Ruth Hussey

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Ruth Carol Hussey (born October 30, 1911 in Providence , Rhode Island , † April 19, 2005 in Newbury Park , California ) was an American film actress . Hussey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1941 for her role in the screwball comedy The Night Before the Wedding .

Life

Ruth Hussey grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. Her father died of the Spanish flu when she was seven years old. After her mother remarried, she took her stepfather's surname. As Ruth O'Rourke, she attended Pembroke College in Providence, which she graduated in 1933. Ruth Hussey studied acting at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor , and in the summer months she worked in various theater companies.

After graduating, Hussey initially returned to Providence to work for a local radio station. Since there were no opportunities as an actress on Rhode Island, she went to New York , where she was hired by the Powers modeling agency . She also took part in various plays. In 1937 Ruth Hussey appeared in the popular crime play Dead End by Sidney Kingsley , with which she went on a tour of the United States. During a guest performance in Los Angeles , a talent scout from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio became aware of Hussey. Hussey was signed immediately after screen tests and made her film debut in a supporting role in the Spencer Tracy film The Big City .

In the following years, Ruth Hussey rose from an insignificant supporting actress to a sought-after actress. She had her first major role in 1940 in King Vidor's adventure film Northwest Passage on the side of Spencer Tracy and Robert Young . Robert Young became Ruth Hussey's preferred film partner, and they appeared together in front of the camera seven times between 1938 and 1941.

Also in 1940, the war drama Flight Command followed, starring Robert Taylor and Ruth Hussey's best-known role as the photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in the screwball comedy The Night Before the Wedding , which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The success of The Night Before the Wedding led to Ruth Hussey receiving inquiries from other studios as well. So Hussey played in 1944 for Paramount Pictures as the female lead in the horror film The eerie guest ( The Uninvited ).

In 1942 Ruth Hussey met the radio producer Bob Longenecker. Hussey and Longenecker married just seven weeks after the first date. When their first son, Robert Longenecker, was born in 1944, Hussey interrupted her film career to devote more time to her family. John Longenecker was born in 1947 and later became a successful film director and cameraman . In 1954 the daughter Mary was born.

In 1948 Ruth Hussey returned to the big screen with the film noir I, Jane Doe . This was followed by roles in films as diverse as the literary adaptation of The Great Gatsby from 1949, the Martin and Lewis comedy That's My Boy from 1951 or the musical Love, Timpani and Trumpets from 1952. At the same time, Ruth Hussey appeared regularly in the theater, her greatest success in 1945 was the satire State of the Union , in which she appeared on New York's Broadway alongside Ralph Bellamy . In addition, Ruth Hussey was one of the first Hollywood stars to appear regularly on television. Hussey was in series like Alfred Hitchcock Presents or Climax! has appeared and appeared in television games such as the Pulitzer Prize Playhouse's version of The Splendor of the House of Amberson .

In the early 1960s, Ruth Hussey retired from the film business and the family moved to the village of Lake Arrowhead in San Bernardino County . Ruth Hussey only appeared sporadically on television; she had her last film role in 1970 as the narrator in the Oscar-winning short film The Resurrection of Broncho Billy , which was produced by her son John Longenecker.

At the end of 2002 Bob Longenecker died after 60 years of marriage, Ruth Hussey died two and a half years later at the age of 93 as a result of an appendix operation.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Michelle Vogel: Children of Hollywood: Accounts of Growing Up as the Sons and Daughters of Stars . McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina 2005, ISBN 0-7864-2046-4 , pp. 194-205.

Web links

Commons : Ruth Hussey  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in the New York Times, April 22, 2005 (accessed November 29, 2009).
personal data
SURNAME Hussey, Ruth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hussey, Ruth Carol (full name); March, Ruth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Providence , Rhode Island , United States
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 2005
Place of death Newbury Park , California , United States