Dina Merrill

Actor

About

Also Known As

Dina Merrill-Hartley, Nedenia Marjorie Hutton

Birth Place

New York, New York, USA

Born

December 29, 1923

Died

May 22, 2017

Cause of Death

Lewy Body Dementia

Biography

Filmography

Shade (2004)

Dina

The Glow (2002)

Mighty Joe Young (1998)

A Chance of Snow (1998)

Merilee Parker

Something Borrowed, Something Blue (1997)

Lydia D'Arcy

Point of Betrayal (1996)

Photos & Videos

View All

Courtship Of Eddie's Father, The (1963) -- (Movie Clip) I've Seen Too Many Rosalind Russell Pictures

Butterfield 8 (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Better Than Sleeping Pills

Family & Companions

Stanley M Rumbough Jr

Husband

Married on March 23, 1946; divorced in December 1966.

Cliff Robertson

Husband

Actor. Married on December 21, 1966; separated in 1985; divorced in 1989; guest starred together in a two-part episode of the campy crimefighter series, "Batman" as Western villains Shame and Calamity Jan.

Ted Hartley

Husband

Producer, businessman, former actor. Married on November 18, 1989; he and Merrill had become business partners in 1988, forming Pavilion (later RKO Pavilion), an entertainment and film development production enterprise; has son Philippe (born c. 1955) from a relationship with a Morrocan woman.

Notes

With her husband Ted Hartley, she created the Hartley Merrill International Screenwriting Prize.

Biography

Born to Wall Street financier E.F. Hutton and Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, a debutante-age Dina Merrill gave up college after one year and moved to New York to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She debuted on Broadway in "The Mermaids Singing" (1945) and kept busy for the next decade with acting studies, Broadway and stock theater roles and work in early TV anthology dramas. Already in her thirties, Merrill made her film debut with a sweet performance as part of Katharine Hepburn's reference department staff in "Desk Set" (1957). Several leads soon presented themselves; the biggest hit film of these, "Operation Petticoat" (1959), cast the attractive and self-assured Merrill as one of a bevy of nurses who end up on a broken-down Naval submarine. By 1960, Merrill was alternating supporting roles with occasional leads, and was spending much of her time doing tours and regional work on stage. Film work capitalized on her off screen lifestyle, as in "The Young Savages" (1961), with Merrill as crusading DA Burt Lancaster's socialite spouse, and "Butterfield 8" (1960), as the colorless, long-suffering wife that wealthy Laurence Harvey cheats on with Elizabeth Taylor. Later in the decade Merrill began acting in TV movies, and also racked up over 100 guest credits on various TV series, and tried one herself, "Hot Pursuit" (ABC, 1984). The premise of a couple accused of murder attempting to find the real killer themselves was a neat revamp of "The Fugitive," with Merrill as the victim's rich and vengeful widow, but the show never caught on. Feature work resumed in the mid-'70s, and Merrill gave an excellent performance as part of a well-to-do but wacky marriage party in Robert Altman's comedy-drama "A Wedding" (1978). Merrill's subsequent film work included appearances in Altman's Hollywood satire "The Player" (1992), mystery "Suture" (1993) and maligned sequel "Caddyshack II" (1988). But Merrill's primary interest became Pavilion, a film and entertainment development and production company she formed with Ted Hartley in 1988. The two married in 1989 and that same year acquired the once-venerable Hollywood studio RKO Pictures. Merrill served as vice chairman of the company. Dina Merrill died on May 22, 2017 at her home in Easthampton, New York. She was 93.

Filmography

Life Events

1945

Made Broadway debut in "The Mermaids Singing"

1957

Made feature film debut in a supporting role in the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy, "Desk Set"

1958

Played first leading lady role, "A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed"

1960

Began playing mostly supporting roles in features again with the films "Butterfield 8" and "The Sundowners"

1960

First played Shakespeare onstage in a production of "Othello"

1961

Acted in a summer theater revival tour of the John van Druten comedy-drama "The Voice of the Turtle"

1963

Acted in a summer theater tour of "Write Me a Murder"

1965

Acted as part of the Shaw Festival Repertory in stage productions of "Major Barbara" and "Misalliance"

1965

Last feature for ten years, "I'll Take Sweden," starring Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld and Frankie Avalon

1968

First TV-movie, "The Sunshine Patriot"

1975

Returned to features to play roles in "The Meal" and "Deliver Us From Evil"

1976

Returned to Broadway to act a leading role in "Angel Street"

1979

First TV miniseries, "Roots: The Next Generations"

1981

Acted in a production of "The V.I.P.s"

1983

Returned to Broadway to play a role in the revival of the landmark Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart-scored, George Balanchine-choreographed musical "On Your Toes"