Teresa Wright

Muriel Teresa Wright (October 27, 1918 – March 6, 2005) was an American actress. She won the 1942 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Carol Beldon in Mrs. Miniver. She was nominated for the same award in 1941 for her debut work in The Little Foxes. Also in 1942, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Pride of the Yankees, opposite Gary Cooper. She is also known for her performances in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, and in William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Wright received five Photoplay Awards, two National Board of Review Awards, and two Hollywood Walk of Fame Stars for her contributions to motion pictures and television.

Wright received three Emmy Award nominations for her performances in the original Playhouse 90 television version of The Miracle Worker (1957), in the NBC Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story (1959), and in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove (1989). She earned the acclaim of top film directors, including William Wyler, who called her the most promising actress he had directed, Her three Academy Award nominations and one Academy Award in her first three films is unique. They divorced in 1978, but maintained a close relationship until the end of her life.

In her last decade, Wright lived quietly in her New England home in the town of Bridgewater, Connecticut, in Litchfield County, appearing occasionally at film festivals and forums and at events associated with the New York Yankees. In 1996, she reminisced about Alfred Hitchcock at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and in 2003, she appeared on the Academy Awards show in a segment honoring previous Oscar-winners. Wright has two grandchildren, one of whom, Jonah Smith, co-produced Darren Aronofsky's films Pi (1998) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). In 1998, Smith accompanied Wright on her first visit to Yankee Stadium when she was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Her appearance in Pride of the Yankees had sparked an interest in baseball and led her to become a Yankees fan.

Death and legacy Teresa Wright died on March 6, 2005 after suffering a heart attack at age 86 in Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.

Filmography

1941 Alexandra Giddens William Wyler Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress