Miriam Hopkins

Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility.[1] She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930, working with Ernst Lubitsch and Joel McCrea, among many others.

For the Irish Olympic swimmer, see Miriam Hopkins (swimmer).

Miriam Hopkins
Hopkins in the 1930s
Born	Ellen Miriam Hopkins (1902-10-18)October 18, 1902 Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
Died	October 9, 1972(1972-10-09) (aged 69) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1921–1970
Spouse(s)	Brandon Peters (1926–1927) Austin Parker (1928–1931) Anatole Litvak (1937–1939) Raymond B. Brock (1945–1951)
Children	1

Her long-running feud with actress Bette Davis was publicized for effect. Hopkins later became a pioneer of TV drama. She was considered a distinguished hostess in Hollywood, and moved in intellectual and creative circles.

Early life

Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia to Homer Hopkins and Ellen Cutler[2] and raised in Bainbridge, near the Alabama border. She had an older sister, Ruby (1900–1990).[3] Her maternal great-grandfather, the fourth mayor of Bainbridge, had helped establish St. John's Episcopal Church in the city.[4] Hopkins sang in the choir as a girl.[5]

In 1909, she briefly lived in Mexico with her family. After her parents separated, Hopkins moved as a teen with her mother to Syracuse, New York to be near her paternal uncle, Thomas Cramer Hopkins, head of the geology department at Syracuse University.[6]

Hopkins attended Goddard Seminary in Barre, Vermont (it later became Goddard College, relocated to Plainfield, Vermont) and Syracuse University in New York.[6] After becoming estranged from her father, when she applied for a passport in 1922 to undertake a theatrical tour of South America, she listed his address as "unknown".

Career

Hopkins and Herbert Marshall in a publicity photo for Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Miriam Hopkins in the Broadway production of Jezebel (1933), an Owen Davis play. It was later adapted for a 1938 film but Hopkins lost the lead role to Bette Davis.

At age 20, Hopkins became a chorus girl in New York City; she also acted regularly on the stage throughout the 1920s, including in the 1926 stage adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy. In 1930 she starred on Broadway in the play Ritzy by Sidney Toler. She starred on Broadway in the lead of Jezebel, a 1933 play by Owen Davis. When it was adapted as a 1938 film of the same name, Hopkins was bitterly disappointed that Bette Davis was chosen for the role she had played on stage. This began a feud between them publicized by the studios.

The same year, Hopkins signed with Paramount Pictures and made her official film debut in Fast and Loose. Her first great success was in the 1931 horror drama film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where she portrayed Ivy Pearson, a prostitute who becomes entangled with Jekyll and Hyde. She received rave reviews, including one from Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times, saying she portrayed Ivy "splendidly".[7]

Her career ascended swiftly thereafter. In 1932 she made her breakthrough in Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, where she proved her charm and wit as a beautiful and jealous pickpocket. During the pre-code Hollywood of the early 1930s, she appeared in The Smiling Lieutenant, The Story of Temple Drake, and Design for Living, all of which were box-office successes and critically acclaimed.[8] Design for Living ranked as one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1933.

Hopkins' films were considered sexually risqué at the time; created in the years before Hollywood developed a code of behavior, they featured issues later prohibited. For instance, The Story of Temple Drake depicted a rape scene and Design for Living featured a ménage à trois with Fredric March and Gary Cooper. Her successes continued during the remainder of the decade with the romantic comedy The Richest Girl in the World (1934); the historical drama Becky Sharp (1935), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress; Barbary Coast (1935); These Three (1936) (the first of four films with director William Wyler); and The Old Maid (1939).

Hopkins was one of the first actresses approached to play the role of Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night (1934). She rejected the part, and Claudette Colbert was cast instead.[9] Hopkins auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, and was the only candidate to be a native Georgian; but the part went to British actress Vivien Leigh. Both Colbert and Leigh won Oscars for their performances.

Hopkins had well-publicized fights with her arch-enemy Bette Davis. Hopkins and Davis co-starred in two films, The Old Maid (1939) and Old Acquaintance (1943). In this period of time, she believed that Davis was having an affair with her husband, Anatole Litvak.[10] Davis resented her jealousy and said that she had enjoyed shaking Hopkins in a scene in Old Acquaintance, after Hopkins's character makes unfounded allegations against Davis's. Press photos featured the two divas in a boxing ring, gloves up, with director Vincent Sherman between them like a referee. In later interviews, Davis described Hopkins as a "terribly good actress", but also "terribly jealous".

After Old Acquaintance, Hopkins did not work in films again until The Heiress (1949), where she played the lead character's aunt. In Mitchell Leisen's 1951 comedy The Mating Season, she gave a comic performance as the mother of Gene Tierney's character. She also acted in The Children's Hour (1961), a remake of her film These Three (1936). In the remake, she played the aunt to Shirley MacLaine, who took Hopkins' original role.

Hopkins was a television pioneer. She performed in teleplays from the late 1940s through the late 1960s, in such programs as The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949), Pulitzer Prize Playhouse (1951), Lux Video Theatre (1951–1955), The Outer Limits (1964), and even an episode of The Flying Nun ("Bertrille and the Silent Flicks") in 1969.

She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for film at 1709 Vine Street and one for television at 1716 Vine Street.[11]

Private life

Hopkins married four times. Her first marriage was to actor Brandon Peters, second to aviator and screenwriter Austin Parker, third to the director Anatole Litvak, and fourth to war correspondent Raymond B. Brock. In 1932, she adopted a son, Michael T. Hopkins (March 29, 1932 – October 5, 2010), who had a career in the U.S. Air Force.[12]

She was known for hosting elegant parties. John O'Hara, a frequent guest, noted that

most of her guests were chosen from the world of the intellect ... Miriam knew them all, had read their work, had listened to their music, had bought their paintings. They were not there because a secretary had given her a list of highbrows.[13]

She was a staunch Democrat who strongly supported the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.[14]

Death

Hopkins died in New York City from a heart attack nine days before her 70th birthday. She is buried in Oak City Cemetery in Bainbridge, Georgia.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1930	Fast and Loose	Marion Lenox	Hopkins's film debut
1931	The Smiling Lieutenant	Princess Anna	The first of three films Hopkins made with Lubitsch
1931	24 Hours	Rosie Duggan
1931	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Ivy Pearson
1932	Two Kinds of Women	Emma Krull
1932	Dancers in the Dark	Gloria Bishop
1932	The World and the Flesh	Maria Yaskaya
1932	Trouble in Paradise	Lily	Second film directed by Lubitsch and starring Hopkins
1933	The Story of Temple Drake	Temple Drake	Based on Faulkner's scandalous novel Sanctuary
1933	The Stranger's Return	Louise Starr
1933	Design for Living	Gilda Farrell	Third and final film Hopkins and Lubitsch made together
1934	All of Me	Lydia Darrow
1934	She Loves Me Not	Curly Flagg
1934	The Richest Girl in the World	Dorothy Hunter	First of five films Hopkins and McCrea made together
1935	Becky Sharp	Becky Sharp	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress The first feature film made in the three strip Technicolor process
1935	Barbary Coast	Mary 'Swan' Rutledge	Second film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1935	Splendor	Phyllis Manning Lorrimore	Third film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1936	These Three	Martha Dobie	The film was adapted from the 1934 play The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman. Fourth film starring Hopkins and McCrea
1936	Men Are Not Gods	Ann Williams
1937	The Woman I Love	Madame Helene Maury	Hopkins married director Anatole Litvak shortly after this film was made. It is the only film Hopkins made with Paul Muni
1937	Woman Chases Man	Virginia Travis	Final film Hopkins and McCrea made together
1937	Wise Girl	Susan 'Susie' Fletcher
1939	The Old Maid	Delia Lovell Ralston	The first of two films Hopkins made with Bette Davis
1940	Virginia City	Julia Hayne	Hopkins co-starred with Errol Flynn
1940	Lady with Red Hair	Mrs. Leslie Carter
1942	A Gentleman After Dark	Flo Melton
1943	Old Acquaintance	Millie Drake	Second of two films Hopkins made with Bette Davis.
1949	The Heiress	Lavinia Penniman	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1951	The Mating Season	Fran Carleton
1952	The Outcasts of Poker Flat	Mrs. Shipton / 'The Duchess'
1952	Carrie	Julie Hurstwood
1961	The Children's Hour	Lily Mortar	Hopkins had starred in the original film adaptation of the play The Children's Hour entitled These Three in the role of Martha Dobie. In this film Shirley MacLaine played Martha and Miriam Hopkins played her Aunt Lily.
1964	Fanny Hill	Mrs. Maude Brown
1966	The Chase	Mrs. Reeves	Hopkins played the mother of Robert Redford's character
1970	Savage Intruder	Katharine Parker	Hopkins's last film, (final film role)

Short Subjects:

• "The Home Girl" (1928)
• "Hollywood on Parade No. B-1" (1933)

See also

• Miriam Hopkins: Life and Films of a Hollywood Rebel

References

1. Obituary Variety, October 11, 1972, p. 71.
2. Virginia, Marriage Records 1936–2014
3. 1910 United States Federal Census
4. "St. John's Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA". Episcopal Church. June 13, 2011.
5. "Miriam Hopkins (1902–1972)". Georgiaencyclopedia.org. August 28, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
6. Profile Archived 2014-11-13 at the Wayback Machine, archives.syr.edu; accessed June 27, 2015.
7. The New York Times Book of Movies: The Essential 1,000 Films to See, Universe Publishing, 2019, "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde", p. 310, first published January 2, 1932
8. Douglas W. Churchill (December 30, 1934). "The Year in Hollywood: 1984 May Be Remembered as the Beginning of the Sweetness-and-Light Era". New York Times. p. X5.
9. Wiley, Mason; Damien Bona (1987). Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. Ballantine Books. p. 54. ISBN 0-345-34453-7.
10. Soares, Andre (December 3, 2006). "Miriam Hopkins Biography in the Works". Alternative Film Guide.
11. "Miriam Hopkins". Hollywood Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on November 20, 2019. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
12. "michael hopkins « HOLLYWOODLAND".
13. "TimesMachine". Timesmachine.nytimes.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
14. Michael Janeway (August 22, 2009). The Fall of the House of Roosevelt: Brokers of Ideas and Power from FDR to LBJ. Retrieved October 17, 2015.

External links

• Miriam Hopkins on IMDb
• Miriam Hopkins at the Internet Broadway Database
• Miriam Hopkins at Find a Grave
• Photographs of Miriam Hopkins
• Miriam Hopkins Interview with Biographer Allan Ellenberger