Barbara Bel Geddes
Barbara Bel Geddes (
October 31,
1922 â€"
August 8,
2005) was an
Oscar-nominated
American actress.
Bel Geddes was born in
New York City,
New York, the daughter of Helen Belle Sneider and industrial architect
Norman Bel Geddes.
Bel Geddes began as a stage actress at the age of 18. In
1952, she received the prestigious Woman of the Year Award by Hasty Pudding Theatricals USA, America's oldest theater company. Her most notable stage performances were originating the role of Maggie in
Tennessee Williams'
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on
Broadway in
1956, and the title role in the long-running
Jean Kerr comedy
Mary, Mary in
1961, both of which earned her
Tony Award nominations.
Her film career began opposite
Henry Fonda with
1947's
The Long Night. She was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for
I Remember Mama (
1948). However, ill health and a
House Unamerican Activities Committee investigation essentially ended her film career for some time. Her career restarted when
Alfred Hitchcock cast her in four episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (including "Lamb to the Slaughter," [from a story by
Roald Dahl] the seminal episode when she plays a housewife who kills her husband by bludgeoning him with a leg of lamb, then feeds the instrument of death to the investigating cops), as well as an important role in the movie
Vertigo (
1958) as
James Stewart's ex-girlfriend.
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Main title caption from Dallas. |
Bel Geddes retired from film in
1966 to care for her then ailing husband, who died of
cancer in
1972. By
1978, with her savings nearly depleted, Barbara signed on as the first cast member, family matriarch Miss Ellie Ewing on CBS's new prime time
soap opera,
Dallas, a role that would bring her international recognition among modern-day audiences. She played on the series from
1978 to
1990 and remains the only night-time soap opera actress to win an Emmy award (in
1980) for best lead actress in a drama series. When she underwent
heart surgery in March 1984,
Donna Reed replaced her for the
1984-
1985 season. One storyline in 'Dallas' dealt with Miss Ellie battling
breast cancer and undergoing a
mastectomy, an experience Bel Geddes had undergone in real life in the early 70s.
In 1993, she was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame (located in the Gershwin Theatre in New York), joining her father, stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes.
She was the author of two children's books,
I Like to Be Me (1963) and
So Do I (1972), as well as the creator of a popular line of greeting cards.
Bel Geddes
married Carl Schreuer in 1944, and they had a daughter, Susan. They divorced in 1951 and she married film director Windsor Lewis later that year.
Bel Geddes died of
lung cancer at her home in Northeast Harbor,
Maine on
August 8,
2005, just a day after
ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings died from the same illness in
New York, New York.
*
Official Barbara Bel Geddes Website*
CNN Obituary*
Mediaweek obituary*
Find-A-Grave profile for Barbara Bel Geddes*
Rootsweb Social Security Death Index (SSDI) entry for Barbara Bel Geddes
