Geraldine Fitzgerald


Actor
Geraldine Fitzgerald

About

Birth Place
Dublin, IE
Born
November 24, 1913
Died
July 17, 2005
Cause of Death
Alzheimer's Disease

Biography

A dark-haired classic beauty from the Dublin stage, Fitzgerald had appeared in several British films before making her Broadway debut in the 1938 Mercury Theater production of George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House" and her Hollywood debut in "Dark Victory" (1939). She is perhaps best remembered for her splendid, Oscar-nominated supporting performance as Isabella, poignantly suffering t...

Family & Companions

Edward Lindsay-Hogg
Husband
Songwriter, (some sources say horse-breeder). Married in 1936; divorced in 1946.
Stuart Scheftel
Husband
Businessman. Married on September 10, 1946; president, Museum of Famous People; co-founder Pan-Am Building; grandson of the founder of Macy's department store.

Notes

Received the Handel Medallion from the city of New York (1974) for Everyman Street Theatre.

Biography

A dark-haired classic beauty from the Dublin stage, Fitzgerald had appeared in several British films before making her Broadway debut in the 1938 Mercury Theater production of George Bernard Shaw's "Heartbreak House" and her Hollywood debut in "Dark Victory" (1939). She is perhaps best remembered for her splendid, Oscar-nominated supporting performance as Isabella, poignantly suffering the pangs of unrequited love, in William Wyler's adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" (1939). Off to a fine start in Hollywood, Fitzgerald played strong-willed women throughout the 1940s. Among her notable performances was as one of the eponymous characters in the highly intriguing "Three Strangers" (1946), in which she more than held her own opposite Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. After being put on suspension for protesting too many dull studio-chosen roles, though, Fitzgerald found that by the end of the decade her screen career had virtually petered out.

Fitzgerald's career slowed down somewhat during the 1950s and 60s, but she did TV and stage work, and made intermittent film appearances. She did fine work, for example, as the wife of a straying man (Gary Cooper) in "Ten North Frederick" (1958). In the 1970s, Fitzgerald made a triumphant return to the stage as an actress (in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" 1971), director ("Mass Appeal" 1980, for which she received a Tony nomination) and street performer (with her Everyman Street Theatre). She was memorable in a brief turn as Dudley Moore's wise grandmother in "Arthur" (1981) and also appeared in its inevitable, though inferior sequel, "Arthur 2: On the Rocks" (1988). In 1988, she received an Emmy nomination for a guest spot as an elderly woman contemplating suicide on the long-running sitcom, "The Golden Girls." Her son is director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

I Could Read the Sky (1999)
Eileen
Bump in the Night (1991)
Things That Go Bump in the Night (1989)
Arthur 2: On The Rocks (1988)
Martha Bach
Night of Courage (1987)
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
Circle Of Violence (1985)
Charlotte Kessling
Do You Remember Love (1985)
Lorraine Wyatt
The Link (1985)
Mrs Thomason
Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano (1984)
Dixie: Changing Habits (1983)
Sister Agnes
Easy Money (1983)
Arthur (1981)
Lovespell (1979)
Bye Bye Monkey (1978)
Toland
The Mango Tree (1977)
Grandma Carr
Yesterday's Child (1977)
Emma Talbot
The Quinns (1977)
Echoes Of A Summer (1976)
Sara
Harry and Tonto (1974)
The Last American Hero (1973)
Rachel, Rachel (1968)
Reverend Wood
The Pawnbroker (1965)
Marilyn Birchfield
The Fiercest Heart (1961)
Tante Maria
Ten North Frederick (1958)
Edith Chapin
The Late Edwina Blake (1951)
So Evil My Love (1948)
Susan Courtney
O.S.S. (1946)
Ellen Rogers, also known as Elaine Dupree
Three Strangers (1946)
Crystal Shakleford
Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
Gladys Halvorsen
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)
Lettie Quincy
Wilson (1945)
Edith [Bolling Galt] Wilson
Ladies Courageous (1944)
[Virginia] Virgie Alford
Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Marthe de Brancovis
The Gay Sisters (1942)
Evelyn Gaylord [Burton]
Shining Victory (1941)
Dr. Mary Murray
Flight from Destiny (1941)
Betty Farroway
A Child Is Born (1940)
Grace Sutton
'Til We Meet Again (1940)
Bonny Coburn
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Isabella [Linton]
Dark Victory (1939)
Ann King
The Mill On The Floss (1937)
Cafe Mascot (1936)
Debt of Honor (1936)
Department Store (1935)
Three Witnesses (1935)
Turn of the Tide (1935)
The Ace Of Spades (1935)
The Lad (1935)
Open All Night (1934)

Cast (Special)

Street Scenes: New York on Film (1992)
The 44th Annual Tony Awards (1990)
Performer
Reno's Cabaret Reunion (1989)
Mabel and Max (1987)
Tartuffe (1978)
Madame Pernelle
Ah, Wilderness! (1976)
Essie
Beyond the Horizon (1976)
Mrs Atkins
Forget-Me-Not Lane (1975)
Amy Bisley
The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd (1974)
Grandmother
We the Women (1974)
A Touch of the Poet (1974)
The Moon and Sixpence (1959)
The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1955)
Elizabeth Barrett

Cast (TV Mini-Series)

Virtuoso (1991)
Twice Shy (1989)
Kennedy (1983)

Life Events

1932

Stage debut at the Gate Theatre, Dublin

1934

British film acting debut, "Blind Justice"

1938

Moved to USA; made New York stage debut in "Heartbreak House" with the Mercury Theater

1939

First American film as actress, "Dark Victory", starring Bette Davis

1950

US TV debut "The Marble Faun"

1968

Founded Everyman Street Theatre with Brother Jonathan Ringkamp

1972

Co-produced Lincoln Center Community Street Festival

1976

Created and starred in one-woman show, "Songs of the "Streets"

1980

Directed New York stage production of "Mass Appeal"

Photo Collections

Wilson - Movie Poster
Wilson - Movie Poster

Videos

Movie Clip

Wuthering Heights (1939) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Neither Thief Nor Stranger Returned from America, making an obscured reference to their childhood romance, Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier) tells Cathy (Merle Oberon), her husband Edgar (David Niven) and his sister Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald) he's home to stay, in Wuthering Heights, 1939, the Samuel Goldwyn production directed by William Wyler, from the Emily Bronte novel.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) It Has Always Been Man's Nature Instant spellcasting, a prologue and foggy London, from the original screenplay by John Huston and Howard Koch, Jean Negulesco directing, finding Geraldine Fitzgerald in furs and Sydney Greenstreet in pursuit, opening Three Strangers, 1946, also starring Peter Lorre.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) At Least Ten Years Of Fainting The last bit of Crystal (Geraldine Fitzgerald) having it out with her husband (Alan Napier, whom she claimed was overseas) then she’s transported via Kwan Yin’s statue to join her new co-conspirator West (Peter Lorre), whose mysterious friend Icy (Joan Lorring) arrives, John Huston and Howard Koch’s script twisting, in Three Strangers, 1946.
Three Strangers (1946) -- (Movie Clip) She's A Very Ancient Personage Geraldine Fitzgerald still hasn’t exchanged names with equally unacquainted Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, having lured them up to her plush first floor London apartment, beginning to explain what she has in mind, from an original script by John Huston and Howard Koch, in Three Strangers, 1946.
Dark Victory (1939) -- (Movie Clip) The Sleepy Trahernes Quick start for this Warner Bros. society melodrama, Humphrey Bogart the Irish horse trainer wakes Geraldine Fitzgerald, secretary and best friend to Bette Davis (as heiress Judith Traherne), eventually joining her still-soused kind-of boyfriend Ronald Reagan, in Dark Victory, 1939.
Dark Victory (1939) -- (Movie Clip) That Cold Scientific Eye Family Doc Parsons (Henry Travers) has maneuvered symptomatic but defiant socialite Judith (Bette Davis) into the path of brain surgeon Steele (George Brent) who, himself traumatized over a patient's death, had been departing to begin his new career in research, in Dark Victory, 1939.
Dark Victory (1939) -- (Movie Clip) Not Another Headache? Socialite Judith (Bette Davis), seeking support from friend Ann (Geraldine Fitzgerald), appears unready for a grim diagnosis delivered by Dr. Steele (George Brent) in Dark Victory, 1939.
Wuthering Heights (1939) -- (Movie Clip) On The Barren Yorkshire Moors Beginning the stormy prologue from Samuel Goldwyn's celebrated 1939 production of Wuthering Heights, Miles Mander as the visitor Lockwood, Laurence Olivier the taciturn Heathcliff, other characters rather obscured, from the Emily Bronte novel, directed by William Wyler.
Wuthering Heights (1939) -- (Movie Clip) Life Has Ended For Me Exercising further cruelty on infatuated Isabella (Geraldine Fitzgerald), whom he courts out of spite, Heathcliff (Laurence) refuses to dance, then escapes with true love Cathy (Merle Oberon) for constrained passion on the terrace in William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, 1939.
Dark Victory (1939) -- (Movie Clip) A Jealous Scene Loyal Ann (Geraldine Fitzgerald) secretly visits brain surgeon Frederick (George Brent), to discuss his undisclosed fatal prognosis for his patient, her best friend and boss Judith (Bette Davis) who rings up, and who has meanwhile fallen for the doctor, in Dark Victory, 1939.
Gay Sisters, The (1942) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Not Nervous Part of the first scene for the adult Gaylord sisters, Evelyn (Geraldine Fitzgerald), Susanna (Nancy Coleman), and Fiona (Barbara Stanwyck), in court taking a bite out of antagonist Barclay (George Brent), her lawyer (Gene Lockhart) and the judge (George Lessey), in The Gay Sisters, 1942.
Gay Sisters, The (1942) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Gig Young Fiona Gaylord (Barbara Stanwyck), having just fired the family lawyer, greets sister Susanna (Nancy Coleman) and artist Gig Young (the actor Byron Barr having adopted the name of his character in this movie), joined by middle-sister Evelyn (Geraldine Fitzgerald), in The Gay Sisters, 1942.

Trailer

Rachel, Rachel - (Original Trailer) Paul Newman stepped behind the camera for the first time with Rachel, Rachel (1968) starring his wife Joanne Woodward.
Arthur - (Original Trailer) A childlike millionaire (Dudley Moore) must choose between keeping his fortune and marrying a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in Arthur (1981).
Shining Victory - (Original Trailer) A psychiatrist (James Stephenson) sacrifices everything for his research. Co-starring Geraldine Fitzgerald.
Dark Victory - (Original Trailer) Bette Davis stars in the ultimate weepie, Dark Victory (1939) as a flighty heiress who is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Pawnbroker, The - (Original Trailer) A Harlem pawnbroker (Rod Steiger) tries to cope with his changing neighborhood while haunted by memories of the concentration camps in The Pawnbroker (1965).
Gay Sisters, The - (Original Trailer) Barbara Stanwyck marries a real estate man to save her family's mansion only to discover he's after it as well in The Gay Sisters (1942).
Flight From Destiny - (Original Trailer) An elderly professor with six months to live plots a murder to reunite two young lovers in Flight from Destiny (1941).
Til We Meet Again - (Original Trailer) A dying woman shares a shipboard romance with a criminal on his way to the gallows in 'Til We Meet Again (1940) starring Merle Oberon and George Brent.
Three Strangers - (Original Trailer) Three people who share a sweepstakes ticket travel a tangled road to collect their winnings in Three Strangers (1946) starring Peter Lorre.
Harry and Tonto - (Original Trailer) When his apartment house is condemned, a retired man (Art Carney) goes searching for his place in the world in Harry & Tonto (1974).
Nobody Lives Forever - (Original Trailer) A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece in the film noir Nobody Lives Forever (1946) starring John Garfield.
Watch on the Rhine - (Original Trailer) Nazi agents pursue a German freedom-fighter and his family to Washington in Watch on the Rhine (1943), with Paul Lukas & Bette Davis, from Lillian Hellman's play.

Family

Edward Fitzgerald
Father
Attorney. Lawfirm, E & T Fitzgerald is mentioned in James Joyce's "Ulysses".
Edith Fitzgerald
Mother
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Son
Director. Born May 5, 1940.
Susan Scheftel
Daughter
Father, Stuart Scheftel.
Tara Fitzgerald
Great-Niece
Actor.

Companions

Edward Lindsay-Hogg
Husband
Songwriter, (some sources say horse-breeder). Married in 1936; divorced in 1946.
Stuart Scheftel
Husband
Businessman. Married on September 10, 1946; president, Museum of Famous People; co-founder Pan-Am Building; grandson of the founder of Macy's department store.

Bibliography

Notes

Received the Handel Medallion from the city of New York (1974) for Everyman Street Theatre.