Judy Holliday: A Brilliant Star Gone Too Soon – Her Life and Legacy
Explore the biography of Judy Holliday, the gifted actress whose wit and charm lit up Hollywood before her life was tragically cut short.
Judy Holliday
Judith Tuvin was born in New York City on June 21, 1921. Of Russian Jewish descent, she got her first job as an assistant at the Mercury Theater. The theater was run by none other than Orson Welles. Her artistic career began around 1938, when she began performing at a club with a group called The Revuers.
The group continued to perform in various New York nightclubs, but eventually disbanded in 1944. In 1945, Judy made her Broadway debut. After a few uncredited roles, she finally got her big break on the big screen in Adam’s Rib (1949), starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy . In the film, she plays Doris, a woman who shoots her husband after suspecting he is having an affair. We can already tell that she is a wonderful actress.
After receiving rave reviews for her stage performance as the scatterbrained Emma in Born Yesterday , Judy was cast as her on screen. In a year when Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, Eleanor Parker and Anne Baxter were all competing for the Best Actress Oscar, she won the award. The win was controversial, but it would have been fair for anyone who won. I personally think she is fabulous in this role.
During this period, Judy began to be investigated by the FBI committee. There were allegations that she was a communist. However, after several months, there was no evidence of her participation in the communist party. In 1952, she was called to testify. The actress was advised by her friends to “play” a dumb woman during her testimony. It wouldn’t be difficult for her, since she had done it so masterfully in some of her films. Well, she managed to bravely escape the committee.
In 1954, she co-starred with Jack Lemmon in the highly popular comedies It Should Happen to You and Phew!. Judy was a formidable actress who divided her career between stage and film appearances. Her last appearance was in the film Bells Are Ringing (1960), a romantic comedy in which she starred opposite Dean Martin.
The actress was married to composer David Oppenheim in 1948. The couple had a son, Jonathan. They divorced in 1958. She later dated musician Gerry Mulligan, but they never made their romance official.
Judy died on June 7, 1965 after a battle with breast cancer. She was only 43 years old.
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