Rita Gam
{{Short description|American actress (1927–2016)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rita Gam
| image = Rita Gam - 1969.jpg
| caption = Gam in 1969
| birth_name = Rita Eleanore MacKay
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|04|02}}
| birth_place = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2016|03|22|1927|04|02}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1950–1997
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
- {{marriage|Sidney Lumet|end=div.|1949|1954}}
- {{marriage|Thomas Guinzburg|end=div.|1956|1963}}
}}
| children = 2
}}
Rita Gam (born Rita Eleanore MacKay, April 2, 1927 – March 22, 2016) was an American film and television actress and documentary filmmaker. She won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.
Background
Gam was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Belle (née Fately), who was born in Romania, and Milton A. MacKay, who was born in France to parents from Romania. Her father died in New York in 1931 and her mother remarried. Gam took the surname of her stepfather, Benjamin J. Gam.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bridesmaidsgrace00quin |url-access=registration |quote=Rita Gam was born in Pittsburgh. |title=The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends |publisher=Pocket Books |author=Judith Balaban Quine |author-link=Judith Balaban Quine |via=Internet Archive |year=1990 |isbn=9780671707705 |access-date=2016-06-02}}{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCCC-RBB |title=Person Details for Rita Mackay in household of Milton Mackay, "United States Census, 1930" |website=FamilySearch |access-date=March 23, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403033630/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCCC-RBB |archive-date=April 3, 2016 }}{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQBL-R7P |title=Person Details for Rita Gam in household of Benjamin J Gam, "United States Census, 1940" |website=FamilySearch |access-date=March 23, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403033634/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQBL-R7P |archive-date=April 3, 2016 }}{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WKM-43G |title=Person Details for Milton A. Mackay, "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949" |website=FamilySearch |access-date=March 23, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403043634/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WKM-43G |archive-date=April 3, 2016 }}
Career
Gam was a model before she ventured into acting. Her acting career began on Broadway and in television, after which she moved on to films. Her Broadway credits included There's a Girl in My Soup, The Insect Comedy, A Flag is Born, and A Temporary Island.{{cite news|title=Rita Gam, actress - obituary|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/04/10/rita-gam-actress---obituary/|access-date=1 July 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=April 10, 2016}}
She appeared first in the 1952 film noir The Thief, which starred Ray Milland. In October 1952, she signed a long-term MGM contract.{{cite web|url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/100/Rita+Gam|title=Rita Gam|access-date=2014-04-27|work=Glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com}} Another notable role was Herodias in 1961's King of Kings.
Gam was an occasional panelist on the famous live broadcast CBS game show What's My Line as well in the 1950s and early 1960s.
She shared the Silver Bear for Best Actress award with Viveca Lindfors at the 1962 Berlin Film Festival, for their performances in Tad Danielewski's No Exit.{{cite web|url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1962/03_preistr_ger_1962/03_Preistraeger_1962.html|title=Berlinale 1962: Prize Winners|access-date=2010-02-07|work=Berlinale.de|archive-date=November 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124044912/https://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1962/03_preistr_ger_1962/03_Preistraeger_1962.html|url-status=dead}}
In 1963, Gam was a leading member of The Minnesota Theatre Company in the opening season of The Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Gam appeared in a few more American films before working in Europe. She returned to the U.S. to appear in small parts in films, including Klute in 1971, before taking up documentary film making.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}}
In 2003, she appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway stage reading of Wit & Wisdom.{{cite web |url=http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/shows/wit-and-wisdom_20415 |title=Wit & Wisdom - Off-Broadway | Tickets, Reviews, Info and More |website=Theatermania.com |access-date=2016-06-02 |archive-date=June 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614033442/http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/shows/wit-and-wisdom_20415/ |url-status=dead }} In 2004, she appeared in one of a series of ads for the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Personal life and death
Gam's first husband was director Sidney Lumet, whom she married in 1949. The marriage ended in divorce in 1955.
In 1956, Gam was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier in Monaco.LIFE Magazine, May 5, 1952, p. 144 Gam's 1956 marriage to publisher Thomas Guinzburg ended in divorce in 1963.Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1956/03/24/archives/rita-gam-remarried-film-actress-is-wed-here-to-thomas-h-guinzburg.html "RITA GAM REMARRIED; Film Actress Is Wed Here to Thomas H. Guinzburg"], The New York Times, March 24, 1956; accessed September 13, 2010.
Gam died on March 22, 2016, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, from respiratory failure.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/rita-gam-dead-glamorous-actress-877486 |title=Rita Gam Dead: Glamorous Actress Was 88 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2016-03-22 |access-date=2016-06-02}}
Books
Gam was the author of two books, Actress to Actress and Actors: A Celebration.{{cite book|title=Actress to Actress| isbn=0941130231 | last1=Gam | first1=Rita | year=1986 | publisher=N. Lyons }}{{cite book|title=Actors: A Celebration| isbn=0312017456 | last1=Gam | first1=Rita | year=1988 | publisher=St. Martin's Press }}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1952
|{{sortname|The|Thief|The Thief (1952 film)}} |The Girl |No dialog; MacGuffin |
| 1953
|Saadia | |
| 1954
|Ricky Cates | |
| 1954
|Kubra | |
| 1956
| |
| 1956
|Onida | |
| 1958
|Felicia Delmonte | |
| 1959
|Rita Eldmont | |
| 1959
|Sylvia | |
| 1961
| |
| 1962
|Estelle |Also known as Sinners Go to Hell |
| 1971
|Trina | |
| 1971
|Emma | |
| 1971
|Doria | |
| 1974
|{{sortname|The|Gardener|The Gardener (1974 film)}} |Helena Boardman | |
| 1974
|Woman in Cab | |
| 1987
|Distortions |Mildred Tyson | |
| 1989
|Heidi | |
| 1996
|Rowing Through |Iris Biglow | |
| 1997
|Monaco | |Short, Voice, (final film role) |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1950
| |"The Secret of Nefertiti" |
| 1951
|Girl |"The Pattern" |
| 1951
| |"The Nobody" |
| 1951
| |"Appearances and Reality" |
| 1951
| |"Marley's Ghost", "Inherit Murder" |
| 1951
|Leah |"A Child Is Born" |
| 1952
| |"Dark of the Moon" |
| 1952
| |"Blackmail" |
| 1952
|{{sortname|The|Adventures of Fu Manchu: The Zayat Kiss|nolink=1}} | |TV film |
| 1954
|{{sortname|The|Motorola Television Hour}} |Anna |"Nightmare in Algiers" |
| 1954
|{{sortname|The|Jack Benny Program}} |Woman in Commercial |"The Jam Session Show", "San Diego Naval Training Center Show" |
| 1955
|Mimi |"Mimi" |
| 1955
| |"Trucks Welcome" |
| 1956
|Anna Deasy |"Deadlock" |
| 1956
|Lotti |"Affair in Sumatra" |
| 1956
|Rain |"The Laughter of Giants" |
| 1957
|{{sortname|The|Steve Allen Show}} |Comedian |"3.11" |
| 1958
| |"The Bridge of San Luis Rey" |
| 1958
|Elsie |"Time of Your Life" |
| 1960
|{{sortname|The|United States Steel Hour}} |Polly Chalmers |"The Women of Hadley", "Revolt in Hadley" |
| 1964
|Yelena |"Uncle Vanya" |
| 1964
|Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea |Detta |"The Mist of Silence" |
| 1966
|{{sortname|The|Jackie Gleason Show}} |Rosita |"The Honeymooners: You're in the Picture" |
| 1966
|Louise Marshall |"Beware the Other Woman" |
| 1968
|Mimi Jaffe |TV series |
| 1973
|Pam Crane |"The Devil You Say" |
| 1974
|Dr. Ernestine Waldo |"Race Against Time: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 1975
| |"Now I Lay Me Down to Die" |
| 1976
|Naomi Cline |"Book of Changes" |
| 1977
|Nita Ray |TV series |
| 1978
|Greatest Heroes of the Bible |Xantha |"The Story of Noah: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 1979
|{{sortname|The|Rockford Files}} |Cynthia Zakarian |"Guilt" |
| 1981
|Lisa Brisson |"Completely Foolproof" |
| 1983
|Mitzi |"Love in the Present Tense: Parts 1-5" |
| 1983
|Beatrice |"Formula for Revenge" |
| 1983
|{{sortname|The|Edge of Night}} |Dora Coburn |TV series |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|name=Rita Gam|id=0303601}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IOBDB name|8189}}
- [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;cc=wiarchives;type=simple;rgn=Entire%20Finding%20Aid;q1=Rita%20Gam;view=reslist;subview=detail;sort=freq;didno=uw-whs-tape00339a Rita Gam] at the University of Wisconsin's [https://web.archive.org/web/20131004223020/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-tape00339a;focusrgn=summaryinfo;cc=wiarchives;byte=50771135 Actors Studio audio collection]
{{Silver Bear for Best Actress}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gam, Rita}}
Category:Actresses from Pittsburgh
Category:American documentary film directors
Category:American film actresses
Category:American people of French-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Category:American television actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:Jewish American actresses
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Category:Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni
Category:Silver Bear for Best Actress winners
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Film directors from New York City