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Rosalind Russell: American Academy
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[W]hat made Rosalind Russell a legend wasn¹t simply her ability to perform; it was her humanity. Known for her charity work and her wonderful zest for life, Russell received the 1972 Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a special Oscar from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science. Before succumbing to cancer in 1976, Russell authored an autobiography appropriately entitled, Life is a Banquet.
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Russell was born June 4, 1907 on Willow Street in Waterbury, Connecticut, to an educated and affluent family. Her father was a prominent trial lawyer, her mother a fashion editor for Vogue Magazine. One of seven siblings, she was named after the Steamship S.S. Rosalind. Russell attended the Notre Dame Academy in Waterbury. Upon her graduation from high school, she matriculated at Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York. After two years there, Russell convinced her mother that she intended to teach theater, and was allowed to enroll in the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts in New York City .
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A witty and stylish lead actress of stage and screen, Russell tended to play successful career women who were skilled in repartee. She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, then began her stage career in her early '20s. She debuted onscreen in 1934 and immediately had a very busy film career. At first appearing in routine films, in the '40s she began to specialize in light, sophisticated comedies, for which she had a unique talent. In the '50s her career briefly declined and she went to Broadway, where she starred in three successful productions. One of these was Auntie Mame, later made into a film in which she reprised her stage role (1958).
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Synopsis: The Trouble With Angels opens on the first day of school for a new batch of students at St. Francis Academy, run by a very strong-willed Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell). She is used to having things her way, but she may have met her match in the headstrong and independent Mary Clancy (Hayley MillsRead More
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The middle of seven children, she was named after the S.S. Rosalind at the suggestion of her father, a successful lawyer. After receiving a Catholic school education, she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Art in New York, having convinced her mother that she intended to teach acting. In 1934, with some stock company work and a little Broadway experience, she was tested and signed by Universal. Simultaneously MGM tested her and made her a better offer. When she plead ignorance of Hollywood (while wearing her worst-fitting clothes), Universal released her and she signed with MGM for seven years.
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Russell attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and made her Broadway debut in 1930 in the Theatre Guild's Garrick Gaieties. Four years later she was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and made her film…
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