, Judy began to develop an interest in theater. She appeared in several high school plays. After graduation, she got a job in the Orson Welles Mercury Theater as a switchboard operator. Judy worked her way on the stage with appearance in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New York City. Judy toured on the nightclub circuit with a group called "The Revuers" founded by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. She went to Hollywood to make her first foray into the film world in Greenwich Village (1944). Most of her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Judy earned two more roles that year in Something for the Boys (1944) and Winged Victory (1944). In the latter, Judy had a few lines of dialogue. Judy returned to New York to continue her stage career. She returned to Hollywood after five years to appear in Adam's Rib (1949) as Doris Attinger opposite screen greats Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Tom Ewell. With her success in that role, Judy was signed to play Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday (1950), a role which she originated on Broadway. She was nominated for and won the best actress Oscar for her performance. After filming The Marrying Kind (1952), Judy was summoned before the Un-American Activities Committee to testify about her political affiliations. Fortunately for her, she was not blacklisted as were many of her counterparts, but damage was done. Her film career was curtailed somewhat, but rebounded. She continued with her stage and musical efforts, but with limited time on the screen. After filming The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956), she was off-screen for four years. Her last film was the MGM production of Bells Are Ringing (1960) with Dean Martin and it was one of her best. Judy died two weeks before her 44th birthday in New York City on June 7, 1965.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson & MO840
Rejected by the Yale Drama School, Judy began in the theater as a backstage operator for Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. She made her stage debut when she joined Betty Comden and Adolph Green in a cabaret group called the Revuers. Working their way up through the circuit, the group was hired by 20th Century Fox to appear in the film Greenwich Village (1944). With only a bit part in the movie, Judy would appear in two more films that same year before she was dropped by the studio. Judy returned to the stage where she appeared in the 1945 production of the play Kiss Them for Me. Her big break came when she replaced Jean Arthur in the Garson Kanin play Born Yesterday. When Columbia bought the film rights to the play, Harry Cohn wanted Rita Hayworth in the role of Billie Dawn, but with the help of her two co-stars and great reviews for her performance in Adam's Rib (1949), Judy reprised her stage role. Her superb comic timing and quirky charm won her the Oscar for best actress. Unfortunately, the role of Billie seems to have typecast Judy. The parts that she would play in the few movies that she made were to be variations of the same character. Jack Lemmon, who worked with Judy in It Should Happen to You (1954), had nothing but praise for her. But by the time she completed The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956), Judy and Hollywood parted company. With only slightly more than half a dozen films, Judy had made her mark on the movies and she went back to the stage. She would once more be called to film Bells Are Ringing (1960) reprising her hit role in the Broadway play of the same name. Her next plays were flops and she had a very unhappy romance with a musician named Mulligan. Judy was 43 when cancer claimed her in 1965.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana & MO840
A New York girl, born and raised, Judith Tuvim was the only child of parents Abe Tuvimand Helen. In school, she excelled in academics, winning several awards for her skills as a writer. While in her early teens, she developed what would become a life-long love for theater. In 1938, she made her professional debut as part of a nightclub act called "The Revuers". Her partners in the act included aspiring playwrights Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The Revuers had a loyal following and even their own weekly radio show on NBC. In 1944, The Revuers broke up after a failed attempt to break into films. Judith adopted the stage name of "Judy Holliday" as part of a "makeover" process that was orchestrated by 20th Century Fox. Judy's breakthrough performance would come on the stage however, in the 1945 play "Kiss Them For Me". She followed it up in 1946, with the lead role of "Billie Dawn" in Garson Kanin's smash hit "Born Yesterday". She married classical musician 'David Oppenheim' in January of 1948. Later, they would have a son named Jonathan, born in November of 1952. In 1950, Judy reprised her hit stage role in the film version of Born Yesterday (1950) for Columbia Studios. Her hysterical and endearing portrayal of dumb blonde Billie Dawn earned her an upset win at the Academy Awards, beating out Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson for the best actress Oscar. Her new-found fame made her a prime target for the Communist witch hunters of the early 1950s. She became the subject of a secret F.B.I. investigation and a victim of "blacklisting". She was later cleared of any serious wrong-doing after testifying before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, but by then the damage to her career had already been done. The quality roles befitting an Oscar winning actress did not come her way. She was forced to star in lesser roles that were often just flat variations of the Billie Dawn character. It's a testament to her acting abilities that she was able to rise above the material and give solid performances time and time again. When not lighting up the silver screen, Judy divided her time between the stage and making records. She was a unique and gifted performer whose life and career were cut tragically short when she lost her 5 year battle with cancer in June of 1965.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Glenn McMahon <PlazaO-4433@webtv.net>
In 2010, "Judy Holliday's Urban Working Girl Characters in 1950s Hollywood Film" (by Judith E. Smith, University of Massachusetts Boston) wrote the following about the actress in the University of Massachusetts Boston's ScholarWorks:
Holliday's grandmother Rachel Gollumb was a devoted socialist, and her mother, Helen Gollumb Tuvim, grew up in the overlapping New York worlds of the socialist labor movement and Yiddish literary and theatrical circles. Holliday's uncle, Joseph Gollumb, joined the Communist Party for a period of time and wrote for the Daily Worker. Holliday's father, Abe Tuvim, at one time a labor union activist, traveled in the same Jewish leftist community.
Holliday's parents met each other at the Rand School of Social Science, a gathering place for Greenwich Village socialists, and socialized at the Café Royale, where the stars of Yiddish theater and the Yiddish-speaking intelligentsia congregated.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert Sieger
Spouse (1)
| David Oppenheim | (5 January 1948 - 1 March 1958) (divorced) (1 child) |
Trade Mark (3)
Trivia (29)
Personal Quotes (1)
Salary (2)
| Greenwich Village (1944) | $400 /week |
| The Marrying Kind (1952) | $200,000 |
COSTUME PARTY: JUDY, JUDY, JUDY HOLLIDAY
By Abbey Bender
Costume Party is a monthly column exploring fashion, personal style, and historical aesthetics in film.
Judy Holliday, with her distinctively sassy but sweet delivery, dimples, and ability to go from ditz to know it all in a single line, is one of the finest comedic actresses of the 1950s. This month and next, MoMA is showcasing her work, including her four films with George Cukor, Adam’s Rib (1949), Born Yesterday (1950), The Marrying Kind (1952), and It Should Happen to You (1954). With the exception of Adam’s Rib, the films feature costumes by Hollywood standby Jean Louis, and all four feature ideal late 1940s/early 1950s looks, the glamour tempered somewhat by Holliday’s humor. In her signature role in Born Yesterday, Holliday dresses fabulously, with a wink. She’s funny, and the spectacle of her sparkles plus her expert delivery makes for an appealing, self-aware presence. While she seems less comfortable in the gowns of It Should Happen to you, the way she fidgets and pouts is endearing, and we get the sense that while her character may not be in control of how she is seen, the performer certainly is.
Holliday’s part in Adam’s Rib is small, but she still makes an impression. As a wife who goes to shoot her unfaithful husband, we first see her clad in a fancy hat, reading the instruction manual that came with her gun. Clearly, a hat with a large spangled feather on top makes for a less than ideal crime uniform. Wearing a conspicuous accessory, Holliday commits the act that sets the film’s plot in motion.
Judy Holliday-Costume PartyIt Should Happen to You, with its prescient plot of a brash young woman who becomes famous by putting her name on billboards, sees Holliday in a variety of hats, and ensembles ranging from casual to outré. Early on, she wears a simple button-down dress that wouldn’t be out of place as a waitresses’ uniform.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
She decides to buy ad space with her name after losing what might be the most 1950s job ever: a girdle modelling gig. When she walks into the advertising company, steeling herself up, our eyes are immediately drawn to her hat, which has an aggressive quill-like appendage.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
In another meeting, she wears a somewhat more demure hat that resembles a pin cushion crossed with a beret.
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Judy Holliday-Costume Party
As she becomes famous, Holliday wears more and more glamorous outfits, and often looks somewhat uncomfortable. Her character is a woman who becomes famous for being ordinary, but one senses that she might miss more ordinary clothes as she fiddles with her dress and scowls.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
When on a TV panel, her wide-brimmed hat, off the shoulder dress, and long gloves all give an impression of an elegance with which the character is not entirely comfortable, though the look is undeniably striking.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
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In The Marrying Kind, the most serious and low-key of the films offered here, small shifts in outfit correspond to emotional change. While at a cheerful but ultimately tragically fated family picnic, Holliday wears a pinup-ready polka dot halter dress with a prominent collar.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
In her next scene after a major tragedy, her outfit is simple with the noticeable detail of an askew collar. The collar, sticking out on one side, shows us that she is at a point where she has more significant matters to worry about than her clothes.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
Born Yesterday, in which Holliday plays a tycoon’s moll who becomes his intellectual and moral superior after receiving etiquette lessons from a charming journalist, features some of the actress’ most memorable looks. Early on, she wears a dress with an elegantly draped neckline. All of her elegant outfits here are at odds with her sassy voice and bemused laughs.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
Her perfectly coordinated outfits stand out in a crowd, and she does business looks as well as she does over the top glamour.
Judy Holliday-Costume PartyJudy Holliday-Costume Party
The glamorous piece de resistance is a white sequined jumpsuit: completely impractical, but perfect for a woman who knows how to get what she wants.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
As she tries to educate herself, she dresses the part with the requisite glasses. When she studies, she wears a long, renaissance maiden-like vest over pants. She dresses in a way that signifies smart, but we all know she’s been smart from the beginning.
Judy Holliday-Costume Party
Judy Holliday-Costume PartyHolliday is a woman who dresses for success, and would likely make a face at any outfit that tried too hard. Much of what she wears plays to her endearing humor. And really, if you’re wearing a giant hat or a white sequined jumpsuit, it helps to be able to laugh about it.
Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday
JUDY HOLLIDAY and a stagehand get ready for the bubble bath scene in ‘Born Yesterday’ 1950
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