In Memoriam... Actreses

1. Lizabeth Scott

Lizabeth Scott was born Emma Matzo on September 29, 1922 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the oldest of six children of Mary (Pennock) and John Matzo, who were Slovak immigrants. Scott attended Marywood Seminary and the Alvienne School of the Theatre in New York City, where she adopted the stage name of ...

September 29, 1922 – January 31, 2015 (92)

2. Mary Healy

Actress | The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Mary Healy was born on April 14, 1918 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. (1953), Lookin' to Get Out (1982) and 20, 000 Men a Year (1939). She was married to Peter Lind Hayes. She died on February 3, 2015 in Calabasas, California, USA.

April 14, 1918 – February 3, 2015 (96)

3. Geraldine McEwan

Actress | The Magdalene Sisters

Geraldine McEwan was born in Old Windsor, England and made her theatre debut at the age of 14 at the Theatre Royal in Windsor. By the age of 18 she was starring in London's West End in several long-running popular productions. During the 1950s she acted with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in ...

9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015 (82)

4. Anita Ekberg

Actress | La dolce vita

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was born on September 29, 1931 in Malmo, Sweden. Growing up with seven brothers and sisters was not an adventure, but Anita's adventure began when she was elected Miss Sweden in 1950. She did not win the Miss Universe contest but she got a modeling contract in the ...

29 September 1931 – 11 January 2015 (83)

5. Donna Douglas

Actress | The Beverly Hillbillies

An honest-to-goodness Southern Belle, similar to her most famous character role, "Elly May Clampett" on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Donna Douglas grew up in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area, loving "critters". She got married soon after high school, had a son, divorced and won a couple of beauty...

September 1932 – January 1, 2015 (82)

6. Luise Rainer

Actress | The Great Ziegfeld

Luise Rainer, the first thespian to win back-to-back Oscars, was born on January 12, 1910 in Dusseldorf, Germany, into a prosperous Jewish family. Her parents were Emilie (Königsberger) and Heinrich Rainer, a businessman. She took to the stage, and plied her craft on the boards in Germany. As a ...

12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014 (104)

7. Virna Lisi

Actress | La reine Margot

Stunning Italian actress Virna Lisi, a brief but lovely Hollywood import in the 1960's, was merely one of a plethora of European movie beauties who proved over the course of their long careers, that they were capable of more than just visual performances.

Born Virna Lisa Pieralisi on November 8, ...

8 November 1936 – 18 December 2014 (78)

8. Mary Ann Mobley

Actress | Get Yourself a College Girl

Born on February 17, 1937 in Biloxi, Mississippi, Mary Ann Mobley is one of the few Miss Americas to have true success as an actress or television personality (the others are Barnaby Jones (1973) beauty Lee Meriwether, television hostess Phyllis George, Consumer advocate/game show panelist Bess ...

February 17, 1937 – December 9, 2014 (77)

9. Carol Ann Susi

Actress | Cats & Dogs

Carol Ann Susi (February 2, 1952 - November 11, 2014) was an American actress best known for her portrayal of the voice of recurring unseen character Mrs. Wolowitz on the television series The Big Bang Theory (2007). Susi was born in Brooklyn and was of Italian descent. She studied acting at HB ...

February 2, 1952 – November 11, 2014 (62)

10. Marcia Strassman

Actress | Honey, I Blew Up the Kid

This tall (5'10"), pretty, willowy brunette (but frequently blonde) was born on April 28, 1948, in New York City, as one of four children. Raised in Passaic, New Jersey, Marcia grew into a striking young teen and worked for a time as a model in a local children's department store. A talented singer...

April 28, 1948 – October 24, 2014 (66)

11. Elizabeth Peña

Actress | Rush Hour

As she inherited her love for the arts by her father, well-known playwright, actor, director and novelist Mario Peña, it is not hard to understand that actress Elizabeth Pena already had designs to become an actress by the time she was eight years old.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 23, ...

September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014 (55)

12. Jan Hooks

Actress | Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Jan Hooks is better remembered for her five-year run on Saturday Night Live (1975) (1986-91) on the series she impersonated actress ranging from Bette Davis, to Ann-Margret, to Sally Kellerman, to Jodie Foster. After she left the show, she was proposed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason to replace Jean ...

April 23, 1957 – October 9, 2014 (57)

13. Marian Seldes

Actress | The Haunting

Tony Award-winner Marian Hall Seldes, one of the premier stage actresses in America, was born on August 23, 1928 in Manhattan, New York, to writer and journalist Gilbert Seldes, and his socialite wife, the former Alice Wadhams Hall. Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and her ...

August 23, 1928 – October 6, 2014 (86)

14. Polly Bergen

Actress | Cry-Baby

In a six-decade-plus career (she started out as a radio performer at age 14), there are very few facets of entertainment that lovely singer/actress Polly Bergen has not conquered or, at the very least, touched upon. A nightclub and Columbia recording artist of the 50s and 60s, she is just as well ...

July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014 (84)

15. Audrey Long

Actress | Born to Kill

Audrey Long was born on April 14, 1922 in Orlando, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Born to Kill (1947), Pan-Americana (1945) and A Night of Adventure (1944). She was married to Leslie Charteris and Edward Rubin. She died on September 19, 2014 in Virginia Water, Surrey, England, UK.

April 14, 1922 – September 19, 2014 (92)

16. Joan Rivers

Actress | Spaceballs

Joan Rivers is an American talk show host, comedian, writer and actress from Brooklyn, New York. She voiced Dot Matrix from Mel Brooks' Spaceballs. She has portrayed in several films and shows such as Shrek 2, Look Who's Talking, The Smurfs and Iron Man 3. She passed away in September 2014 at ...

June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014 (81)

17. Lauren Bacall

Actress | To Have and Have Not

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...

September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014 (89)

18. Marilyn Burns

Actress | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Marilyn Burns was born Mary Lynn Ann Burns on May 7, 1949 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Drama. Marilyn was one of the original scream queens, remembered primarily for her role in ...

May 7, 1949 – August 5, 2014 (65)

19. Elaine Stritch

Actress | 30 Rock

A brash, sharp-tongued, incorrigible actress/singer who led a six decade career that contained many highs and lows, veteran Elaine Stritch's raucous six-decade career certainly lived up well to the Stephen Sondheim song lyrics "I'm Still Here." A popular, magnetic performer, she stole so many ...

February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014 (89)

20. Rosemary Murphy

Actress | To Kill a Mockingbird

Rosemary Murphy was born on January 13, 1925 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was an actress, known for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Mighty Aphrodite (1995). She was married to Reginald Marsh. She died on July 5, 2014 in New York City, New York, USA.

January 13, 1925 – July 5, 2014 (89)

21. Ultra Violet

Actress | Midnight Cowboy

The noted outré underground celebrity Ultra Violet was born Isabelle Collin Dufresne on September 6, 1935, and a convent-raised French bourgeois heiress. A coiffured society deb in those days, she moved to New York in 1953 where she spent a decade surrounding herself with modernist artists like ...

6 September 1935 – 14 June 2014 (78)

22. Carla Laemmle

Actress | The Adventures of Frank Merriwell

Carla Laemmle was born on October 20, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936), King of Jazz (1930) and The Gate Crasher (1928). She died on June 12, 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

October 20, 1909 – June 12, 2014 (104)

23. Ruby Dee

Actress | American Gangster

Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist. She is best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961).

She also starred in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), Cat People (1982), ...

October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014 (91)

24. Ann B. Davis

Actress | The Brady Bunch

Ann B. Davis made her debut in show business at age 6 earning $2.00 in a puppet show. At the University of Michigan, Ann planned to study medicine but got the acting bug from her brother who was the lead dancer in the national company of "Oklahoma" for over a year. Ann then spent six years in ...

May 5, 1926 – June 1, 2014 (88)

25. Martha Hyer

Actress | The Sons of Katie Elder

Martha Hyer was born on August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas. Once she finished her formal schooling, Martha played a bit role in 1946's The Locket (1946). Slowly, Martha began picking up roles with more and more substance. The best years for the beautiful actress began in 1954 when she played in ...

August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014 (89)

26. Joan Lorring

Actress | The Corn Is Green

Joan Lorring was born Madeline Ellis on April 17, 1926, in Hong Kong. She and her mother, Ania Fred, a Russian Jewish immigrant, left Hong Kong after the outbreak of WWII to pursue an acting career, settling in California in the late 1930s. After finding radio work in Los Angeles, Lorring worked her...

April 17, 1926 – May 30, 2014 (88)

27. Mona Freeman

Actress | Dear Ruth

A professional model while still in high school, Mona Freeman was signed to a movie contract by Howard Hughes, who then proceeded to sell her contract to Paramount. Starting out in typical juvenile parts, she developed into a very competent actress. As she worked her way out of the teenage ingénue ...

June 9, 1926 – May 23, 2014 (87)

28. Barbara Murray

Actress | Tales from the Crypt

A self-assured and stylish actress, Barbara Murray was born into a showbusiness family, the daughter of actors and granddaughter of professional ballroom dancers. She was first thrust into the limelight as a six-year-old, dancing in the family variety act. Murray and her mother were evacuated to ...

27 September 1929 – 20 May 2014 (84)

29. Cornell Borchers

Actress | The Divided Heart

Tall, blonde, turquoise-eyed Cornell Borchers was born of Lithuanian ancestry and studied medicine before turning towards a career in the performing arts. She attended drama classes from 1947 to 1948 and was discovered for films by the director Arthur Maria Rabenalt. She made a few German films ...

16 March 1925 – 12 May 201 (89)

30. Pauline Wagner

Actress | Up Pops the Duke

Pauline Wagner was born on August 18, 1910 in Shattuck, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress, known for Up Pops the Duke (1931). She was married to Mike Lally and Alfred J. McCourtney. She died on May 2, 2014 in Montrose, California, USA.

August 18, 1910 – May 2, 2014 (103)

31. Mary Anderson

Actress | Lifeboat

Mary Anderson was born on April 3, 1918 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She was an actress, known for Lifeboat (1944), Wilson (1944) and Gone with the Wind (1939). She was married to Leon Shamroy and Leonard Marion Behrens. She died on April 6, 2014 in Burbank, California, USA.

April 3, 1918 – April 6, 2014 (96)

32. Kate O'Mara

Actress | Department S

Kate O'Mara was born Frances Meredith Carroll on August 10, 1939 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. A hard-looking brunette with high cheekbones, Kate was the daughter of actress Hazel Bainbridge and John Carroll and prodded into performing as a child. Educated at the Aida Foster School, she ...

10 August 1939 – 30 March 2014 (74)

33. Shirley Temple

Actress | The Little Colonel

Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...

April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014 (85)

34. Sarah Marshall

Actress | Dave

Sarah Marshall was born on May 25, 1933 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Dave (1993), The Long, Hot Summer (1958) and Star Trek (1966). She was married to Karl Held and Mel Bourne. She died on January 18, 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

25 May 1933 – 18 January 2014 (80)

35. Ruth Duccini

Actress | Under the Rainbow

Ruth Duccini was born on July 23, 1918 in Rush City, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for Under the Rainbow (1981), The Daily Show (1996) and The Making of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2013). She was married to Fred Duccini. She died on January 16, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

July 23, 1918 – January 16, 2014 (95)

36. Carmen Zapata

Actress | Point of No Return

In a career spanning six decades plus, the ever-vital and ever-versatile Carmen Zapata stands as one of the most respected and diversified Hispanic-American figures in the performing arts. The much-admired veteran actress has worn many hats over the years: teacher, producer, translator, lecturer ...

July 15, 1927 – January 5, 2014 (86)

37. Alicia Rhett

Actress | Gone with the Wind

Alicia Rhett was born on February 1, 1915 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Gone with the Wind (1939). She died on January 3, 2014 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

February 1, 1915 – January 3, 2014 (98)

38. Juanita Moore

Actress | Imitation of Life

African American actress Juanita Moore entered films in the early 1950s, a time in which few black people were given an opportunity to act in major studio films. Fortunately Moore's roles began improving as Hollywood developed a social consciousness toward the end of the decade. In 1959 she ...

October 19, 1914 – January 1, 2014 (99)

39. Mártha Eggerth

Actress | La chanson du souvenir

From the day she was born Martha lived in a world of music. For sure her father was a banker but he was also an amateur pianist. As for her mother, she was a housewife but also a very talented opera singer who had given up her career for the joys of matrimony and motherhood. It does not come as a ...

17 April 1912 – 26 December 2013 (101)

40. Joan Fontaine

Actress | Suspicion

Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland on October 22, 1917, in Tokyo, Japan, in what was known as the International Settlement, to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her paternal grandfather's family was ...

October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013 (96)

41. Audrey Totter

Actress | The Unsuspected

One is certainly hard-pressed to think of another true "bad girl" representative so closely identifiable with film noir than hard-looking blonde actress Audrey Totter. While she remained a "B"-tier actress for most her career, she was an "A" quality actress and one of filmdom's most intriguing ...

December 20, 1917 – December 12, 2013 (95)

42. Eleanor Parker

Actress | The Sound of Music

Eleanor Jean Parker was born on June 26, 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio, the last of three children born to a mathematics teacher and his wife. Eleanor caught the acting bug early and began performing in school plays. She was was so serious about becoming an actor, that she attended the Rice Summer ...

June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013 (91)

43. Kate Williamson

Actress | Disclosure

Kate Williamson was born on September 19, 1931 in Ellenville, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Disclosure (1994), Dahmer (2002) and Dream Lover (1993). She was married to Al Ruscio. She died on December 6, 2013 in Encino, California, USA.

September 19, 1931 – December 6, 2013 (82)

44. Sheila Allen

Actress | The Poseidon Adventure

Sheila Allen was born on February 2, 1929 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Towering Inferno (1974) and Poseidon (2006). She was married to Irwin Allen. She died on November 15, 2013 in Malibu, California, USA.

February 2, 1929 – November 15, 2013 (84)

45. Barbara Lawrence

Actress | Unfaithfully Yours

Her career may have only lasted a dozen years, and the number of films slightly more than twenty, but Barbara appeared in some interesting productions. As a young girl, she was a model. While completing her studies at UCLA, she co-starred in half a dozen movies for 20th Century Fox. Lawrence ...

February 24, 1930 – November 13, 2013 (83)

46. Shirley Mitchell

Actress | The War of the Roses

A prolific radio and TV actress, Ms. Mitchell was a regular on such classic radio series as "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "The Great Gildersleeve," and on television, "Pete & Gladys" (Janet Colton), "Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (Marge Thornton), and "Bachelor Father" (Kitty Deveraux). She also ...

November 4, 1919 – November 11, 2013 (94)

47. Marcia Wallace

Actress | The Simpsons

Born on November 1, 1942, the eldest of three born to an Iowa general storeowner, Marcia Wallace endured a troubled childhood (alcoholism, physical abuse). Performing in high school plays as a teenager, she studied at Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, where she majored in English and theatre.

...

November 1, 1942 – October 25, 2013 (70)

48. Julie Harris

Actress | The Haunting

One of the finest classical and contemporary leading ladies ever to grace the 20th century American stage, five-time Tony Award winner Julie Harris was rather remote and reserved on camera, finding her true glow in front of the theatre lights. The freckled, red-haired actress not only was nominated...

December 2, 1925 – August 24, 2013 (87)

49. Lisa Robin Kelly

Actress | That '70s Show

She first made her acting debut at age 21 in a 1992 episode of Married... with Children (1987), and went on to guest-star in many popular television shows, such as Murphy Brown (1988), The X-Files (1993), Sisters (1991), and Silk Stalkings (1991), and appeared in many obscure, straight-to-video/TV ...

March 5, 1970 – August 14, 2013 (43)

50. Karen Black

Actress | Five Easy Pieces

Karen entered Northwestern University at 18 and left two years later. She studied under Lee Strasberg in New York and worked in a number of off-Broadway roles. She made a critically acclaimed debut on Broadway in 1965 in "The Playroom". Her first big film role was in You're a Big Boy Now (1966), ...

July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013 (74)

51. Eileen Brennan

Actress | Clue

A supremely gifted, versatile player who could reach dramatic depths, as exemplified in her weary-eyed, good-hearted waitress in The Last Picture Show (1971), or comedy heights, as in her sadistic drill captain in Private Benjamin (1980), Eileen Brennan managed to transition from lovely Broadway ...

September 3, 1932 – July 28, 2013 (80)

52. Esther Williams

Actress | Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Esther Jane Williams was born on August 8, 1921 in Inglewood, California. Her youth was spent as a teenage swimming champion and she won three United States National championships. She eventually was spotted by a MGM talent scout while working in a Los Angeles department store. She made her film ...

August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013 (91)

53. Jean Stapleton

Actress | All in the Family

Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her ...

January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013 (90)

54. Jeanne Cooper

Actress | The Young and the Restless

Jeanne Cooper was born on October 25, 1928 in Taft, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Young and the Restless (1973), Ben Casey (1961) and Kansas City Bomber (1972). She was married to Harry Bernsen. She died on May 8, 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

October 25, 1928 – May 8, 2013 (84)

55. Deanna Durbin

Actress | It Started with Eve

The girl who one day would be known as "Winnipeg's Sweetheart" was born at Grace Hospital on December 4, 1921, as Edna Mae Durbin. In her early childhood there were no obvious signs that one day she would be a bigger box office attraction than Shirley Temple. Renamed Deanna Durbin for show business...

December 4, 1921 – c. April 20, 2013 (91)

56. Annette Funicello

Actress | Muscle Beach Party

Annette Joanne Funicello achieved teenage popularity starting in October 1955 after she debuted as a Mouseketeer. Born on October 22, 1942 in Utica, New York, the family had moved to California when she was still young. Walt Disney himself saw her performing the lead role in "Swan Lake" at her ...

October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013 (70)

57. Bonnie Franklin

Actress | One Day at a Time

Bonnie Franklin, of the freckled, fair-skinned, hazel-eyed, rosy-cheeked, carrot-haired variety, could light up a room with her buoyant, folksy personality, but she could be quite serious in a take-charge manner when it came to purposeful acting work. It took Norman Lear and a highly popular TV ...

January 6, 1944 – March 1, 2013 (69)