Everything about Judy Holliday totally explained
Judy Holliday (
June 21,
1921 –
June 7,
1965) was an
Academy- and
Tony Award-winning
American actress.
Biography
Early life
Born
Judith Tuvim ("Tuvim" is Hebrew for "Holiday") in
New York City, she was the only child of Abe and Helen Tuvim,
Jewish immigrants from
Russia. she attended elementary school at PS 150, a school in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. Her first job was as an assistant switchboard operator at the
Mercury Theatre run by
Orson Welles and
John Houseman.
Career
Holliday began her show business career in December, 1938, as part of a nightclub act called "The Revuers." The other four members of the group were
Betty Comden,
Adolph Green, Alvin Hammer and John Frank. The Revuers were a staple of the New York nightlife scene until they disbanded in early 1944.
Holliday made her
Broadway debut on
March 20,
1945, at the Belasco Theatre in
Kiss Them for Me and was one of the recipients that year of the
Clarence Derwent Award. In 1946, she was back on Broadway, as the scatterbrained Billie Dawn in
Born Yesterday. Author
Garson Kanin had written the play specifically for his friend, the brilliant but difficult
Jean Arthur. Arthur played the role of Billie out-of-town, but after many complaints and illnesses, resigned. Kanin chose Holliday as her replacement.
It has been widely reported that when Columbia bought the rights to film
Born Yesterday, studio boss
Harry Cohn wouldn't consider casting the unknown (outside of Broadway) Holliday. Kanin, together with George Cukor, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, conspired to promote Holliday by offering her a key part in the 1949 film
Adam's Rib. She got rave reviews and Cohn offered her the chance to repeat her part for the film version of
Born Yesterday. She won the
Golden Globe and
Academy Award for Best Actress, beating out such formidable competitors as
Gloria Swanson, who was nominated for
Sunset Boulevard and
Bette Davis for
All About Eve.
Investigated for Communism
In 1950, Holliday was the subject of an
FBI investigation looking into allegations that she was a
Communist. The investigation "did
not reveal positive evidence of membership in the Communist Party" and was concluded after three months. Unlike many others tainted by the Communist scandal, she wasn't blacklisted from movies, but she was blacklisted from performing on radio and television for almost three years.
In 1952, she was called to testify before the
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee to "explain" why her name had been linked to
Communist front organizations. In spite of her 172 IQ, she was advised to play dumb (like some of her film characters) and did so. She used this technique to avoid giving up names of people she knew to be Communists.
In 1954, she starred with a then-rising young star
Jack Lemmon for the popular comedy,
It Should Happen to You. Holliday and Lemmon next starred together (in that same year) in
Phffft!. Their amazing comedic chemistry on screen made the two films into big hits.
Later life and death
In 1956 she starred in
The Solid Gold Cadillac, and, in 1960 in
Bells Are Ringing, in the role she'd originated on Broadway in 1956, and for which she'd won the 1957
Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.
Holliday died from
breast cancer, in 1965 at the age of 43. She was survived by her young son,
Jonathan Oppenheim, and by her ex-husband, clarinetist and conductor
David Oppenheim. She was interred in the
Westchester Hills Cemetery in
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. Jonathan Oppenheim grew up to become a documentary film editor of note, editing
Paris is Burning,
Children Underground, and
Arguing the World.
Holliday has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6901 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
Stage work
Further Information
Get more info on 'Judy Holliday'.
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