Barbara Bel Geddes

Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades. She received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Bel Geddes was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas, while her notable films included I Remember Mama and Vertigo (1958). In theatre, she is best remembered as Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.

Early and personal life Barbara Bel Geddes was born on October 31, 1922, in New York City, the daughter of Helen Belle (née Schneider; 1891–1938) and stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes (1893–1958). Mr. Bel Geddes had been born Norman Melancton Geddes. Upon marrying in 1916, Mr. and Mrs. Bel Geddes had created a new last name by combining her middle name and his surname. Bel Geddes had a sister named Joan who was six years her senior. Bel Geddes married theatrical manager Carl Sawyer (né Schreuer) in 1944; they had one daughter, Susan. They divorced in 1951. Later that year, she married stage director Windsor Lewis, with whom she had a daughter, Betsy. When Lewis became ill in 1967, Bel Geddes suspended her career to care for him; he died in 1972.

Career

Broadway Bel Geddes came to prominence in the 1946 Broadway production of Deep Are the Roots. The performance garnered her the Clarence Derwent Award, the Theatre World Award and the Donaldson Award (forerunner of the Tony Awards) presented to her by Laurette Taylor, for "Outstanding Achievement in The Theatre". From 1951 to 1953, Bel Geddes played 924 performances of the F. Hugh Herbert hit comedy The Moon Is Blue. In 1955, she created the role of Maggie "The Cat" in Elia Kazan's original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and in 1961 created the title role in the Jean Kerr comedy Mary, Mary which became Broadway's longest-running show with over 1,500 performances. Both roles earned her Tony Award nominations. Other highlights include John Steinbeck's Burning Bright, Edward Albee's Everything in the Garden, and Silent Night, Lonely Night with Henry Fonda. She starred with Michael Redgrave in the Broadway production of The Sleeping Prince. In the film adaptation, retitled The Prince and the Showgirl, the roles were reprised by Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier.

In 1952, she was presented with the prestigious Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award from America's oldest theater company, Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals; in 1993, having appeared in 15 Broadway productions, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame (located in the Gershwin Theatre in New York City), a distinction she shared with her father, stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes.

Hollywood

Bel Geddes began her film career starring with Henry Fonda in The Long Night (1947), a remake of the 1939 French film Le jour se lève. "I went out to California awfully young", she said. "I remember Lillian Hellman and Elia Kazan telling me,'Don't go, learn your craft.' But I loved films." The following year, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the George Stevens film I Remember Mama.

She played Richard Widmark's wife Nancy in Kazan's 1950 film noir Panic in the Streets. and in a controversial decision, was replaced with actress Donna Reed for the 1984–1985 season. With her health improved, CBS-TV persuaded Lorimar Productions to return Bel Geddes to the role of Miss Ellie for the 1985–1986 season. Following Reed's firing, she sued for breach of contract, later settling out of court for over $1 million. As the only primetime television actor to relinquish and later regain a role, Bel Geddes continued to play the part through the penultimate season of Dallas in 1990.

Life after Dallas

Bel Geddes retired from acting in 1990 and settled in her homes in Northeast Harbor, Maine, and Putnam Valley, New York, where she continued to work as an artist. She was the author of two children's books, I Like to Be Me and So Do I, as well as the creator of a popular line of greeting cards. Looking back on her career, Bel Geddes told People: "They're always making me play well-bred ladies. I'm not very well bred, and I'm not much of a lady."

Bel Geddes died on August 8, 2005, at her estate in Northeast Harbor, Maine, at the age of 82 and her ashes were scattered from a simple wooden boat into the harbor waters bordering her estate. While filming the revival of Dallas in 2012, Patrick Duffy (who played her youngest son, Bobby, in the original series) said: "Barbara is a big piece of our history, and it's important to me to honor her." "Through the whole first season, I don't think an episode goes by that Mama is not mentioned in reference to Southfork and the land", he said.

Credits

Broadway Start of run End of run Title Role Notes Dottie Coburn Little Darling Cynthia Brown Nine Girls Alice Mrs. January and Mr. X Wilhelmina Deep Are the Roots Winner – Donaldson Award, Theatre World Award, Clarence Derwent Award Burning Bright Mordeen The Moon Is Blue Patty O'Neill The Living Room Rose Pemberton Maggie The Sleeping Prince Marchy Katherine Mary, Mary Luv Ellen Manville Everything in the Garden Jenny Finishing Touches Katy Cooper

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes1950 Rebecca de Winter / Tracy Samantha Lord 2 episodes Pulitzer Prize Playhouse Bethel Merriday 1 episode: "Bethel Merriday" The Nash Airflyte Theater Molly Morgan 1 episode: "Molly Morgan"1954 The Campbell Playhouse Amanda 1 episode: "XXXXX Isn't Everything"1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Marcia 2 episodes 1957–1958 Studio One Charlotte Lamb 2 episodes 1958 Playhouse 90Sidney Cantrell 1 episode: "Rumors of Evening" Decision Marcia 1 episode: "Fifty Beautiful Girls" The United States Steel Hour Lily Barton 1 episode: "Mid-Summer" Alfred Hitchcock Presents Lucia Clay Season 3 Episode 24: "The Foghorn" Alfred Hitchcock Presents Mary Maloney Season 3 Episode 28: "Lamb to the Slaughter"1959 Riverboat Missy Belle 1 episode: "Payment in Full" Alfred Hitchcock Presents Helen Brewster Season 4 Episode 19: "The Morning of the Bride"1960 Dow Hour of Great Mysteries Marie Stevens 1 episode: "The Burning Court" Alfred Hitchcock Presents Sybilla Meade Season 6 Episode 10: "Sybilla"1965 Dr. Kildare Dr. Ruth Halliman 1 episode: "A Miracle for Margaret"1968 CBS Playhouse Doris Gray 1 episode: "Secrets"1969 Journey to the Unknown Inga Madison 1 episode: "The Madison Equation" Daniel Boone Molly Malone 1 episode: "Sweet Molly Malone"1976 Spencer's Pilots Maggie 1 episode: "The Search"1977 Our Town Mrs. Webb TV movie1978–1984, 1985–1990 Dallas Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow 281 episodesGoldene Kamera for Best actress on television (1985)Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Mature Role in a Prime Time Soap Opera (1984)Nominated – Soap Opera Digest Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Mature Role on a Prime Time Serial (1986, 1988), (final appearance)

Accolades