Thelma Ritter
From Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
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- born: 14/Feb/1905 (Brooklyn, New York, USA)
- died: 05/Feb/1969 (New York, USA) - heart attack
Biography
Thelma Ritter was a six time Academy Award-nominated American character actress of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Ritter was born in Brooklyn, New York. After appearing in high school plays and stock companies, she trained as an actress at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She followed a stage career until taking a hiatus to raise a family, then resumed her career on radio in the early 1940s.
Career
Ritter did stock theater and radio shows early in her career, without much impact. Ritter's first movie role was in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947). The 45-year-old made a memorable impression in a brief uncredited part, as a frustrated mother unable to find the toy that Kris Kringle has promised to her son. Her second role, in writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949), also left a mark, although Ritter was again not listed in the credits.
Mankiewicz kept Ritter in mind, and cast her in his "All About Eve" the following year. An Oscar nomination led to popularity, a second Oscar nomination for Mitchell Leisen's' classic screwball comedy "The Mating Season" (1951) starring Gene Tierney, John Lund and Miriam Hopkins. Ritter enjoyed steady film work for the next dozen years. She also appeared in many of the episodic drama TV series of the 1950s, such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "General Electric Theater", and "The United States Steel Hour".
Throughout her career, Ritter was nominated for an Academy Award six times but never received one. She co-hosted the Oscar ceremony in 1954, trading wisecracks with Bob Hope.
The diminutive, gravel-voiced Ritter gained great acclaim as a premiere character actress, known for her comic timing and sassy one-liners. She was most typically cast as the sardonic, seen-it-all housekeeper who saw through her boss's vanity and frequently told them so. But she was also fiercely protective, and neither trusted nor tolerated fools or con men. Ritter would trade on this irascible screen persona for the rest of her life.
Her unsentimental, hard-boiled fatalism could be used in other ways. In occasional non-comedic turns, she projected an unglamorous world-weariness, notably in "Pickup on South Street" (1953).
Some of her best-known roles include Bette Davis's devoted maid in "All About Eve" (1950) as Gene Tierney's maid / mother in law in "The Mating Season" (1951), James Stewart's nurse in "Rear Window" (1954), and as Doris Day's housekeeper in "Pillow Talk" (1959). Her turn in John Huston's "The Misfits" (1961), where she played opposite Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, also garnered favorable reviews.
Shortly after a 1968 performance on "The Jerry Lewis Show", Ritter suffered a heart attack which eventually proved fatal. She was 9 days shy of her 67th birthday.
Filmography
With Hitchcock...
- Rear Window (1954) - cast: Stella
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents - The Baby Sitter (06/May/1956) - cast: Lottie Slocum
Links
Film Frames
Selection of film frames of Thelma Ritter (click image to view larger version or refresh thumbnails)...
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...