Miriam Hopkins

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Ellen Miriam Hopkins (born October 18, 1902 in Savannah , Georgia , † October 9, 1972 in New York City , New York ) was an American actress .

Life

Born in Georgia, she studied at Goddard College in Baar, Vermont, and at Syracuse University . At the age of 20 she became a chorus girl in New York. She played regularly in touring theaters and met George Cukor there.

In 1930 she signed a contract with Paramount and made her debut in Fast and Loose . Hopkins became known for her roles in The Smiling Lieutenant , which she showed under the direction of Ernst Lubitsch and in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , where Rouben Mamoulian managed to get a good performance out of Hopkins. Lubitsch reintroduced Hopkins in Trouble in Paradise , where he gave her the best lines of dialogue at the expense of Kay Francis and in a serenade for three , in which Hopkins joined Fredric March and Gary Cooper in a ménage à trois. Her most controversial role she played in early 1933 in the film adaptation of the William Faulkner novel Die Freistatt under the title The Story of Temple Drake . The film sparked a heated argument with the censorship authorities over its portrayal of sexuality.

Her performance in Becky Sharp , whose plot is based on the novel Vanity Fair , earned the actress her only nomination for the Oscar for best actress at the 1936 Academy Awards . The film was the first full-length Technicolor film after only short films had previously been produced. Rouben Mamoulian directed and some scenes, such as the Duchess's ball, testify to the innovative power with which Mamoulian was able to use color to reinforce the plot. By the middle of the decade, Hopkins was known as a performer in dramatic roles, moving from Paramount to Samuel Goldwyn , who used her in four films alongside Joel McCrea . In 1936, Hopkins and McCrea worked alongside Merle Oberon in Infame Lies . Directed by William Wyler , who got on well with Hopkins. In 1939 Hopkins moved to Warner Brothers , where he made two films alongside Bette Davis : The Old Maid from 1939 and In Friendship from 1943. Even outside of Hollywood circles it was known that the two actresses did not get along well Davis called Hopkins back then as the most thoroughgoing bitch I ever worked with (" the biggest bitch I've ever worked with "). Colleagues like Paul Muni , Edward G. Robinson and Gary Cooper were of a similar opinion , as Hopkins often came to the film set late and only wanted to be filmed from certain camera angles.

Hopkins only got the role in Linked In Friendship because Norma Shearer , who had recently left the big screen, had declined Jack Warner's offer to play second fiddle alongside Bette Davis. Miriam Hopkins' career had lost momentum and she retired from the big screen for a while after 1943. She returned in 1948 in a few supporting roles as a character actress, so in the William Wyler productions of The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland and Carrie , the film adaptation of the novel by Theodore Dreiser , with Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones . In 1963 she starred in William Wyler's Infam , his second adaptation of The Children's Hour . In 1964 she starred in Fanny Hill by cult director Russ Meyer . In addition, from the late 1940s she was more often in front of the camera for television productions. Her last role was in 1970 as a former movie star hoping for a comeback in What Really Happened To Baby Jane? remembered B horror film Savage Intruder .

Awards

Miriam Hopkins in 1936 for Becky Sharp in the category Best Actress for the Oscar nominated. Her appearance in The Heiress was honored with a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1960 she was awarded two stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the categories of film and television.

Private life

Most reputable sources suggest that Hopkins had a relatively tumultuous personal life. Numerous affairs with well-known male Hollywood stars have been foisted on her. Again and again there were rumors about lesbian tendencies. She was married a total of four times: from 1926 to 1927 with Brandon Peters, from 1928 to 1931 with Austin Parker, from 1937 to 1939 with director Anatole Litvak and from 1945 to 1951 with Raymond B. Brock. She had an adopted son born in 1932. Hopkins died of a heart attack nine days before her 70th birthday.

The writer John O'Hara described Hopkins as a clever person who often invited important intellectuals to dinner parties, and who actually read and understood their works.

In the essay History of Eternity ( Historia de la eternidad , 1936), Jorge Luis Borges pays her his reference: “Miriam Hopkins consists of Miriam Hopkins, not of the nitrogenous or mineral building principles, the carbohydrates, alkaloids and fatty acids, which make up the perishable substance of this delicate silver shadow or this intelligible entity from Hollywood. "

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Allan R. Ellenberger: Miriam Hopkins. Life and Films of a Hollywood Rebel. University Press of Kentucky, 2018 ( book preview on Google Books )

Web links

Commons : Miriam Hopkins  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Miriam Hopkins | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved January 20, 2020 (American English).
  2. ↑ See Miriam Hopkins on whosdatedwho.com.
  3. ↑ Miriam Hopkins Is Dead at 69; Screen and Stage Star of 1930's . In: The New York Times . October 10, 1972, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed January 20, 2020]).
  4. ↑ quoted from: Jorge Luis Borges: Essays. Story of eternity. From books and authors. Carl Hanser Verlag, 2005/2019, ISBN 978-3-446-25892-1 (work edition, vol. 2, translated by Karl August Horst and Gisbert Haefs).
personal data
SURNAME Hopkins, Miriam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Savannah , Georgia , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1972
Place of death New York , NY