Lee Remick

Lee Remick

Birth name: Lee Ann Remick
Born: December 14, 1935
Died: July 2, 1991 (at age 55)
Birthplace: Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.
Popularity:
Biography

Lee Ann Remick (December 14, 1935 - July 2, 1991) was an American film and television actress. Among her best-known films are Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and The Omen (1976).

Early life

Lee Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, the daughter of Gertrude Margaret (two sources say Patricia) (née Waldo), an actress, and Francis Edwin "Frank" Remick, who owned a department store. Her maternal great-grandmother, Eliza Duffield, was a preacher born in England and her paternal grandfather was of Irish ancestry. Remick attended the Swaboda School of Dance, the Hewitt School and studied acting at Barnard College and the Actors Studio, making her Broadway theatre debut in 1953 with Be Your Age.

Career

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 1958's The Long, Hot Summer, she appeared in These Thousand Hills (1959) as a dance hall girl. Remick came to prominence as a rape victim whose husband is tried for killing her attacker in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder. In 1960, she made a second film with Kazan, Wild River, which co-starred Montgomery Clift and Jo Van Fleet.

In 1962 she starred opposite Glenn Ford in the Blake Edwards suspense-thriller Experiment in Terror. That 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. Bette Davis, also nominated that year for Whatever 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 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, however, saying that while he admired Remick, he had signed onto the picture strictly to be able to work with Monroe.

Remick next appeared in the 1964 Broadway musical Anyone Can Whistle, written by Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, which ran for only a week. Remick's performance is captured on the original cast recording. This began a lifelong friendship between Remick and Sondheim, and she later appeared in the landmark 1985 concert version of his musical Follies. In 1966, she starred in the Broadway play Wait Until Dark, which was another big success and Remick was nominated for a Tony award for Best Actress (Dramatic). It was adapted into a successful film the following year starring Audrey Hepburn.

Remick continued to star in major films throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, including Baby the Rain Must Fall (1965), No Way to Treat a Lady (1968), The Detective (1968), Sometimes a Great Notion (1971), and A Delicate Balance (1973).

She co-starred with Gregory Peck in the 1976 horror film The Omen, in which her character's adopted son, Damien, is revealed to be the Anti-Christ. The film was both a critical and commercial success and was regarded as one of the best horror films ever made.

Remick later appeared in several made-for-TV movies and miniseries, for which she earned a total of seven Emmy nominations. Several were of a historical nature, including two noted miniseries: Ike, in which she portrayed Kay Summersby, alongside Robert Duvall (her co-star in Wait Until Dark) as General Dwight Eisenhower, and Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill where she portrayed Winston Churchill's mother, the American debutante Jennie Jerome who married Lord Randolph Churchill.

Recognition

Remick was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1990.

She has a star in the Motion Pictures section on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard. (The Hollywood Walk of Fame site lists it at 1615 Vine Street.) It was dedicated April 29, 1991.

Personal life

Remick married producer Bill Colleran in 1957. They had two children, Katherine and Matthew. Remick and Colleran divorced in 1968. She married British producer William Rory "Kip" Gowans in December 1970. She moved with Gowans to England and remained married to him until her death.

Death

Remick died of kidney cancer on July 2, 1991, at the age of 55, at her home in Los Angeles. Survivors included her husband, her son, her daughter, two stepdaughters, and her mother.

Popular culture

Remick was the subject of The Go-Betweens' first single, "Lee Remick," as well as Hefner's 1998 single of the same title (the two songs are unrelated).

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 Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
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 Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1963 The Running Man Stella
1963 The Wheeler Dealers Molly Thatcher
1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall Georgette Thomas
1965 The Hallelujah Trail Cora Templeton Massingale
1968 No Way to Treat a Lady Kate Palmer
1968 The Detective Karen
1969 Hard Contract Sheila Metcalfe
1970 Loot Nurse Fay McMahon
1970 A Severed Head Antonia Lynch-Gibbon
1971 Sometimes a Great Notion Viv Stamper
1973 A Delicate Balance Julia
1974 Touch Me Not Elanor
1975 Hennessy Kate Brooke
1976 The Omen Katherine Thorn
1977 Telefon Barbara
1978 The Medusa Touch Doctor Zonfeld
1979 The Europeans Eugenia Young
1980 The Competition Greta Vandemann
1980 Tribute Maggie Stratton
1986 Emma's War Anne Grange

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1960 The Tempest Miranda Television movie
1962 The Farmer's Daughter Katrin Holstrom Television movie
1967 Damn Yankees Lola Television movie
1972 The Man Who Came to Dinner Maggie Cutler Television movie
1973 And No One Could Save Her Fern O'Neil Television movie
1973 The Blue Knight Cassie Walters Television movie
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1974 QB VII Lady Margaret 2 episodes
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1974 Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill 7 episodes
BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1975 Hustling Fran Morrison Television movie
1975 A Girl Named Sooner Elizabeth McHenry Television movie
1977 The Ambassadors Maria Gostrey Television movie
1978 Ike: The War Years Kay Summersby Television movie
1978 Wheels Erica Trenton Television movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1979 Torn Between Two Lovers Diana Conti Television movie
1979 Ike Kay Summersby Television movie
1980 Haywire Margaret Sullavan Television movie
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1980 The Women's Room Mira Adams Television movie
1982 I Do! I Do! She Television movie
1982 The Letter Leslie Crosbie Television movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
1983 The Gift of Love: A Christmas Story Janet Broderick Television movie
1984 Mistral's Daughter Kate Browning TV miniseries
1984 A Good Sport Michelle Tenney Television movie
1984 Rearview Mirror Terry Seton Television movie
1985 Toughlove Jan Charters Television movie
1985 The Snow Queen The Snow Queen Faerie Tale Theatre
1986 American Playhouse Eleanor Roosevelt Episode: "Eleanor: In Her Own Words"
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Informational Programming
1986 Of Pure Blood Alicia Browning Television movie
1987 Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder Frances Schreuder Television movie
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1988 Jesse Jesse Maloney Television movie
1989 Bridge to Silence Marge Duffield Television movie
1989 Around the World in 80 Days Sarah Bernhardt 3 episodes
1989 Dark Holiday Gene LePere Television movie

[ Source: Wikipedia ]


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