Mildred Dunnock(1901-1991)
- Actress
Petite American character actress who was celebrated for her definitive
portrayal of long-suffering Linda Loman in
Arthur Miller's "Death of a
Salesman", a part she played opposite
Lee J. Cobb at the Morosco Theatre for 742
consecutive performances between 1949 and 1950. Mildred recreated her
role for the screen the following year and was nominated for an Academy
Award as Best Supporting Actress, critic
Bosley Crowther describing her
performance as
'simply superb'. Ironically, Dunnock had not been the first choice for the part for either Miller, or the
director, Elia Kazan.
Mildred Dunnock first came to the realisation that she had the
potential to perform in public when called upon to read in front of her
assembled classmates at Western High School. She quickly discovered
that, above all, she had 'a voice'. Her initial training was served at
Agora, the dramatic society of Baltimore's Goucher College. After
graduation she continued her studies at Columbia, completing a master's
degree in theatre arts. She first appeared in college productions at
John Hopkins University, her debut being a part in "Penelope" by
W. Somerset Maugham in 1924. She had
to wait another eight years before making her debut on Broadway in
"Life Begins", at the same time earning a crust teaching at a private
girl's school. The 1930's were a period of struggle and hardship for
the actress and not until the following decade did she gain recognition
for her performances in "King Richard II", "Foolish Notion" and "The
Corn is Green". One of her biggest hits was as Lavinia Hubbard in
Lillian Hellman's "Another Part of the
Forest" (1946-47). Going from strength to strength, Mildred followed
her triumph in
'Salesman' with a tour-de-force performance
in the Tennessee Williams
play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955-56), originating the role of 'Big
Mama'.
Mildred absented herself from the theatre for several years to act in
films. Near the beginning of her motion picture career, she was the
frail old lady in a wheelchair (in real life she was in her forties)
pushed down a flight of stairs by psychopathic killer Tommy Udo
(Richard Widmark, in his screen debut)
in Kiss of Death (1947).
With her finely etched features and sad, all-knowing eyes, Mildred
excelled in equal measure at playing eccentric spinster aunts,
understanding wives and mothers, her slight frame belying a powerful,
intense presence. In Elia Kazan's
Baby Doll (1956), she enacted the
relatively small part of simple-minded, perpetually timorous Aunt Rose
Comfort with such conviction, that she garnered her second Academy
Award nomination (losing to
Dorothy Malone for
Written on the Wind (1956)).
She then appeared as a compassionate teacher (her first real-life
profession) in Peyton Place (1957),
as the exemplary Sister Margharita in
The Nun's Story (1959), and,
against type, as Gig Young's glacial and
avaricious mother in
The Story on Page One (1959).
In this, Mildred demonstrated her versatility in a chilling portrayal
of motherly domination and ostensible virtue turned to vice.
Dunnock's film roles in the
1960's included two films with Geraldine Page:
Sweet Bird of Youth (1962),
as another gentle-mannered aunt, and
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969),
as Page's housekeeper and eventual murder victim. As film roles
diminished, she appeared on television and returned to stage work,
particularly at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, acting in plays by
Tennessee Williams and
Eugene O'Neill. In 1971, she
received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for her
starring role in "A Place Without Doors" by
Marguerite Duras. The much-respected
actress spent her final years in relative seclusion at Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts, and died there of age-related problems in July
1991. A teaching theatre at Goucher College is named in her honour.
portrayal of long-suffering Linda Loman in
Arthur Miller's "Death of a
Salesman", a part she played opposite
Lee J. Cobb at the Morosco Theatre for 742
consecutive performances between 1949 and 1950. Mildred recreated her
role for the screen the following year and was nominated for an Academy
Award as Best Supporting Actress, critic
Bosley Crowther describing her
performance as
'simply superb'. Ironically, Dunnock had not been the first choice for the part for either Miller, or the
director, Elia Kazan.
Mildred Dunnock first came to the realisation that she had the
potential to perform in public when called upon to read in front of her
assembled classmates at Western High School. She quickly discovered
that, above all, she had 'a voice'. Her initial training was served at
Agora, the dramatic society of Baltimore's Goucher College. After
graduation she continued her studies at Columbia, completing a master's
degree in theatre arts. She first appeared in college productions at
John Hopkins University, her debut being a part in "Penelope" by
W. Somerset Maugham in 1924. She had
to wait another eight years before making her debut on Broadway in
"Life Begins", at the same time earning a crust teaching at a private
girl's school. The 1930's were a period of struggle and hardship for
the actress and not until the following decade did she gain recognition
for her performances in "King Richard II", "Foolish Notion" and "The
Corn is Green". One of her biggest hits was as Lavinia Hubbard in
Lillian Hellman's "Another Part of the
Forest" (1946-47). Going from strength to strength, Mildred followed
her triumph in
'Salesman' with a tour-de-force performance
in the Tennessee Williams
play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955-56), originating the role of 'Big
Mama'.
Mildred absented herself from the theatre for several years to act in
films. Near the beginning of her motion picture career, she was the
frail old lady in a wheelchair (in real life she was in her forties)
pushed down a flight of stairs by psychopathic killer Tommy Udo
(Richard Widmark, in his screen debut)
in Kiss of Death (1947).
With her finely etched features and sad, all-knowing eyes, Mildred
excelled in equal measure at playing eccentric spinster aunts,
understanding wives and mothers, her slight frame belying a powerful,
intense presence. In Elia Kazan's
Baby Doll (1956), she enacted the
relatively small part of simple-minded, perpetually timorous Aunt Rose
Comfort with such conviction, that she garnered her second Academy
Award nomination (losing to
Dorothy Malone for
Written on the Wind (1956)).
She then appeared as a compassionate teacher (her first real-life
profession) in Peyton Place (1957),
as the exemplary Sister Margharita in
The Nun's Story (1959), and,
against type, as Gig Young's glacial and
avaricious mother in
The Story on Page One (1959).
In this, Mildred demonstrated her versatility in a chilling portrayal
of motherly domination and ostensible virtue turned to vice.
Dunnock's film roles in the
1960's included two films with Geraldine Page:
Sweet Bird of Youth (1962),
as another gentle-mannered aunt, and
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969),
as Page's housekeeper and eventual murder victim. As film roles
diminished, she appeared on television and returned to stage work,
particularly at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, acting in plays by
Tennessee Williams and
Eugene O'Neill. In 1971, she
received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for her
starring role in "A Place Without Doors" by
Marguerite Duras. The much-respected
actress spent her final years in relative seclusion at Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts, and died there of age-related problems in July
1991. A teaching theatre at Goucher College is named in her honour.