32 APRIL 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
THE WOMAN WHO LOVED WORDS
On March 21, 1951, Fed Astaire hosted
the 23rd Academy Awards at the legendary
RKO Pantages Theatre before an audience
of Hollywood legends. Nominees for Best
Actress included Gloria Swanson, (Sunset
Boulevard), as well as Anne Baxter and
Bette Davis (All About Eve). The award
went to Judy Holliday for her performance
as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday. The New
York Times called her performance "not
only funny but also human and moving."
Holliday, a Sunnyside Gardens native,
was born in 1921 literally into show busi-ness
-- her mother, a piano teacher, went
into labor while attending a play. Throughout
her life people close to her were notable
in the arts. Father, Abe, was president of
the American Federation of Musicians.
Husband, David Oppenheim, was dean
of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Son,
Jonathan, is today a noted film editor.
Judy’s first job was with Orson Welles’
Mercury Theater as a switchboard operator.
She honed her talent as part of a troupe in
Greenwich Village which included Leon-ard
Bernstein, Betty Comden, and Adolph
Green. After a brief stint at Fox Studios in
Hollywood, where she stood up to mo-gul
Darryl F. Zanuck's aggressive sexual
overtures, the tough New Yorker returned
home to Broadway. As was customary at
the time, she ditched her birth name, Judith
Tuvim, in favor of Judy Holliday for a stage
name. “Holy-days” were one of the Hebrew
meanings of Tuvim.
In 1945 her first Broadway role, Kiss
Them for Me, won her the Clarence
Derwent Award for best supporting
actress. The musical, Bells are Ringing,
earned her the New York Drama Desk
Award and the Tony Award (chosen over
Ethel Merman and Julie Andrews). The
exceptional performance of the young
actress in the stage version of Adam's
Rib (1949), prompted director George
Cukor, as well as stars Katharine Hep-burn
and Spencer Tracey, to convince
producer Harry Cohn of Holliday's mar-ketability
for the film version.
Critics state that Holliday's acting career
was “brief but impressive. Her canon is
relatively small, including five Broadway
shows.” Among Broadway performers she
remains a legend: “I knew people who
knew her and had only praise for her as a
talent and person, as well,” states Broadway
star Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line).
That impression is echoed by producer
Gene Kirkwood (Rocky) who is making a
movie biography of Ms. Holliday entitled
Smart Blonde: “Judy Holiday’s story is for
the ages and yet so relatable within the
context of today.”
Yet, despite this success she ran into
trouble. Her signatures on some leftist
petitions when she was young (her parents
were Socialists) prompted a McCarthy-era
congressional committee to summon her to
Washington for questioning. Nothing came
of it, but her career stagnated. Despite an IQ
of 172, and skills equally adept at comedy
and drama, she was all but typecast as a
squeaky-voiced “dumb blonde.”
She tried singing and considered get-ting
behind the camera and writing scripts.
Her frustration was evident when she
stated: “I've always loved words. I ate up
all the books I could get my hands on,
and when I couldn't get books, I read
candy wrappers and labels on cereal and
toothpaste boxes.”
The stress perhaps contributed to a
diagnosis of cancer in her late 30s. In 1965
she returned to her roots for a last public
performance at a café in the Village. That
evening one of the songs she sang was
“The Party’s Over.”
A week later, at age 43, she was dead.
Legends
Photography by Everertt 1950
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