Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon Jones (October 30, 1896 – August 28, 1985) was an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright. Gordon began her career performing on Broadway at age nineteen. Known for her nasal voice and distinctive personality, she gained international recognition and critical acclaim for film roles that continued into her seventies and eighties. Her later work included performances in Rosemary's Baby (1968), Where's Poppa? (1970), Harold and Maude (1971), Every Which Way but Loose (1978), and Any Which Way You Can (1980).[1]

For other people named Ruth Gordon, see Ruth Gordon (disambiguation).

Ruth Gordon
Gordon with Garson Kanin, 1946
Born	Ruth Gordon Jones (1896-10-30)October 30, 1896 Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 28, 1985(1985-08-28) (aged 88) Edgartown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Actress writer
Years active	1915–1981
Spouse(s)	Gregory Kelly ​ ( m. 1921; died 1927) Garson Kanin ​ ( m. 1942)
Children	1

In addition to her acting career, Gordon wrote numerous plays, film scripts, and books, most notably co-writing the screenplay for the 1949 film Adam's Rib. Gordon won an Oscar, a Primetime Emmy, and two Golden Globe Awards for her acting, as well as received three Academy Award nominations for her writing.

Early life

Ruth Gordon at age four

Ruth Gordon Jones was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, at 41 Winthrop Avenue. She later resided at 41 Marion Street (1901-1903) and 14 Elmwood Avenue (1903-1914). All 3 homes are in the Wollaston section of town.[2]

She was the child of Annie Tapley (née Ziegler) and Clinton Jones. Her only sibling was an older half-sister Claire, from her father's first marriage.[3] She was baptized an Episcopalian.[4][5] Her first appearance in the public eye came as an infant when her photograph was used in advertising for her father's employer, Mellin's Food for Infants & Invalids.[6] Prior to graduating from Quincy High School, she wrote to several of her favorite actresses requesting autographed pictures. A personal reply from Hazel Dawn (whom she had seen in a stage production of The Pink Lady) inspired her to go into acting.[7] Although her father was skeptical of her chances of success in a difficult profession, in 1914, he took his daughter to New York, where he enrolled her in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Early career

Gregory Kelly and Gordon in the 1918 Broadway production of Seventeen

Jed Harris in 1928

Gordon in 1930

In 1915, Gordon appeared as an extra in silent films that were shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey, including as a dancer in The Whirl of Life, a film based on the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle.[8] That same year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, in the role of Nibs (one of the Lost Boys), appearing onstage with Maude Adams and earning a favorable mention from the powerful critic Alexander Woollcott. Woollcott, who described her favorably as "ever so gay", would become her friend and mentor.[7]

In 1918, Gordon played opposite actor Gregory Kelly in the Broadway adaptation of Booth Tarkington's Seventeen. The pair continued to perform together in North American tours of Frank Craven's The First Year and Tarkington's Clarence and Tweedles. Then in 1921, Gordon and Kelly were wed.

In December 1920, Gordon checked into a Chicago hospital to have her legs broken and straightened to treat her lifelong bow-leggedness.[9] After a three-month recovery, she and Kelly relocated to Indianapolis where they started a repertory company.

Kelly died of heart disease in 1927, at the age of 36. Gordon at the time had been enjoying a comeback, appearing on Broadway as Bobby in Maxwell Anderson's Saturday's Children, performing in a serious role after being typecast for years as a "beautiful, but dumb" character.[7]

In 1929, Gordon was starring in the hit play, Serena Blandish, when she became pregnant by the show's producer, Jed Harris. Their son, Jones Harris, was born in Paris that year and Gordon brought him back to New York. Although they never married, Gordon and Harris provided their son with a normal upbringing and his parentage became public knowledge as social conventions changed.[10] In 1932 the family was living discreetly in a small, elegant New York City brownstone.[11]

Gordon continued to act on the stage throughout the 1930s, including notable runs as Mattie in Ethan Frome, Margery Pinchwife in William Wycherley's Restoration comedy The Country Wife at London's Old Vic and on Broadway, and Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at Central City, Colorado, and on Broadway.[12]

Career

Gordon was signed to a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film contract for a brief period in the early 1930s but did not make a movie for the company until her supporting role in Greta Garbo's final film, Two-Faced Woman (1941). Gordon had better luck at other studios in Hollywood, appearing in supporting roles in a string of films, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois (as Mary Todd Lincoln), Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (as Mrs. Ehrlich) and Action in the North Atlantic, in the early 1940s. Gordon's Broadway acting appearances in the 1940s included Iris in Paul Vincent Carroll's The Strings, My Lord, Are False and Natasha in Katharine Cornell and Guthrie McClintic's revival of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, as well as leading roles in her own plays, Over Twenty-One and The Leading Lady. Gordon married her second husband, writer Garson Kanin, in 1942. Gordon and Kanin collaborated on the screenplays for the Katharine Hepburn – Spencer Tracy films Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952). Both films were directed by George Cukor. The couple were close friends of Hepburn and Tracy, and incorporated elements of the actors' real personalities in the films. Gordon and Kanin received Academy Awards nominations for both of those screenplays, as well as for that of a prior film, A Double Life (1947), which was also directed by Cukor.[13][14][15]

The Actress (1953) was Gordon's film adaptation of her own autobiographical play, Years Ago, filmed by MGM with Jean Simmons portraying the girl from Quincy, Massachusetts, who convinced her sea captain father to let her go to New York to become an actress. Gordon would go on to write three volumes of memoirs in the 1970s: My Side, Myself Among Others and An Open Book.[16][17][18]

Gordon continued her stage acting career in the 1950s, and was nominated for a 1956 Tony, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, for her portrayal of Dolly Levi in Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker, a role she also played in London, Edinburgh and Berlin.

In 1966, Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for Inside Daisy Clover opposite Natalie Wood. It was her first nomination for acting. Three years later, in 1969, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Rosemary's Baby, a film adaptation of Ira Levin's bestselling horror novel about a satanic cult residing in an Upper West Side apartment building in Manhattan. In accepting the award onstage, Gordon thanked the Academy by saying, "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is ..." (rousing laughter from the audience). At the time she had been in the business for 50 years and was 72 years old. "And thank all of you who voted for me, and to everyone who didn't: please, excuse me", she added, prompting more laughter and applause.

Gordon won another Golden Globe for Rosemary's Baby, and was nominated again, in 1971, for her role as Maude in Harold and Maude (with Bud Cort as her love interest).[19]

She went on to appear in 22 more films and at least that many television appearances through her '70s and '80s, including such successful sitcoms as Rhoda (as Carlton the unseen doorman's mother, which earned her an Emmy nomination) and Newhart. She portrayed a murderous author on the 1977 episode Columbo: Try and Catch Me. She made countless talk show appearances, in addition to hosting Saturday Night Live in 1977.[20]

Gordon won an Emmy Award for a guest appearance on the sitcom Taxi, for a 1979 episode called "Sugar Mama", in which her character tries to solicit the services of a taxi driver, played by series star Judd Hirsch, as a male escort.[1]

Her last Broadway appearance was as Mrs. Warren in George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession, produced by Joseph Papp at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in 1976. In the summer of 1976, Gordon starred in the leading role of her own play, Ho! Ho! Ho! at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. She had a minor role as Ma Boggs, the mother of Orville Boggs (Geoffrey Lewis), in the Clint Eastwood films Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can.

In 1983, Gordon was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.[21]

Harold and Maude, Adam's Rib, and Rosemary's Baby have been selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress.

Death

On August 28, 1985, Gordon died at her summer home in Edgartown, Massachusetts, following a stroke at age 88.[1] Her husband for 43 years, Garson Kanin, was at her side and said that even her last day of life was typically full, with walks, talks, errands, and a morning of work on a new play. She had made her last public appearance two weeks before, at a benefit showing of the film Harold and Maude, and had recently finished acting in four films.

Legacy

"She had a great gift for living the moment," said Glenn Close, who co-starred in Maxie, one of Gordon's last films, "... and it kept her ageless."

In August 1979, a small movie theater in Westboro, Massachusetts, was named Ruth Gordon Flick. She attended the opening ceremony, standing on a bench in the lobby so she could be seen. The theater no longer exists.[22][23] In November 1984, the outdoor amphitheater in Merrymount Park[24] in Quincy, Massachusetts, was named Ruth Gordon Amphitheater[25] in her honor.[26]

Body of work

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1915	The Whirl of Life	Extra	Uncredited
	Madame Butterfly	Minor Role	Uncredited
	Camille	Party Guest	Uncredited
1940	Abe Lincoln in Illinois	Mary Todd Lincoln
	Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet	Hedwig Ehrlich
1941	Two-Faced Woman	Miss Ruth Ellis, Larry's Secretary
1943	Edge of Darkness	Anna Stensgard
	Action in the North Atlantic	Mrs. Sarah Jarvis
1965	Inside Daisy Clover	Lucile Clover	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1966	Lord Love a Duck	Stella Bernard
1968	Rosemary's Baby	Minnie Castevet	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance (3rd place)
1969	What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?	Alice Dimmock
1970	Where's Poppa?	Mrs. Hocheiser
1971	Harold and Maude	Maude	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1976	The Big Bus	Old Woman
1978	Every Which Way but Loose	Senovia "Ma" Boggs
1979	Boardwalk	Becky Rosen
	Scavenger Hunt	Arvilla Droll
1980	My Bodyguard	Gramma Peache
	Any Which Way You Can	Senovia 'Ma' Boggs
1982	Jimmy the Kid	Bernice
1985	Delta Pi	Mugsy
	Voyage of the Rock Aliens	Sheriff	Filmed in 1983
	Maxie	Mrs. Lavin	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1987	The Trouble with Spies	Mrs. Arkwright	Filmed in 1984 and released after Gordon's death, (final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	Prudential Family Playhouse	Paula Wharton	episode: Over 21
1966	Blithe Spirit	Madame Arcati	TV movie
1973	Isn't It Shocking?	Marge Savage	TV movie
1975	Kojak	Miss Eudora Temple	episode: I Want to Report a Dream
	Rhoda	Carlton's Mother	episode: Kiss Your Epaulets Goodbye Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series
	Medical Story	Emily Dobson	episode: The Right to Die
1976	The Great Houdini	Cecilia Weiss	Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special
	Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby	Minnie Castevet	TV movie
	Emergency!	Lenore	episode: The Nuisance
1977	Columbo	Abigail Mitchell	episode: Try and Catch Me
	Saturday Night Live	Host	episode: Ruth Gordon/Chuck Berry
	The Love Boat	Mrs. Warner	episode: Joker Is Mild, The/First Time Out/Take My Granddaughter, Please
	The Prince of Central Park	Mrs. Miller	TV movie
1978	Perfect Gentlemen	Mrs. Cavagnaro	TV movie
1979	Taxi	Dee Wilcox	episode: Sugar Mama Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
1980	Hardhat and Legs	Grandmother	uncredited also writer
1982	Don't Go to Sleep	Bernice	TV movie
1983–1984	Newhart	Blanche Devane	episode: Grandma, What a Big Mouth You Have episode: Go, Grandma, Go (1984)

Writer

Year	Title	Notes
1944	Over 21
1947	A Double Life	Nominated- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (shared with Garson Kanin)
1948	The Ford Theatre Hour	episode: Years Ago
1949	Adam's Rib	Nominated- Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay (shared with Garson Kanin) Nominated- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy (shared with Garson Kanin)
1950	Prudential Family Playhouse	episode: Over 21
1952	Pat and Mike	Nominated- Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay (shared with Garson Kanin) Nominated- Writers Guild of America Award Best Written American Comedy (shared with Garson Kanin)
	The Marrying Kind	Nominated- Writers Guild of America Award Best Written American Comedy (shared with Garson Kanin)
1953	The Actress	Nominated- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Comedy (shared with Garson Kanin)
1957	The Alcoa Hour	episode: A Double Life
1960	DuPont Show of the Month	episode: Years Ago
1967	Rosie!
1973	Adam's Rib (TV series)	episode: The Unwritten Law
1980	Hardhat and Legs

Broadway appearances

Gordon as Lola Pratt holding her dog "Flopit" in the Broadway production Seventeen, 1918

Year	Title	Role	Notes
December 21, 1915 – January 1916	Peter Pan	Nibs	Revival
January 22, 1918 – August 1918	Seventeen	Lola Pratt
August 13, 1923 – November 1923	Tweedles	Winsora
January 5, 1925 – March 1925	Mrs. Partridge Presents	Katherine Everitt
August 31, 1925 – October 1925	The Fall of Eve	Eva Hutton
January 26, 1927 – April 1928	Saturday's Children	Bobby
January 23, 1929 – April 1929	Serena Blandish	Serena Blandish
January 31, 1929 – May 25, 1929	Lady Fingers	Ruth	also in ensemble
April 14, 1930 – June 1930	Hotel Universe	Lily Malone
September 29, 1930 – November 1930	The Violet and One, Two, Three	Ilona Stobri	The Violet
April 6, 1931 – May 1931	The Wiser They Are	Trixie Ingram
October 12, 1931 – March 1932	A Church Mouse	Susie Sachs
September 6, 1932 – October 1932	Here Today	Mary Hilliard
March 16, 1933 – May 1933	Three-Cornered Moon	Elizabeth Rimplegar
February 21, 1934 – April 1934	They Shall Not Die	Lucy Wells
October 8, 1934 – November 1934	A Sleeping Clergyman	Harriet Marshall, Hope Cameron, Wilhelmina Cameron
January 21, 1936 – May 5, 1936	Ethan Frome	Mattie Silver
December 1, 1936 – February 1937	The Country Wife	Mrs. Margery Pinchwife
December 27, 1937 – May 1938	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer
May 19, 1942 – May 30, 1942	The Strings, My Lord, Are False	Iris Ryan
December 21, 1942 – April 3, 1943	The Three Sisters	Natalya Ivanovna
January 3, 1944 – July 8, 1944	Over 21	Paula Wharton	Written by Ruth Gordon
December 3, 1946 – May 31, 1947	Years Ago		Written by Ruth Gordon
September 30, 1947 – November 22, 1947	How I Wonder		Produced by Ruth Gordon
October 18, 1948 – October 23, 1948	The Leading Lady		Written by Ruth Gordon
January 12, 1949 – January 15, 1949	The Smile of the World	Sara Boulting
December 5, 1955 – February 2, 1957	The Matchmaker	Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi	Nominated – 1956 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
March 2, 1960 – March 19, 1960	The Good Soup	Marie-Paule I
March 21, 1963 – April 6, 1963	My Mother, My Father and Me	Rona Halpern
September 30, 1965 – October 23, 1965	A Very Rich Woman	Mrs. Lord	Written by Ruth Gordon
October 6, 1966 – October 22, 1966	The Loves of Cass McGuire	Cass
October 17, 1974 – October 26, 1974	Dreyfus in Rehearsal	Zina
February 18, 1976 – April 4, 1976	Mrs. Warren's Profession	Mrs. Kitty Warren

See also

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations

References

1. "Ruth Gordon, The Actress, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
2. Scheible, Sue. "Following actress Ruth Gordon's footsteps through Quincy". PatriotLedger.com.
3. US Census 1900 and 1910, Massachusetts Marriage Records
4. Gordon, R. (1986). My Side: The Autobiography of Ruth Gordon. D.I. Fine. ISBN 9780917657818. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
5. Gordon, R. (1947). Years Ago: A Play. Viking Press. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
6. LIFE. Time Inc. 1947-01-06. p. 58. ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
7. Current Biography 1943. pp.238–41.
8. Ruth Gordon on IMDb
9. The Pittsburgh Press, Dec 24, 1920: "Actress, to continue her career, has bowed legs broken and straightened"
10. Wada, Karen (August 29, 1985). "Ruth Gordon Dies; Stage, Film Career Spanned 7 Decades". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
11. Lanchester, Elsa (1983). Elsa Lanchester Herself. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 102. ISBN 0-312-24376-6.
12. Henrik Ibsen (6 June 2016). A Doll's House. Theatre Communications Group. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-1-55936-850-6.
13. "AFI|Catalog A Double Life (1948) History". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
14. "AFI|Catalog Adam's Rib (1949) History". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
15. "AFI|Catalog Pat and Mike (1952) History". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
16. Gordon, Ruth (1 January 1976). My side: the autobiography of Ruth Gordon. Harper & Row. OCLC 2437769.
17. Gordon, Ruth (1 January 1980). Ruth Gordon, an open book. Doubleday. OCLC 6014288.
18. Gordon, Ruth (1 January 1971). Myself among others. Atheneum. OCLC 138331.
19. "Ruth Gordon". Retrieved 1 November 2016.
20. "Saturday Night Live - TV Series - Seasons and Episodes - NYTimes.com". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
21. "Past Recipients". Jun 30, 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-30. Retrieved Nov 29, 2019.
22. Times, Eleanor Blau Special to The New York (Aug 27, 1979). "Ruth Gordon Nowa Theater and Glad of It". Retrieved Nov 29, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.
23. "Flick 1 & 2 in Westborough, MA - Cinema Treasures". cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
24. "Merrymount Park | Discover Quincy". www.discoverquincy.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
25. "Ruth Gordon Amphitheater | Discover Quincy". www.discoverquincy.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
26. ParkWard5 Archived November 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Ruth Gordon on IMDb
• Ruth Gordon at the Internet Broadway Database