Julia Meade
{{Short description|American actress (1925–2016)}}
{{about|the American actress|the film character|Mission: Impossible (film series)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Julia Meade
| image = Julia Meade.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Julia Meade Kunze
| birth_date = {{birth date|1925|12|17|}}
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|5|16|1925|12|17}}
| death_place = Manhattan, New York, U.S.
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress
| alma_mater = Yale School of Drama
| spouse = Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr. (1952-1999) (his death)
| children = 2 daughters
| parents =
| known_for =
}}
Julia Meade Kunze (December 17, 1925 – May 16, 2016) was an American film and stage actress who was a frequent pitch person in live commercials in the early days of television in the 1950s.
Early years
Meade was born in Boston{{cite news|title=Julia Meade in 'Mary, Mary' At the Playhouse This Week|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5861300/traverse_city_recordeagle/|work=Traverse City Record-Eagle|date=July 18, 1966|location=Michigan, Traverse City|page=1|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 10, 2016}} {{Open access}} on December 17, 1925; her father sold typewriters and her mother was Caroline Meade, who was "the leading lady with Walter Hampden from 1923 to 1933."
She moved with her family to Glen Rock, New Jersey when she was 10 years old and was a member of the class of 1944 at Ridgewood High School, where she acted in school plays.Ludlow, Jean . [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/633025875/ "Julia Meade Pays Nostalgic Visit To Ridgewood"], Ridgewood Herald-News, May 8, 1969. Accessed October 24, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Julia Meade came home last Wednesday. Back in 1944, she was a senior at Ridgewood High.... Meade was bom Julia Meade Kunze, the daughter of Adam and Caroline Kunze. For years she lived at 440 Doremus Ave., Glen Rock, and the family has also lived in Ho-Ho-Kus and Allendale." She later graduated from the Yale School of Drama.Roberts, Sam. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/arts/television/julia-meade-tv-pitchwoman-on-ed-sullivan-dies-at-90.html "Julia Meade, TV Pitchwoman on 'Ed Sullivan,' Dies at 90"], The New York Times, May 18, 2016. Accessed May 19, 2016. Meade went to New York City and was hired as a model in 1948.
Television
Meade came to public attention in 1953 as the public face of the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company. She did live commercials on The Ed Sullivan Show for such products as Kodak cameras and Life magazine for years, earning recognition from TV Guide as the "favorite salesgirl" of the program's host. Meade told Life magazine in 1960 that "I tackle commercials as though I were playing the queen in Hamlet".
Meade's pitch work involved doing live commercials that ran for up to five minutes, becoming most closely associated with her promotions of Lincoln automobiles, with her work for the car company described by Gerald Nachman as "part auto dealer, part chic sexpot".Nachman, Gerald. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5z_1Jg4F0jcC&pg=PA205 Right Here on Our Stage Tonight!: Ed Sullivan's America], p. 205. Accessed May 19, 2016. "The seductive member of Sullivan's TV family was its fetching Lincoln saleswoman, Julia Meade -- part auto dealer, part chic sexpot, as she extolled the sensuous virtues of the new 1961 Lincoln."
Meade and Zachary Scott were co-hosts of Spotlight Playhouse, a summer anthology program on CBS in 1959.{{cite news|title=Network Sales Activity|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-TV-Digest-IDX/IDX/50s/Television-Digest-1959-06-OCR-Page-0052.pdf|accessdate=13 July 2016|work=Television Digest|date=June 15, 1959|page=8}}
From 1969-1971, she hosted the syndicated program Ask Julia Meade, a daily broadcast "in which she answered ... letters from the viewers"Erickson, Hal (1989). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|0-7864-1198-8}}. P. 159. about family matters. In the mid-1970s, she had another syndicated program, Julia Meade and Friends, on cable television.{{cite news|title=Julia Meade Prefers TV|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5870148/the_robesonian/|work=The Robesonian|date=February 10, 1974|location=North Carolina, Lumberton|page=25|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 10, 2016}} {{Open access}} She was a regular on Club Embassy on NBC in 1952Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6477-7}}. P. 195. and on The Dennis James Show on ABC, 1952-1954.{{r|etvs|page1=251}} She also was a host of Playhouse 90 and appeared as a panelist on What's My Line? and Get the Message.
Stage
Meade's work on Broadway included the 1954 production of The Tender Trap, Mary, Mary in 1962 and The Front Page in 1969. She also appeared in Roman Candle and Double in Hearts.{{cite web|title=(Julia Meade search)|url=http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&qasset=00000150-ac83-d16d-a550-ecbf3af60000&|website=Playbill Vault|accessdate=12 July 2016}} After playing the lead in Mary, Mary for six weeks on Broadway, she went with the play's national company and acted the role for a year in Chicago, Illinois.{{cite news|last1=Holloway|first1=Tony|title=Julia's Not Ed's Niece, But She's on Sullivan Stage|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5870452/the_pantagraph/|work=The Pantagraph|date=July 4, 1965|location=Illinois, Bloomington|page=16}}
In 1969, Meade was a member of the cast of The Front Page that was featured on a record album produced by the Theatre Guild for mail-order distribution.{{cite news|title=Guild Into Mail-Order|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Archive-Billboard-IDX/IDX/60s/1969/BB-1969-06-14-OCR-Page-0004.pdf|accessdate=13 July 2016|work=Broadcasting|date=June 14, 1969|page=4}}
Film
Meade appeared in the 1959 movie Pillow Talk, 1961's Tammy Tell Me True, 1962's Zotz!, and in Presumed Innocent in 1990.
Recognition
Mead won the 1962-1963 Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Mary, Mary.{{cite web|title=Awardees|url=http://www.sarahsiddonssociety.org/awardees/|website=Sarah Siddons Society|accessdate=12 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224055722/http://sarahsiddonssociety.org/awardees/|archive-date=24 December 2016|url-status=dead}}
Death
Meade died at the age of 90 on May 16, 2016, in her home in Manhattan. She was married to Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr., a commercial illustrator, from 1952 until his death in 1999. They had two daughters.
Filmography
- Pillow Talk (1959) as Marie
- Tammy Tell Me True (1961) as Suzanne Rook
- Zotz! (1962) as Prof. Virginia Fenster
- My First Love (TV movie) (1988) as Chris Townsend
- Presumed Innocent (1990) as Moderator
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.juliameade.com/}}
- {{IMDb name|0574961}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{iobdb name}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJnbIlBATLM Julia Meade and Ed Sullivan present the 1954 Lincoln in a clip from YouTube.]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXSLR9T3GMM Julia Meade does a 6 1/2 minute commercial for natural gas in a clip from YouTube.]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZyWXHt3mM Julia Meade does a commercial for Quick home permanent in a clip from YouTube.]
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Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Actresses from Boston
Category:Actresses from Manhattan
Category:Actors from Glen Rock, New Jersey
Category:Actresses from Ridgewood, New Jersey
Category:Ridgewood High School (New Jersey) alumni
Category:Television personalities from New Jersey
Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni