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Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth (born Marjory Ford; August 30, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was an American actress. One of 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, Booth was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Tony Awards.
Primarily a theater actress, Booth began her career on Broadway in 1915. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received her second Tony Award in 1950 (she would go on to win three). She made her film debut, reprising her role in the 1952 film version, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance. Despite her successful entry into films, she preferred acting on the stage, and made only four more films.
From 1961 to 1966, Booth played the title role in the sitcom Hazel, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards. She was acclaimed for her performance in the 1966 television production of The Glass Menagerie. Her final role was providing the voice of Mrs. Claus in the 1974 animated Christmas television special The Year Without a Santa Claus.
Booth was born Marjory Ford in New York City, according to her birth certificate to Albert James and Virginia M. (née Wright) Ford. In the 1900 New York state census, she was listed as Thelma Booth Ford. She had one sibling, a younger sister, Jean. Her early childhood was spent in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where she attended Public School 152.
When she was age 7, Booth's family moved to Philadelphia, where she first became interested in acting after seeing a stage performance. When Booth was a teenager, her family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she became involved in summer stock. She made her stage debut in a production of Mother Carey's Chickens. Against her father's protests, she dropped out of school and traveled to New York City to pursue a career. She became a resident of the famed Rehearsal Club on West 53rd Street with other young theatrical hopefuls. She initially used the name Thelma Booth when her father forbade her to use the family name professionally. She eventually changed her name to Shirley Booth.
Booth began her stage career as a teenager, acting in stock company productions. She was a prominent actress in Pittsburgh theatre for a time, performing with the Sharp Company. Her debut on Broadway was in the play Hell's Bells, with Humphrey Bogart, on January 26, 1925. Booth first attracted major notice as the female lead in the comedy hit Three Men on a Horse, which ran from 1935 to 1937. During the 1930s and 1940s, she achieved popularity in dramas, comedies and later musicals. She acted with Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1939), originated the role of Ruth Sherwood in the 1940 Broadway production of My Sister Eileen, and performed with Ralph Bellamy in Tomorrow the World (1943). Booth also starred on the popular radio series Duffy's Tavern, playing the lighthearted, wisecracking, man-crazy daughter of the unseen tavern owner on CBS radio from 1941 to 1942 and on NBC Blue from 1942 to 1943. Her then-husband, Ed Gardner, created and wrote the show as well as played its lead character Archie, the manager of the tavern; Booth left the show after the couple divorced. She auditioned unsuccessfully for the title role of Our Miss Brooks in 1948; she had been recommended by Harry Ackerman, who was to produce the show, but Ackerman told radio historian Gerald Nachman that he felt Booth was too conscious of a high school teacher's struggles to have full fun with the character's comic possibilities. Our Miss Brooks became a radio and television hit when the title role went to Eve Arden. In the summer of 1949, Booth portrayed Phyllis Hogan in the situation comedy Hogan's Daughter on NBC radio.
Booth received her first Tony Award, for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic), for her performance as Grace Woods in Goodbye, My Fancy (1948). Her second Tony was for Best Actress in a Play, which she received for her widely acclaimed performance as the tortured wife Lola Delaney in the poignant drama Come Back, Little Sheba (1950). Sidney Blackmer received the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as her husband Doc.
Her success in Come Back, Little Sheba was followed by the musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), based on the popular novel, in which she played the feisty, but lovable Aunt Sissy, which proved to be another major hit. Her popularity was such that, at the time, the story was skewed from the original so that Aunt Sissy was the leading role (rather than Francie). Booth then went to Hollywood and reprised her stage role in the 1952 film version of Come Back, Little Sheba with Burt Lancaster playing Doc. After that movie was completed — her first of only five films in her career — she returned to New York and played Leona Samish in Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo (1952) on Broadway.
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Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth (born Marjory Ford; August 30, 1898 – October 16, 1992) was an American actress. One of 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, Booth was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Tony Awards.
Primarily a theater actress, Booth began her career on Broadway in 1915. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received her second Tony Award in 1950 (she would go on to win three). She made her film debut, reprising her role in the 1952 film version, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance. Despite her successful entry into films, she preferred acting on the stage, and made only four more films.
From 1961 to 1966, Booth played the title role in the sitcom Hazel, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards. She was acclaimed for her performance in the 1966 television production of The Glass Menagerie. Her final role was providing the voice of Mrs. Claus in the 1974 animated Christmas television special The Year Without a Santa Claus.
Booth was born Marjory Ford in New York City, according to her birth certificate to Albert James and Virginia M. (née Wright) Ford. In the 1900 New York state census, she was listed as Thelma Booth Ford. She had one sibling, a younger sister, Jean. Her early childhood was spent in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where she attended Public School 152.
When she was age 7, Booth's family moved to Philadelphia, where she first became interested in acting after seeing a stage performance. When Booth was a teenager, her family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she became involved in summer stock. She made her stage debut in a production of Mother Carey's Chickens. Against her father's protests, she dropped out of school and traveled to New York City to pursue a career. She became a resident of the famed Rehearsal Club on West 53rd Street with other young theatrical hopefuls. She initially used the name Thelma Booth when her father forbade her to use the family name professionally. She eventually changed her name to Shirley Booth.
Booth began her stage career as a teenager, acting in stock company productions. She was a prominent actress in Pittsburgh theatre for a time, performing with the Sharp Company. Her debut on Broadway was in the play Hell's Bells, with Humphrey Bogart, on January 26, 1925. Booth first attracted major notice as the female lead in the comedy hit Three Men on a Horse, which ran from 1935 to 1937. During the 1930s and 1940s, she achieved popularity in dramas, comedies and later musicals. She acted with Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story (1939), originated the role of Ruth Sherwood in the 1940 Broadway production of My Sister Eileen, and performed with Ralph Bellamy in Tomorrow the World (1943). Booth also starred on the popular radio series Duffy's Tavern, playing the lighthearted, wisecracking, man-crazy daughter of the unseen tavern owner on CBS radio from 1941 to 1942 and on NBC Blue from 1942 to 1943. Her then-husband, Ed Gardner, created and wrote the show as well as played its lead character Archie, the manager of the tavern; Booth left the show after the couple divorced. She auditioned unsuccessfully for the title role of Our Miss Brooks in 1948; she had been recommended by Harry Ackerman, who was to produce the show, but Ackerman told radio historian Gerald Nachman that he felt Booth was too conscious of a high school teacher's struggles to have full fun with the character's comic possibilities. Our Miss Brooks became a radio and television hit when the title role went to Eve Arden. In the summer of 1949, Booth portrayed Phyllis Hogan in the situation comedy Hogan's Daughter on NBC radio.
Booth received her first Tony Award, for Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic), for her performance as Grace Woods in Goodbye, My Fancy (1948). Her second Tony was for Best Actress in a Play, which she received for her widely acclaimed performance as the tortured wife Lola Delaney in the poignant drama Come Back, Little Sheba (1950). Sidney Blackmer received the Tony for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as her husband Doc.
Her success in Come Back, Little Sheba was followed by the musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), based on the popular novel, in which she played the feisty, but lovable Aunt Sissy, which proved to be another major hit. Her popularity was such that, at the time, the story was skewed from the original so that Aunt Sissy was the leading role (rather than Francie). Booth then went to Hollywood and reprised her stage role in the 1952 film version of Come Back, Little Sheba with Burt Lancaster playing Doc. After that movie was completed — her first of only five films in her career — she returned to New York and played Leona Samish in Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo (1952) on Broadway.