Lee Remick

Lee Ann Remick (; December 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Wait Until Dark (1966) in addition to earning seven Emmy Award nominations.

Remick made her film debut in A Face in the Crowd (1957). Some of her other notable film roles include Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Wild River (1960), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), The Detective (1968), The Omen (1976), and The Europeans (1979).

Remick won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for the TV film The Blue Knight (1973), and for playing the title role in the miniseries Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974). For the latter role, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. In April 1991, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, the daughter of Gertrude Margaret (two sources say Patricia She had one older brother, Bruce. One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Eliza Duffield, was a preacher born in England.

Remick attended the Swoboda School of Dance and the Hewitt School. She began guest-starring on episodes of TV anthology series such as Armstrong Circle Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Robert Montgomery Presents, Kraft Television Theatre, and Playhouse 90.

Early films Remick made her film debut in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957). While filming the movie in Arkansas, Remick lived with a local family and practiced baton twirling, so that she would be believable as the teenager who wins the attention of Lonesome Rhodes (played by Andy Griffith).

After appearing as Eula Varner, the hot-blooded daughter-in-law of Will Varner (Orson Welles) in The Long, Hot Summer (1958), she appeared in These Thousand Hills (1959) as a dance-hall girl, both for 20th Century Fox.

Film stardom

Remick came to prominence portraying a rape victim whose husband is tried for killing her attacker in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (1959).

She made a second film with Kazan, Wild River (1960), which co-starred Montgomery Clift and Jo Van Fleet. That year she played Miranda in a television version of The Tempest with Richard Burton.

Remick was top-billed in Sanctuary (1961) alongside Yves Montand. She appeared in The Farmer's Daughter (1962) on television. She starred opposite Glenn Ford in the Blake Edwards suspense-thriller Experiment in Terror (1962). The same year, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as the alcoholic wife of Jack Lemmon in Days of Wine and Roses (1962), also directed by Edwards. Bette Davis, also nominated that year for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, said "Miss Remick's performance astonished me, and I thought, if I lose the Oscar, it will be to her." They both lost to Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker.

When Marilyn Monroe was fired for absenteeism during the filming of the comedy Something's Got to Give, the studio announced that Remick would be her replacement. Co-star Dean Martin refused to continue. Remick did The Running Man (1963) with Laurence Harvey and The Wheeler Dealers (1963) with James Garner.

Return to Broadway and 1965 films Remick next appeared in the 1964 Broadway musical Anyone Can Whistle,

Remick returned to films with Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), with Steve McQueen from a script by Horton Foote, and The Hallelujah Trail (1965) with Burt Lancaster.

In 1966, she starred in the Broadway play Wait Until Dark under the direction of Arthur Penn and co-starring Robert Duvall. It was adapted into a successful film the following year starring Audrey Hepburn.

More films and 1970s She performed in Damn Yankees! (1967) for TV and starred in No Way to Treat a Lady (1968) with Rod Steiger and George Segal, The Detective (1968) with Frank Sinatra, and Hard Contract (1969) with James Coburn.

Remick went to the UK to make Loot (1970) and A Severed Head (1971). Back in the U.S., she was in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971).

She appeared in Hennessy (1975), with Rod Steiger. She co-starred with Gregory Peck in the 1976 horror film The Omen. The film was a commercial success.

Remick followed it up with leading actress roles in Telefon (1977), with Charles Bronson; The Medusa Touch (1978) with Richard Burton; the television miniseries Wheels (1979) with Rock Hudson; Ike: The War Years (1979) portraying Kay Summersby; and The Europeans (1979) for director James Ivory.

Remick starred in many TV movies, beginning with The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972) with Orson Welles. She followed it with Summer and Smoke (1972) for British TV, The Hunted Touch Me Not (1972), And No One Could Save Her (1973), Of Men and Women (1973) – an unsuccessful pilot, The Blue Knight (1973) with William Holden, A Delicate Balance (1973) with Katharine Hepburn, QB VII (1974), Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1975) playing the title role that earned her an Emmy nomination, Hustling (1975) with Jill Clayburgh, A Girl Named Sooner (1975), Breaking Up (1978), and Torn Between Two Lovers (1979) with George Peppard.

1980s Remick played Margaret Sullavan in Haywire (1980) and earned an Emmy nomination (as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Special). She had the lead in The Women's Room (1980) and supporting roles in The Competition (1980) and Tribute (1980), the latter with Lemmon.

Remick starred in The Letter (1982), The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story (1983), and a TV adaptation of I Do! I Do! (1984). She had a role in the miniseries Mistral's Daughter (1984), adapted from the novel by Judith Krantz. The reviewer from The New York Times praised Remick for portraying Kate "to fresh-faced, clawing perfection".

Remick was in Rearview Mirror (1984), Toughlove (1985), Of Pure Blood (1986), and Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder (1987), earning another Emmy nomination (as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special). She went to Australia to make Emma's War (1987).

Remick's later performances include The Vision (1987) with Dirk Bogarde, Jesse (1988), Bridge to Silence (1989), and playing Sarah Bernhardt in Around the World in 80 Days (1989). Her last performance was the lead in the TV movie Dark Holiday (1989).

Personal life

Remick married producer Bill Colleran, whose credits include Your Hit Parade, The Dean Martin Show, and The Judy Garland Show, on August 3, 1957. They had two children, Katherine Lee Colleran (b. January 27, 1959) and Matthew Remick Colleran (b. June 7, 1961). Remick and Colleran divorced in 1968.

Remick married British producer William Rory "Kip" Gowans on December 18, 1970. He was an assistant director on films such as Darling (1965), Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and The Lion in Winter (1968) before they married, and afterward worked on Sleuth (1972), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), and The Human Factor (1979). She moved with Gowans to England and remained married to him until her death. She starred in four telefilms he produced, The Women's Room (1980), The Letter (1982), Rearview Mirror (1984) and Of Pure Blood (1986). Remick and Gowans spent time in both England and Osterville, Massachusetts, which she considered her "true home".

Death In the spring of 1989, Remick was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Treatments at first seemed to be successful. Her condition eventually worsened, though, and she died on July 2, 1991, at the age of 55.

Recognition and legacy

Remick was the subject of "Lee Remick", the 1978 debut single by the Australian indie rock band the Go-Betweens. Songwriter Robert Forster mistakenly thought Remick was from Ireland, and he made references to this idea in the song. In reality, Remick was American-born and raised (as were her parents); after 1970, she divided her time between England (where she had family ancestry) and the U.S.

The English indie rock band Hefner recorded a song titled "Lee Remick" in 1998, unrelated to the Go-Betweens' single.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1957 A Face in the Crowd Betty Lou Fleckum Film debut 1958 The Long, Hot Summer Eula Varner 1959 These Thousand Hills Callie 1959 Anatomy of a Murder Laura Manion 1960 Wild River Carol Garth Baldwin 1961 Sanctuary Temple Drake 1962 Experiment in Terror Kelly Sherwood 1962 Days of Wine and Roses Kirsten Arnesen Clay 1963 The Running Man Stella Black 1963 The Wheeler Dealers Molly Thatcher 1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall Georgette Thomas 1965 The Hallelujah Trail Cora Templeton Massingale 1965 The Satan Bug Cocktail Waitress Uncredited 1968 No Way to Treat a Lady Kate Palmer 1968 The Detective Karen Leland 1969 Hard Contract Sheila Metcalfe 1970 Loot Nurse Fay McMahon 1970 A Severed Head Antonia Lynch-Gibbon 1971 Sometimes a Great Notion Viv Stamper 1972 Elanor 1973 A Delicate Balance Julia 1975 Hennessy Kate Brooke 1976 The Omen Katherine Thorn 1977 Telefon Barbara 1978 The Medusa Touch Doctor Zonfeld 1979 The Europeans Baroness Eugenia Young Munster 1980 The Competition Greta Vandemann 1980 Tribute Maggie Stratton 1988 Emma's War Anne Grange 2024 The First Omen Katherine Thorn Archival footage

Television Year Title Role Notes 1954 Studio One Jessie Benson Episode: "The Death and Life of Larry Benson" 1956 Studio One Elaine Baylee Episode: "The Landlady's Daughter" 1960 The Tempest Miranda TV movie 1962 The Farmer's Daughter Katrin Holstrom TV movie 1967 Damn Yankees! Lola TV movie 1972 The Man Who Came to Dinner Maggie Cutler TV movie 1972 BBC Play of the Month Alma Winemiller Episode: "Summer and Smoke" 1973 And No One Could Save Her Fern O'Neil TV movie 1973 The Blue Knight Cassie Walters TV movie 1974 QB VII Lady Margaret 2 episodes 1974 Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill Lady Randolph Churchill 7 episodes 1975 Hustling Fran Morrison TV movie 1975 A Girl Named Sooner Elizabeth McHenry TV movie 1977 The Ambassadors Maria Gostrey TV movie 1978 Breaking Up Joann Hammil TV movie 1978 Wheels Erica Trenton TV movie 1979 Torn Between Two Lovers Diana Conti TV movie 1979 Ike: The War Years Kay Summersby 3 episodes 1980 Haywire Margaret Sullavan TV movie 1980 The Women's Room Mira Adams TV movie 1982 I Do! I Do! She TV movie 1982 The Letter Leslie Crosbie TV movie 1983 The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story Janet Broderick TV movie 1984 Mistral's Daughter Kate Browning TV miniseries 1984 A Good Sport Michelle Tenney TV movie 1984 Rearview Mirror Terry Seton TV movie 1985 Toughlove Jan Charters TV movie 1985 Faerie Tale Theatre The Snow Queen Episode: "The Snow Queen" 1986 American Playhouse Eleanor Roosevelt Episode: "Eleanor: In Her Own Words" 1986 Of Pure Blood Alicia Browning TV movie 1987 Nutcracker: Money, Madness and Murder Frances Schreuder TV movie 1988 Jesse Jesse Maloney TV movie 1988 The Vision Grace Gardner TV movie 1989 Bridge to Silence Marge Duffield TV movie 1989 Around the World in 80 Days Sarah Bernhardt 3 episodes 1989 Dark Holiday Gene LePere TV moviea.k.a. Passport to Terror

Awards and nominations