Rosalind Russell

Rosalind Russell (born June 4, 1907, Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.—died November 28, 1976, Beverly Hills, California) was an American actress who was best remembered for her film and stage portrayals of witty, assertive, independent women.

Russell attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made her Broadway debut in 1930 in the Theatre Guild’s Garrick Gaieties. Four years later she was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and made her film debut in Evelyn Prentice (1934). Throughout the 1930s she was regularly lent to other studios, and, when she did work for MGM, it was in roles rejected by Joan Crawford or Myrna Loy. Her first hit movie, George Cukor’s The Women (1939), showcased her flair for comedy. Her best-known and most important performance came in His Girl Friday (1940), Howard Hawks’s treatment of the 1931 newspaper comedy The Front Page. Playing opposite Cary Grant, Russell displayed expert comic timing as star reporter Hildy Johnson. The role was so successful that for the next decade she was often cast as the sharp-tongued, independent, and stylish career woman.

For her performance as an aspiring writer in the screwball comedy My Sister Eileen (1942), Russell received her first Academy Award nomination. She was nominated again for playing the title role in Sister Kenny (1946), about the Australian nurse Elizabeth Kenny, who developed a novel way to treat infantile paralysis. Russell appeared opposite Michael Redgrave in the film version of Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), garnering another Oscar nomination.

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By the 1950s Russell had outgrown the career-woman roles and returned to the Broadway stage, winning a Tony Award in 1953 for her performance in Wonderful Town. One of her most memorable performances was in the title role of the long-running stage hit Auntie Mame (1956) and the subsequent movie version (1958), in which she played an unconventional woman whose nephew comes to live with her after his father’s death. She received her fourth Oscar nomination for her movie portrayal. In the 1950s and ’60s she enjoyed a broader range of roles in movies, giving notable performances in Picnic (1956), Gypsy (1962), and The Trouble with Angels (1966).