- She commuted from her farmhouse in New York to Los Angeles every weekend for 13 years while starring in Dallas (1978).
- Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered from a simple wooden boat into the harbor waters bordering her home.
- Was operated on for breast cancer in 1971-72 and relived the experience in Dallas (1978) when Miss Ellie underwent a mastectomy.
- In the book "Dallas: The Complete Story of the World's Favorite Prime-Time Soap" by Barbara A. Curran, producer Leonard Katzman said that at the time no one was looking for big-name actors. When asked what attracted her to the young serial, the actress said: "I needed a job and I needed to make some money.".
- Life Magazine named her 'Hollywood's Most Attractive New Star' in its April 12, 1948, issue.
- Prior to her retirement, she was the best-selling author of 2 children's books.
- A longtime smoker, she was forced to quit by her doctors after her heart attack in March 1984.
- Left Dallas (1978) at the end of the seventh season owing to health problems. She came back at the beginning of the ninth season, working until she retired from acting in 1990.
- Was the only cast member of the original Dallas (1978) series to win a Primetime Emmy Award, when she won the 1980 Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She also won the 1982 Golden Globes Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama, which she tied with Linda Evans for Dynasty (1981). For both the Emmy's (in 1979, 1980, 1981), and the Golden Globes (in 1980, 1981, 1982), she was nominated three consecutive times, winning once each.
- Like her Dallas (1978) co-star Larry Hagman, Bel Geddes was also a heavy smoker for years, which eventually led to her heart attack decades before being diagnosed with lung cancer, which claimed her life.
- She played Maggie the Cat in the original Broadway production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor garnered the role in the Hollywood film version, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).
- Breast cancer survivor.
- Spent her retirement years in Northeast Harbor, Maine, up until her death.
- Began her career as a contract player for RKO Pictures in 1946.
- After she underwent open-heart surgery, her Dallas (1978) co-star Howard Keel was inspired to do the same. She was an inspiration to him after her own surgery went so successfully.
- At age 16 she was kicked out of the fancy Putney Finishing School in New England for being a disruptive influence.
- She played the showgirl in "The Sleeping Prince" on Broadway. Marilyn Monroe garnered the role in the Hollywood film version, The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
- Was a spokesperson for Campbell's Soup products in 1985.
- Lived in a farmhouse in Ellenville, New York, from 1962 to 1990, before her retirement from acting, when she then moved to a harborside home in Northeast Harbor, Maine, where she lived from 1990 until her death in 2005.
- She and the rest of the Dallas (1978) cast attended the funeral of her one-time co-star and best friend, Jim Davis, on 1 May 1981.
- Was twice nominated for Broadway's best dramatic actress Tony Award, in 1956 for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and in 1961 for "Mary, Mary".
- Her hobbies included spending time with family, dining, gardening, painting, drawing, traveling and taking care of farm animals.
- Received the prestigious Woman of the Year Award from Hasty Pudding Theatricals USA, America's oldest theater company, in 1952.
- Worked with the father of Patrick Duffy's wife (Carolyn Rosser) in her first Broadway play, The Moon is Blue. Patrick Duffy later played her youngest son in the long-running series Dallas (1978). Equally interesting, Rosser's father was Duffy's father-in-law.
- Designed stationery for Caspari Stationery and Crane Stationers in the years after her retirement from acting.
- Made her Broadway debut when she was 18.
- Appeared in her first movie at age 24.
- Received the Theatre World Award and the Clarence Derwent Award in 1946 for her first mature Broadway performance in "Deep Are the Roots," directed by Elia Kazan.
- Served as honorary chairperson and enthusiastic supporter of Lifeline for Wildlife, Inc., a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 by her daughter, Betsy Lewis.
- Was referred to by her Dallas (1978) co-stars Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy's characters as 'Mama'.
- When she left Dallas (1978) in 1984, her co-star Larry Hagman suggested that his real-life mother Mary Martin replace her in the role; Bel Geddes was instead temporarily replaced by Donna Reed.
- Mother of Susan and Betsy. Grandmother of Samantha, Hannah, Joshua, Maggie, and Oliver.
- After her parents were separated when she was only 4, she, her father and her sister moved first to Millburn, New Jersey, and later to Putney, Vermont.
- She played the lead in "Mary, Mary" on Broadway. Debbie Reynolds was cast in the role in the Hollywood film version, Mary, Mary (1963), even though her friend and co-star, Barry Nelson was cast in the same role in the movie that he'd portrayed on stage with her, that of her character Mary's husband, Bob.
- Was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, located in the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, in 1993, a distinction she shared with her father, stage and industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes.
- Began working on Dallas (1978) when she was age 55.
- Daughter of stage designer/art director Norman Bel Geddes and Helen Belle Sneider Geddes. Stepdaughter of theatrical costumer designer Edith Lutyens-Bel Geddes.
- Her parents were originally from both Michigan and Ohio.
- Early in her career, before she was a successful actress, she once did a commercial for Lux soap alongside an experienced actress, Carol Goodner.
- Her father, Norman Bel Geddes, staged more than 200 plays.
- Was admired by Larry Hagman, who became a fan of hers, since he was a teenager.
- Left acting temporarily to take care of her ailing husband, Windsor Lewis. Lewis died in 1972.
- Barbara Bel Geddes passed away on August 8, 2005, exactly nine months after her former Dallas (1978) co-star and television husband, Howard Keel.
- In 1927, when Bel Geddes was only 4, her father, Norman Bel Geddes, opened an industrial-design studio and designed a wide range of commercial products, from cocktail shakers to commemorative medallions to radio cabinets.
- Graduated from Andrewbrook, an all-girls French convent school in Tarrytown, New York, in 1940.
- Lived in Los Angeles, California, from 1947 to 1951 and again from 1958 to 1962.
- She attended Putney School, a private school in Putney, Vermont.
- At a young age, she spent a lot of time with her father, who was involved in hundreds of theater productions in many capacities.
- Her parents, Norman Bel Geddes and Helen (Belle) Sneider, were married in Toledo, Ohio, in 1916, almost 7 years before she was born.
- Her mother died when Barbara was only age 15, at which time she moved in with her father in Putney, Vermont.
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