Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page (
November 22,
1924 -
June 13,
1987) was an
Academy Award-winning
American actress.
Page was born in
Kirksville, Missouri. She attended the Goodman Theatre Dramatic School in
Chicago and studied acting with
Uta Hagen. She began appearing in stock at the age of seventeen and earned critical accolades for her performances in several
Tennessee Williams plays like
Summer and Smoke and
Sweet Bird of Youth.
She was active in film as well as
Broadway. In 1960 she won the
Sarah Siddons Award for her work in
Chicago theatre. Her film debut was in
Out of the Night (1947). Her role in
Hondo, garnered her a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In all, despite her relatively small filmography, Page received eight
Academy Award nominations. She won for her final nomination for
The Trip to Bountiful (1985). She also voiced the hilariously evil
Madame Medusa in the Disney animated film
The Rescuers.
Page has also appeared in
television productions and won
Emmy Awards for two
Truman Capote stories,
A Christmas Memory (1967) and
The Thanksgiving Visitor (1969).
Page was married to violinist Alexander Schneider from 1954 to 1957. In 1963 she married the 7-years younger Texan actor,
Rip Torn, and they remained married until her death, despite the fact that shortly before her death he had been publicly exposed for conducting an extramarital affair with a much younger actress (
Amy Wright, born in 1950), whom he had impregnated. Ironically her legal name at the time of her death would have been
Geraldine Page Torn, but could have been construed, with fancy hyphenations, should she have cared to do so, as
Geraldine Torn Page or Geraldine Torn-Page Page and Torn had three children, a daughter (actress
Angelica Torn) and twin sons.
Page, who had also been suffering from kidney disease, died of a
heart attack in 1987 while being presented on Broadway by
Douglas Urbanski in Sir
Noel Coward's
Blithe Spirit(along with
Judith Ivey and
Blythe Danner) at the relatively young age of 62.
*
1985 - Won
Best Actress in a Leading Role for
The Trip to Bountiful*
1984 - Nominated -
Best Actress in a Supporting Role for
The Pope of Greenwich Village*
1978 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role for
Interiors*
1972 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for
Pete 'n' Tillie*
1966 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for
You're a Big Boy Now*
1962 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role for
Sweet Bird of Youth*
1961 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Leading Role for
Summer and Smoke*
1953 - Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for
Hondo
