Hope Lange

Hope Elise Ross Lange (November 28, 1933 – December 19, 2003) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Selena Cross in the 1957 film Peyton Place. In 1969 and 1970, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Carolyn Muir in the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

Early life

Lange was born into a theatrical family in Redding, Connecticut. Her father, John George Lange, was a cellist and the music arranger for Florenz Ziegfeld and conductor for Henry Cohen; her mother, Minette (née Buddecke), was an actress. They had two other daughters, Minelda and Joy, and a son, David. John worked in New York City and the family moved to Greenwich Village when Hope was a young child.

Lange sang with other children in the play Life, Laughter and Tears, which opened at the Booth Theatre in March 1942. Her father died in September 1942. The family stayed in New York City after his death. At age 9, she had a speaking part in the award-winning Broadway play The Patriots, which opened in January 1943. From 1944 to 1956 Minette ran a restaurant on Macdougal Street, near Washington Square Park,

In high school, Lange studied dance, modeled, and worked in the family restaurant. She sometimes walked the dog of former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who had a nearby apartment. When her photo appeared in the newspaper, she received an offer to work as a New York City advertising model. She appeared on the June 1949 cover of Radio-Electronics magazine wearing the "Man from Mars" Radio Hat. This portable radio built into a pith helmet was a sensation in 1949.

Lange attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, studying dance and theater. At Reed, she was a student of artist Xenia Cage. After completing her first year of studies, Lange transferred to Barmore Junior College in New York, where she met her first husband, Don Murray.

Career Lange began working in television in the 1950s with appearances on Kraft Television Theatre. She was seen by a Hollywood producer and contracted to 20th Century Fox. She came to prominence in her first film role in Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray, whom she married on April 14, 1956. Murray later said that Monroe grew jealous of another blonde being hired for the movie and asked the producers to dye Lange's blonde hair light brown.

She went on to appear in Nicholas Ray's film The True Story of Jesse James (1957) as James' wife, opposite Robert Wagner; and in The Young Lions with Montgomery Clift. She starred as the wife of Jeffrey Hunter's character in Anton Myrer's wartime drama In Love and War (1958). These roles led to her earning top billing in The Best of Everything (1959), with Suzy Parker and Joan Crawford. and a Golden Globe Award nomination. This success was followed by three seasons on The New Dick Van Dyke Show as Dick Van Dyke's wife, Jenny Preston, from 1971 to 1974, after which she declined to return for a fourth season of the show. It had shown the year as 1931 from as early as its 1980 edition up until its 2009 issue. (The Almanac and Yearbook'''s 1976 and earlier editions had consistently reported Lange's year of birth as 1933.) Other references such as Chase's Annual Events have always shown 1933, and again in April 1946, when her age was given as 12. Lange's age of 12 in April 1946 would correspond to a birthdate in November 1933, not 1931.

Also, a short feature story was published in February 1951 about Hope Lange's culinary skills. The first paragraph gives the biography of a 17-year-old Hope Lange of Greenwich Village, New York. Her late father was "director of music for Florenz Ziegfield [sic]" and her mother had a catering business. In addition to modeling, acting, and dancing, Hope could make "terrific" sandwiches. The article gives her recipes for "Sardine Strips" and "Cheese Ribbon" sandwiches. Born in 1933, Lange would have been 17 years old in February 1951.

Marriages and relationships Lange's first marriage was to actor Don Murray. They married while he was filming his breakout role in Bus Stop'' with Marilyn Monroe in 1956; they had two children,

In 1972, Hope dated Frank Sinatra and began a relationship with the married novelist John Cheever. In 1986, she married theatrical producer Charles Hollerith, Jr. (1927–2011), with whom she remained for the rest of her life.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1956 Bus Stop Elma Duckworth Alternative title: The Wrong Kind of Girl 1957 The True Story of Jesse James Zee James Alternative title: The James Brothers 1995 Just Cause Libby Prentiss

Television Year Title Role Notes 1956 Kraft Television Theatre Randy Episode: "Snapfinger Creek" 1957–1958 Playhouse 90 RaiyaJessica LovellAlex Winter 3 episodes 1962 Cyrano De Bergerac Roxane Television film 1962; 1975 Hallmark Hall of Fame RoxaneMrs. Douglas 2 episodes 1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Rachel Douglas Episode: "Shipwrecked" 1966 The Fugitive Annie Johnson Episode: "The Last Oasis" 1969 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir 1970 1973 Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role That Certain Summer 1957 Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Peyton Place 1968 Best TV Star – Female The Ghost & Mrs. Muir 1957 Laurel Awards Top New Female Personality 1973 TP de Oro Best Foreign Actress 2008 TV Land Awards Favorite Character from the "Other Side" The Ghost & Mrs. Muir