Carol Grace was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress and author. She is usually referred to as Carol Marcus Saroyan or Carol Matthau.

Carol Grace was born in New York City's Lower East Side

Lower East Side

The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

; her mother, who was sixteen when she gave birth, was the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants. Carol never knew her father. Carol was placed in foster care until the age of eight when her mother married Charles Marcus, the wealthy head of the Bendix Corp.; Carol would take his last name as her own.

According to Truman Capote

Truman Capote

Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

, Carol's personality was the inspiration for the Holly Golightly character in the novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella by Truman Capote published in 1958. The main character, Holly Golightly, is one of Capote's best-known creations and an American cultural icon.-Plot:...

.

Marriages

She was twice married to Pulitzer-Prize winning writer William Saroyan

William Saroyan

William Saroyan was an Armenian American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian-American life in California in his native Fresno.-Early years:...

 over an eight-year period. The couple had two children: Aram Saroyan

Aram Saroyan

Aram Saroyan is an American poet, novelist, biographer, memoirist and playwright. There has been a resurgence of interest in his work in the 21st century, evidenced by the publication in 2007 of several previous collections reissued together as Complete Minimal Poems.- Biography :Saroyan was born...

, an internationally known writer, and the late actress Lucy Saroyan

Lucy Saroyan

Lucy Saroyan was an American actress and photographer.Saroyan was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of the writer William Saroyan and the actress Carol Grace. Her brother is writer Aram Saroyan...

, who died in 2003.

She was also married to actor Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...

, from August 21, 1959 until his death on July 1, 2000; they had one son, Charles Matthau. She had a wide social circle and was known for her wit and good company.

In 1955 she published a novella based on her experiences as a foster child, The Secret in the Daisy. In 1992 she published a memoir, Among the Porcupines.

Carol Saroyan Matthau died of a cerebral aneurysm

Cerebral aneurysm

A cerebral or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.- Signs and symptoms :...

 on July 20, 2003, aged 78.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role
1960 1960 in film The year 1960 in film involved some significant events, with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho the top-grossing release in the U.S.-Events:* April 20 - for the first time since coming home from military service in Germany, Elvis Presley returns to Hollywood, California to film G.I...	Gangster Story Gangster Story - Plot summary :Crime-Drama Directed by Walter Matthau A mobster is hiding from the law in a small town and he's running out of money, so he robs a bank and rakes in some big bucks...	Carol
1961 1961 in film The year 1961 in film involved some significant events, with West Side Story winning 10 Academy Awards.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:* Atlantis, the Lost ContinentB...	Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alfred Hitchcock Presents Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades... : "Cop for a Day"
1976 1976 in film The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...	Mikey and Nicky Mikey and Nicky Mikey and Nicky is a 1976 film written and directed by Elaine May. Using three cameras that she sometimes left running for hours, May captured spontaneous interaction between Peter Falk and John Cassavetes...	Nellie
1978 1978 in film The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....	The Barbara Walters Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...  Special	Self

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