Dina Merrill

Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress, heiress, socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist.[1][2]

Dina Merrill
Publicity photo of Merrill in 1968
Born	Nedenia Marjorie Hutton (1923-12-29)December 29, 1923 New York City, U.S.
Died	May 22, 2017(2017-05-22) (aged 93) East Hampton, New York, U.S.
Education	George Washington University American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Occupation	Actress, socialite, businesswoman, philanthropist
Years active	1945–2009
Spouse(s)	Stanley M. Rumbough Jr. ​ ( m. 1946; div. 1966) Cliff Robertson ​ ( m. 1966; div. 1986) Ted Hartley ​ ( m. 1989)
Children	4
Parent(s)	Edward Francis Hutton Marjorie Merriweather Post
Relatives	Eleanor Post Close (half-sister) C. W. Post (grandfather) Barbara Hutton (cousin)

Early life

Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, although for many years, her date of birth was given as December 9, 1925.[3][4] She was the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton, founder of E. F. Hutton & Co.[5] Merrill had two older half-sisters, Adelaide Breevort (Close) Hutton (July 26, 1908 – December 31, 1998) and Eleanor Post (Close) Hutton (December 3, 1909 – November 27, 2006), by her mother's first marriage to Edward Bennett Close, grandfather of actress Glenn Close.

Merrill attended George Washington University in Washington, DC, for one term, then dropped out and enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She studied acting at HB Studio[6] under Uta Hagen.[7] She received a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in April 2005.[8]

Acting career

On advice from her half-sister's (then) husband, she adopted the stage name Dina Merrill, borrowing from Charles E. Merrill, a famous stockbroker like her father.[9] Merrill made her debut on the stage in the play The Mermaid Singing in 1945.[10]

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill was believed to have intentionally been marketed as a replacement for Grace Kelly,[2] and in 1959, she was proclaimed "Hollywood's new Grace Kelly".[11]

Merrill's film credits included Desk Set (1957), A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958), Don't Give Up the Ship (1959), Operation Petticoat (1959, with Cary Grant, who had been married to her cousin, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton), The Sundowners (1960), Butterfield 8 (1960), The Young Savages (1961), The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), I'll Take Sweden (1965), The Greatest (1977), A Wedding (1978), Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Anna to the Infinite Power (1983), Twisted (1986), Caddyshack II (1988), Fear (1990), True Colors (1991), The Player (1992), Suture (1993), and Shade (2003). She also appeared in made-for-TV movies, such as Seven in Darkness (1969), The Lonely Profession (1969), Family Flight (1972), and The Tenth Month (1979).

Merrill appeared in numerous television series in the 1960s, such as playing the villain "Calamity Jan" in two 1968 episodes of Batman alongside then-husband Cliff Robertson. She also made guest appearances on two Bonanza episodes as Susannah Clauson, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Bonfire" (1962), The Bold Ones, The Love Boat; Quincy, M.E.; Murder, She Wrote; Roseanne, and The Nanny, as Maxwell Sheffield's disapproving and distant British mother. In 1971, Merrill appeared as Laura Duff in The Men From Shiloh (rebranded name for the TV Western The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Agnus Killer".

Her stage credits include the 1983 Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes, starring Russian prima ballerina Natalia Makarova. In 1991, she appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom.[12]

Merrill, Bobby Short & Dick Sheridan in New York City (1970)

In 1991, Merrill and her third husband, Ted Hartley, merged their company, Pavilion Communications, with RKO to form RKO Pictures, which owns the intellectual property of the RKO Radio Pictures movie studio.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Merrill was a recurring guest on several network television game and panel shows including The Match Game, To Tell the Truth, What's My Line, and Hollywood Squares.

Board memberships

Merrill was a presidential appointee to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and a vice president of the New York City Mission Society. In 1980, Merrill joined the board of directors of her father's E. F. Hutton & Co., continuing on the board of directors and the compensation committee of Lehman Brothers when it acquired Hutton, for over 18 years.[9][13]

Personal life and death

Merrill in 1999

Merrill was married three times. In 1946, she wed Stanley M. Rumbough Jr., an heir to the Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste fortune and entrepreneur.[14] They had three children, Nedenia Colgate Rumbough, David Post Rumbough, and Stanley Rumbough III [14] before divorcing in 1966.[15] Later that year, she wed future Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson, with whom she had a daughter, Heather Robertson (1968–2007).[10] The couple divorced in 1986.[15]

In 1989, she married producer Ted Hartley.[14] Two of Merrill's four children predeceased her.[16][17]

On May 22, 2017, Merrill died at her home in East Hampton, New York at age 93. She had been suffering from dementia with Lewy bodies.[14]

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Desk Set	Sylvia Blair
1958	A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed	Margie Solitaire
1959	Don't Give Up the Ship	Ensign Rita J. Benson
	Operation Petticoat	Second Lieutenant Barbara Duran, NC, USAR
	Catch Me As You Can
1960	BUtterfield 8	Emily Liggett
	The Sundowners	Jean Halstead
1961	The Young Savages	Karin Bell
	Twenty Plus Two	Nicki Kovacs
1963	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Rita Behrens
	I'll Take Sweden	Karin Granstedt
1970	Aru heishi no kake	Kelly Allen
1974	Throw Out the Anchor!	Lindy Baker
1975	The Meal	Kelly Fielding
1977	The Greatest	Velvet Green
1978	A Wedding	Antionette Goddard
1980	Just Tell Me What You Want	Connie Herschel
1983	Anna to the Infinite Power	Sarah Hart
1986	Twisted	Neil Kempler
1988	Caddyshack II	Cynthia Young
1990	Fear	Catherine Tarr
1991	True Colors	Joan Styles
1992	The Player	Celia
1993	Suture	Alice Jameson
1995	Open Season	Doris Hays-Britton
	Point of Betrayal	Mother
1996	Milk & Money	Ellen - David's Mother
1998	Mighty Joe Young	Society Woman
1999	The Other Sister	Pucky	Uncredited
2000	Meeting Genevieve	Mother	Short movie
2003	Shade	Dina
2009	Beyond a Reasonable Doubt	Woman in Courtroom	Uncredited

Television films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1961	Westinghouse Presents: The Dispossessed	Annette DeGrande
1962	The Expendables	Barbara
1968	The Sunshine Patriot	Brancie Hagen
1969	Seven in Darkness	Emily Garth
	The Lonely Profession	Beatrice Savarona
1971	Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones	Vivian Greher
1972	Family Flight	Florence Carlyle
1973	The Letters	Penelope Parkington
	Running Wild	Whit Colby
1979	The Tenth Month	Cele
1983	The Brass Ring	Mother
1986	The Alan King Show	Nan Cooper
1989	Turn Back the Clock	Maureen Dowd
1993	Not in My Family	Claire Worth
1997	Something Borrowed, Something Blue	Lydia D'Arcy - Monique's Mother
1998	A Chance of Snow	Merilee Parker
2002	The Magnificent Ambersons	Mrs. Johnson
	The Glow	Phoebe Janusz

References

1. Gingrich, Arnold (May 1960). Coronet. D. A. Smart. p. 13.
2. Hamilton, George; Stadiem, William (October 14, 2008). Don't Mind If I Do. Simon and Schuster. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-4165-9450-5.
3. "Date of birth given as December 29, 1923". hillwoodmuseum.org. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014.
4. Dina Merrill date of birth: December 29, 1923, paulbowles.org; accessed December 31, 2013.
5. "Dina Merrill Biography". filmreference.com. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
6. HB Studio Alumni
7. "A Touch Of Class". Retrieved May 24, 2017.
8. Major, Nellie Leitch (January 1, 1963). C.W. Post - the hour and the man: A biography with genealogical supplement. Washington, DC: Press of Judd & Detweiler, Inc. pp. 173. ASIN B0006AYYIS.
9. Rowes, Barbara (May 12, 1980). "An Actress Turns to Finance: History Proves That Both Dina Merrill and Her Daddy Knew Best". People. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
10. Bernstein, Adam (May 22, 2017). "Dina Merrill, actress and philanthropist of aristocratic poise, dies at 93". Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
11. "Dina Merrill: A Star on Her Toes". The New York Times. April 3, 1983. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
12. Wit & Wisdom, theatermania.com; accessed December 27, 2013.
13. Gillespie, John (January 12, 2010). Money for Nothing: How the Failure of Corporate Boards Is Ruining American Business and Costing Us Trillions. Free Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-4165-5993-1.
14. Harmetz, Aljean (May 22, 2017). "Dina Merrill, Actress and Philanthropist, Dies at 93". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
15. "Dina Merrill: Performer". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
16. "Fortune, fame...and tragic deaths". Chicago Tribune. November 17, 1975. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
17. "Deaths Robertson, Heather Merriweather". The New York Times. May 2, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2016.

External links

• Dina Merrill on IMDb
• In Step with: Dina Merrill, news.google.com; accessed 2014-07-09.
• Cliff Robertson & Dina Merrill Take (summer) Stock and Are Bullish on the Outcome People Magazine 1981-07-31