Mildred Dunnock

{{Infobox person

| name = Mildred Dunnock

| image = Mildred Dunnock, 1956.jpg

| caption = Dunnock in 1956

| birth_name = Mildred Dorothy Dunnock

| birth_date = {{birth date|1901|01|25}}

| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1991|07|05|1901|01|25}}

| death_place = Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, U.S.

| resting_place = Lambert's Cove Cemetery, West Tisbury, Massachusetts, U.S.

| education = Goucher College
Johns Hopkins University
Columbia University (MA)
Actors Studio

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1932–1987

| spouse = {{marriage|Keith Merwin Urmy|1933}}

| children = 1

}}

Mildred Dorothy Dunnock (January 25, 1901 – July 5, 1991) was an American stage and screen actress. She was nominated twice for an Academy Award for her works in Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956).

Early life

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Dunnock graduated from Western High School.{{cite news |last1=Winn |first1=Mary Day |title=The Triple Player |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33976401/mildred_dunnock/ |access-date=July 18, 2019 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=June 12, 1949 |location=Maryland, Baltimore |page=141|via = Newspapers.com}} She developed an interest in theater while she was a student at Goucher College{{cite news |last1=Backalenick |first1=Irene |title=Mildred Dunnock in 'Menagerie' Enjoys Challenge of Williams |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33967573/mildred_dunnock/ |access-date=July 17, 2019 |work=The Bridgeport Post |date=November 19, 1967 |location=Connecticut, Bridgeport |page=E 3|via = Newspapers.com}} where she was a member of Alpha Phi sororityThe Alpha Phi Quarterly, Volume XXXIV, number 1 (January 1922), p. 53 and the Agora dramatic society. After graduating, she taught English at Friends School of Baltimore and helped with productions of plays there.

While teaching school in New York, she earned her Master of Arts degree at Columbia University and acted in a play while she was there. She also studied at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg, Robert Lewis and Elia Kazan.

Career

After roles in Broadway productions of Life Begins (1932) and The Hill Between (1938),{{cite web |title=("Mildred Dunnock" search results) |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/mildred-dunnock-38755 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=July 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718021141/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/mildred-dunnock-38755 |archive-date=July 18, 2019}} Dunnock won praise for her performance as a Welsh school teacher in The Corn is Green{{according to whom|date=July 2019}} in 1940 — a role that she performed while she was a full-time teacher at Brearley School. The 1945 film version marked her screen debut.{{Citation needed |date=July 2019}} During the 1940s she performed mainly on stage, in such dramas as Another Part of the Forest (1946) and Death of a Salesman (1949) and in the musical Lute Song (1946). She also performed in regional theatrical productions, including those of the Long Wharf Theatre and the Yale Repertory Theatre.{{cite news |last1=Holley |first1=Tim |title=Mildred Dunnock Ignores Status And Performs Where the Action Is |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977931/mildred_dunnock/ |access-date=July 18, 2019 |work=The Bridgeport Post |date=February 8, 1970 |location=Connecticut, Bridgeport |page=57|via = Newspapers.com}}

In 1947, she became a founding member of the Actors Studio.{{cite book|quote=Lewis' class included Herbert Berghof, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Mildred Dunnock, Tom Ewell, John Forsythe, Anne Jackson, Sidney Lumet, Kevin McCarthy, Karl Malden, E.G. Marshall, Patricia Neal, William Redfield, Jerome Robbins, Maureen Stapleton, Beatrice Straight, Eli Wallach, and David Wayne.|first=David |last=Garfield|title=A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf|url-access=registration|year=1980|publisher=MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-02-542650-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/playersplacestor00garf/page/52 52]|chapter=Birth of The Actors Studio: 1947-1950}}

Dunnock reprised her role as Linda Loman, Willy's wife, in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman. She originated the role of Big Mama on Broadway in Tennessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, although she lost the film role to Judith Anderson. Several of her films include The Trouble with Harry (1955), Love Me Tender (1956), Baby Doll (1956), Peyton Place (1957), The Nun's Story (1959), Butterfield 8 (1960), Something Wild (1961) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). She was the woman in the wheelchair pushed down a flight of stairs to her death by the psychotic villain Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) in Kiss of Death (1947). She also appeared in guest roles on numerous TV series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Ponds Theater, and, later in her career, several television movies.{{Citation needed |date=July 2019}}

Dunnock was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Death of a Salesman in 1951, and for Baby Doll in 1956. She was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Baby Doll, as well as Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Peyton Place in 1957.

In 1960 she appeared in the play The Crystal Heart at the East 74th Street Theater with Virginia Vestoff (in her first professional appearance), with top seats selling for $4.96 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|4.96|1960|r=0}}}} in current dollar terms).[https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1960/Billboard%201960-02-15.pdf "Atlantic in Legit Tie-Up,"] Billboard, February 15, 1960, p. 4.

In 1966, she played Linda Loman for the third time in the television film adaptation of Death of a Salesman,{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187806/|title=Death of a Salesman (TV Movie 1966)|work=IMDb|date=May 8, 1966|access-date=April 1, 2022}} alongside her original Broadway co-star, Lee J. Cobb.{{cite news |last1=Lowry |first1=Cynthia |title=A Rare Treat: 'Death of a Salesman' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/33977488/the_tampa_tribune/ |access-date=July 18, 2019 |work=The Tampa Tribune |agency=Associated Press |date=May 8, 1966 |location=Florida, Tampa |page=116|via = Newspapers.com}} This earned Dunnock a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1967, in the category of Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0242972/awards|title=Mildred Dunnock - Awards|work=IMDb|access-date=April 1, 2022}}

Her final film was The Pick-up Artist (1987), which starred Robert Downey Jr. and Molly Ringwald.

Dunnock has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6613 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web |title=Mildred Dunnock |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/mildred-dunnock |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |access-date=July 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718024704/http://www.walkoffame.com/mildred-dunnock |archive-date=July 18, 2019}} She is also a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame, which she was inducted into in 1983.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/10/theater/theater-hall-of-fame-gets-10-new-members.html|title=Theater Hall of Fame Gets 10 New Members|work=New York Times|date=May 10, 1983}}

Personal life and death

Dunnock was married to Keith Urmy, an executive at Chemical Bank in Manhattan, from 1933 until her death. The couple had one child. In 1991, at age 90, Dunnock died from natural causes in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, although at that time she was a resident of nearby West Tisbury.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/07/obituaries/mildred-dunnock-90-acclaimed-as-broadway-s-first-mrs-loman.html |title=Mildred Dunnock, 90, Acclaimed As Broadway's First Mrs. Loman |work=The New York Times |author=Eric Pace |date=July 7, 1991 |access-date=January 30, 2013}}

Film appearances

The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944) – Norma – the Chambermaid (uncredited)
The Corn Is Green (1945) – Miss Ronberry
Kiss of Death (1947) – Mrs. Rizzo (uncredited)
Death of a Salesman (1951) – Linda Loman
I Want You (1951) – Sarah Greer
Viva Zapata! (1952) – Senora Espejo
The Girl in White (1952) – Dr. Marie Yeomans
The Jazz Singer (1952) – Mrs. Ruth Golding
Bad for Each Other (1953) – Mrs. Mary Owen
Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy (1954) – Mother (voice)
The Trouble with Harry (1955) – Mrs. Wiggs
Love Me Tender (1956) – Martha Reno
Baby Doll (1956) – Aunt Rose Comfort
Peyton Place (1957) – Miss Elsie Thornton
The Nun's Story (1959) – Sister Margharita (Mistress of Postulants)
The Story on Page One (1959) – Mrs. Ellis
BUtterfield 8 (1960) – Mrs. Wandrous
Something Wild (1961) – Mrs. Gates
Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) – Aunt Nonnie
Behold a Pale Horse (1964) – Pilar
Youngblood Hawke (1964) – Sarah Hawke
7 Women (1966) – Jane Argent
Death of a Salesman (1966) – Linda Loman
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969) – Miss Edna Tinsley
The Spiral Staircase (1975) – Mrs. Sherman
The Shopping Bag Lady (1975) – Annie Lewis
Dragonfly (1976) (later: One Summer Love) – Miss Barrow
The Best Place to Be (1979)
The Pick-up Artist (1987) – Nellie

Television

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(Season 2 Episode 5: "None Are So Blind") (1956) - Aunt Muriel Drummond
(Season 2 Episode 35: "The West Warlock Time Capsule") (1957) - Louise Tiffany
(Season 3 Episode 4: "Heart of Gold") (1957) - Martha Collins
Thriller (American TV series) (1960) (Season 1 Episode 15: "The Cheaters") - Miriam Olcott
The Tom Ewell Show (1960) (Season 1 Episode 10: "The Friendly Man") - Mrs. Steckel
The Investigators (1961) (Season 1 Episode 11: "The Mind's Own Fire") - Mrs. Brewster{{Citation needed |date=September 2020}}
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 14: "Beyond the Sea of Death") - Minnie Briggs

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
class="wikitable"
1952	Grand Central Station	Seed of Doubt{{cite news\|last1=Kirby\|first1=Walter\|title=Better Radio Programs for the Week\|newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review \|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2533510/the_decatur_daily_review/\|agency=The Decatur Daily Review\|date=February 17, 1952\|page=40\|via = Newspapers.com\|access-date = June 1, 2015}} {{Open access}}