Teresa Wright
Encyclopedia
Teresa Wright was an American actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver
. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress
nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper
. She is also known for her notable performances in Alfred Hitchcock
's Shadow of a Doubt
(1943) and William Wyler
's The Best Years of Our Lives
(1946). Wright also received three Emmy Award
nominations for her performances in the Playhouse 90 original television version of The Miracle Worker (1957), in the Breck Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story, and in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove (1989). She earned the acclaim of top film directors, including William Wyler, who called her the most promising actress he had directed, and Alfred Hitchcock, who admired her thorough preparation and quiet professionalism.
, New York City
, the daughter of Martha (née
Espy) and Arthur Wright, an insurance agent. Her parents separated when she was young. She grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey
, where she attended Columbia High School
. After seeing Helen Hayes
star in Victoria Regina at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City in 1936, Wright took an interest in acting and began playing leading roles in school plays. She earned a scholarship to the Wharf Theater in Provincetown, Massachusetts
, where she was an apprentice for two summers. Following her high school graduation in 1938, she went to New York, changed her name to "Teresa Wright", and was hired as understudy to Dorothy McGuire
and Martha Scott
for the role of Emily in Thornton Wilder
's stage production of Our Town
at Henry Miller's Theatre. She took over the role when Scott left for Hollywood to film the on-screen version of the play.
, playing the role of Mary Skinner. It was there that she was discovered by Samuel Goldwyn
, who came to see her in the show she had been appearing in for almost a year. Goldwyn would later recall his first encounter with her backstage:
Goldwyn immediately hired the young actress for the role of Bette Davis
' daughter in the 1941 adaptation
of Lillian Hellman
's The Little Foxes
, signing her to a five-year Hollywood contract with MGM. Asserting her seriousness as an actress, Wright insisted her contract contain unique clauses by Hollywood standards:
In 1941, Wright was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her film début in The Little Foxes
. The following year, she was nominated again, this time for Best Actress
for The Pride of the Yankees
, in which she played opposite Gary Cooper
as the wife of Lou Gehrig
. That same year, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
as the daughter-in-law of Greer Garson
's character in Mrs. Miniver
. Wright is one of only nine players who have been nominated in both categories in the same year. Her three Academy Award nominations and one Academy Award in her first three films remains a rare accomplishment. She remains the only performer to have received Academy Award nominations for her first three films.
In 1943, Wright appeared in the acclaimed Universal
film Shadow of a Doubt
, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
, playing an innocent young woman who discovers her beloved uncle (played by Joseph Cotten
) is a serial murderer. Hitchcock thought Wright was one of the most intelligent actors he had worked with, and through his direction brought out her vivacity, warmth, and youthful idealism—characteristics uncommon in Hitchcock's heroines. In 1946, Wright delivered another notable performance in William Wyler
's The Best Years of Our Lives
, an award-winning film about the adjustments of servicemen returning home after World War II
. Critic James Agee praised her performance in The Nation:
Four years later, she would appear in another story of war veterans, Fred Zinnemann
's The Men (1950), which starred Marlon Brando
in his film début.
In 1947, Wright appeared in the western Pursued
opposite Robert Mitchum
. The moody "Freudian western" was written by her first husband Niven Busch
. The following year, she starred with Busch, Farley Granger, and Evelyn Keyes in Enchantment, a story of two generations of lovers in parallel romances. Wright received glowing reviews for her performance. Newsweek commented, "Miss Wright, one of the screen's finest, glows as the Cinderella who captivated three men." And The New York Times concluded, "Teresa Wright plays with that breathless, bright-eyed rapture which she so remarkably commands."
In December 1948, after rebelling against the studio system
that brought her fame, Teresa Wright had a public falling out with MGM executive Samuel Goldwyn, which resulted in the cancellation of Wright's MGM contract. In a statement published in The New York Times
, Goldwyn cited as reasons her refusal to publicize the film Enchantment, and her being "uncooperative" and refusing to "follow reasonable instructions." In her written response, Wright denied Goldwyn's charges and expressed no regret over losing her $5,000 per week contract.
Years later, in an interview with The New York Post, Wright recalled, "I was going to be Joan of Arc, and all I proved was that I was an actress who would work for less money." For her next film, The Men (1950), instead of the $125,000 she had once commanded, she received $20,000.
In the 1950s, Wright appeared in several unsuccessful films, including The Capture
(1950), Something to Live For
(1952), California Conquest
(1952), The Steel Trap
(1952), Count the Hours (1953), The Actress
(1953), and Track of the Cat
(1954) opposite Robert Mitchum
again. Despite the poor box-office showing of these films, Wright was usually praised for her performances. Toward the end of the decade, Wright began to work more frequently in television
and theatre
. She received Emmy Award
nominations for her performances in the Playhouse 90 original television version of The Miracle Worker (1957) and in the Breck Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story (1960).
On February 8, 1960, Wright was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame
with two stars: one for motion pictures at 1658 Vine Street and one for television at 6405 Hollywood Boulevard
.
In the 1960s, Wright returned to the New York stage appearing in three plays: Mary, Mary
(1962) at the Helen Hayes Theatre in the role of Mary McKellaway, I Never Sang for My Father (1968) at the Longacre Theatre in the role of Alice, and Who's Happy Now? (1969) at the Village South Theatre in the role of Mary Hallen. During this period, she also toured throughout the United States
in stage productions of Mary, Mary (1962), Tchin-Tchin (1963) in the role of Pamela Pew-Picket, and The Locksmith (1965) in the role of Katherine Butler Hathaway. In addition to her stage work, Wright made numerous television appearances throughout the decade, including episodes for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) on CBS, Bonanza (1964) on NBC, The Defenders (1964, 1965) on CBS, and CBS Playhouse (1969).
In 1975, Wright appeared in the Broadway
revival of Death of a Salesman
, and in 1980, appeared in the revival of Morning's at Seven
, for which she won a Drama Desk Award
as a member of the Outstanding Ensemble Performance. In 1989, she received her third Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove.
(1980), the role of the grandmother in The Good Mother
(1988) with Diane Keaton
, and the role of Miss Birdie in John Grisham
's The Rainmaker
(1997), directed by Francis Ford Coppola
.
In her last decade, Wright lived quietly in her New England home in the town of Bridgewater, Connecticut
in Litchfield County, appearing occasionally at film festivals and forums and at events associated with the New York Yankees. In 1996, she reminisced about Alfred Hitchcock at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
, and in 2003, she appeared on the Academy Awards show in a segment honoring previous Oscar-winners.
Teresa Wright died on March 6, 2005 of a heart attack
at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut
at the age of 86. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven.
from 1942 to 1952. They had two children: a son, Niven Terence Busch born December 2, 1944, and daughter, Mary Kelly Busch born September 12, 1947. She married playwright Robert Anderson in 1959. They were divorced in 1978, but maintained a close relationship until the end of her life. She has two grandchildren, one of whom, Jonah Smith, helped produce Darren Aronofsky
's films Pi
(1998) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). In 1998, Smith accompanied his grandmother to Yankee Stadium when she was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch. It was her first visit to the stadium and sparked an interest in baseball. After Wright died in 2005, in honor of her heartfelt performance in The Pride of the Yankees
(1942), when the roll call of former Yankees who had passed on was announced on opening day, her name was read out among all the ballplayers.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for The Times, later adapted into a movie of the same name.-Origin:...
. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
. She is also known for her notable performances in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
(1943) and William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
(1946). Wright also received three Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations for her performances in the Playhouse 90 original television version of The Miracle Worker (1957), in the Breck Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story, and in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove (1989). She earned the acclaim of top film directors, including William Wyler, who called her the most promising actress he had directed, and Alfred Hitchcock, who admired her thorough preparation and quiet professionalism.
Early life
Muriel Teresa Wright was born on October 27, 1918 in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the daughter of Martha (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Espy) and Arthur Wright, an insurance agent. Her parents separated when she was young. She grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood, New Jersey
Maplewood is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 23,867.-History:...
, where she attended Columbia High School
Columbia High School (New Jersey)
Columbia High School is a four-year comprehensive regional public high school located at 17 Parker Avenue in Maplewood, New Jersey, which serves students in grades nine through twelve within the South Orange-Maplewood School District, which includes Maplewood and South Orange Townships...
. After seeing Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
star in Victoria Regina at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City in 1936, Wright took an interest in acting and began playing leading roles in school plays. She earned a scholarship to the Wharf Theater in Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
, where she was an apprentice for two summers. Following her high school graduation in 1938, she went to New York, changed her name to "Teresa Wright", and was hired as understudy to Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy Hackett McGuire was an American actress.-Career:Born in Omaha, Nebraska, she began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse...
and Martha Scott
Martha Scott
Martha Ellen Scott was an American actress best known for her roles as mother of the lead character in numerous films and television shows.-Early life:...
for the role of Emily in Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder was an American playwright and novelist. He received three Pulitzer Prizes, one for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and two for his plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth, and a National Book Award for his novel The Eighth Day.-Early years:Wilder was born in Madison,...
's stage production of Our Town
Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
at Henry Miller's Theatre. She took over the role when Scott left for Hollywood to film the on-screen version of the play.
Acting career
In autumn 1939, Wright began a two-year appearance in the stage play Life with FatherLife with Father
Life with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted in 1939 into a long-running Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.-The book:Clarence Day wrote...
, playing the role of Mary Skinner. It was there that she was discovered by Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...
, who came to see her in the show she had been appearing in for almost a year. Goldwyn would later recall his first encounter with her backstage:
Goldwyn immediately hired the young actress for the role of Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
' daughter in the 1941 adaptation
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
of Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
's The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15 in the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in...
, signing her to a five-year Hollywood contract with MGM. Asserting her seriousness as an actress, Wright insisted her contract contain unique clauses by Hollywood standards:
In 1941, Wright was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her film début in The Little Foxes
The Little Foxes (film)
The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play of the same name...
. The following year, she was nominated again, this time for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
, in which she played opposite Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper
Frank James Cooper, known professionally as Gary Cooper, was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
as the wife of Lou Gehrig
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis "Lou" Gehrig , nicknamed "The Iron Horse" for his durability, was an American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees . Gehrig set several major league records. He holds the record for most career grand slams...
. That same year, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
as the daughter-in-law of Greer Garson
Greer Garson
Greer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
's character in Mrs. Miniver
Mrs. Miniver (film)
Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright. Based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, the film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture,...
. Wright is one of only nine players who have been nominated in both categories in the same year. Her three Academy Award nominations and one Academy Award in her first three films remains a rare accomplishment. She remains the only performer to have received Academy Award nominations for her first three films.
In 1943, Wright appeared in the acclaimed Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
film Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
, directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, playing an innocent young woman who discovers her beloved uncle (played by Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
) is a serial murderer. Hitchcock thought Wright was one of the most intelligent actors he had worked with, and through his direction brought out her vivacity, warmth, and youthful idealism—characteristics uncommon in Hitchcock's heroines. In 1946, Wright delivered another notable performance in William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...
's The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
, an award-winning film about the adjustments of servicemen returning home after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Critic James Agee praised her performance in The Nation:
Four years later, she would appear in another story of war veterans, Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann
Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director. He won four Academy Awards and directed films like High Noon, From Here to Eternity and A Man for All Seasons.-Life and career:...
's The Men (1950), which starred Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
in his film début.
In 1947, Wright appeared in the western Pursued
Pursued
Pursued is a 1947 movie starring Robert Mitchum that combines western, film noir and psychological melodrama. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and photographed in black-and-white by James Wong Howe.-Plot summary:...
opposite Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
. The moody "Freudian western" was written by her first husband Niven Busch
Niven Busch
Niven Busch was an American novelist and screenwriter of movies such as the acclaimed The Postman Always Rings Twice. His novels included Duel In the Sun and California Street...
. The following year, she starred with Busch, Farley Granger, and Evelyn Keyes in Enchantment, a story of two generations of lovers in parallel romances. Wright received glowing reviews for her performance. Newsweek commented, "Miss Wright, one of the screen's finest, glows as the Cinderella who captivated three men." And The New York Times concluded, "Teresa Wright plays with that breathless, bright-eyed rapture which she so remarkably commands."
In December 1948, after rebelling against the studio system
Studio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
that brought her fame, Teresa Wright had a public falling out with MGM executive Samuel Goldwyn, which resulted in the cancellation of Wright's MGM contract. In a statement published in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Goldwyn cited as reasons her refusal to publicize the film Enchantment, and her being "uncooperative" and refusing to "follow reasonable instructions." In her written response, Wright denied Goldwyn's charges and expressed no regret over losing her $5,000 per week contract.
Years later, in an interview with The New York Post, Wright recalled, "I was going to be Joan of Arc, and all I proved was that I was an actress who would work for less money." For her next film, The Men (1950), instead of the $125,000 she had once commanded, she received $20,000.
In the 1950s, Wright appeared in several unsuccessful films, including The Capture
The Capture (film)
The Capture is a 1950 drama film starring Lew Ayres and Teresa Wright. The story deals with an ex-oil worker driven by guilt at causing the death of an innocent man to find out the truth about a robbery.-Synopsis:...
(1950), Something to Live For
Something to Live For (film)
Something to Live For is a 1952 American drama film starring Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, and Teresa Wright, directed by George Stevens, and released by Paramount Pictures...
(1952), California Conquest
California Conquest
California Conquest is a 1952 American film, directed by Lew Landers, and starring Cornel Wilde and Teresa Wright. The film is set in the early 1840s, and deals with a conspiracy by native Spanish Hidalgos to deliver the then-Mexican territory of California to the Russian Empire.-Plot:Don Arturo...
(1952), The Steel Trap
The Steel Trap
- Plot :Joseph Cotten plays a bank officer who decides to rob his own bank and head to Brazil before he can be found out. Leaving with his wife , he finds it difficult exiting the country.- Trivia :...
(1952), Count the Hours (1953), The Actress
The Actress
The Actress is an 1953 American comedy-drama film based on Ruth Gordon's autobiographical play Years Ago. Gordon herself wrote the screenplay. The film was directed by George Cukor and stars Jean Simmons, Spencer Tracy, Teresa Wright, and Anthony Perkins in his film debut.The film was nominated for...
(1953), and Track of the Cat
Track of the Cat
Track of the Cat is a William A. Wellman film starring Robert Mitchum and Teresa Wright. The film is based on a 1949 adventure novel of the same name by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. This was Wellman's second adaptation of a Clark novel, the first being The Ox-Bow Incident...
(1954) opposite Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
again. Despite the poor box-office showing of these films, Wright was usually praised for her performances. Toward the end of the decade, Wright began to work more frequently in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
. She received Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations for her performances in the Playhouse 90 original television version of The Miracle Worker (1957) and in the Breck Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story (1960).
On February 8, 1960, Wright was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
with two stars: one for motion pictures at 1658 Vine Street and one for television at 6405 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
.
In the 1960s, Wright returned to the New York stage appearing in three plays: Mary, Mary
Mary, Mary (play)
Mary, Mary is a play by Jean Kerr. The play became one of the longest-running productions of the decade. After two previews, the Broadway production opened on March 8, 1961 at the original Helen Hayes Theatre , where it ran for nearly three years and nine months before transferring to the Morosco...
(1962) at the Helen Hayes Theatre in the role of Mary McKellaway, I Never Sang for My Father (1968) at the Longacre Theatre in the role of Alice, and Who's Happy Now? (1969) at the Village South Theatre in the role of Mary Hallen. During this period, she also toured throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in stage productions of Mary, Mary (1962), Tchin-Tchin (1963) in the role of Pamela Pew-Picket, and The Locksmith (1965) in the role of Katherine Butler Hathaway. In addition to her stage work, Wright made numerous television appearances throughout the decade, including episodes for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) on CBS, Bonanza (1964) on NBC, The Defenders (1964, 1965) on CBS, and CBS Playhouse (1969).
In 1975, Wright appeared in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival of Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
, and in 1980, appeared in the revival of Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
, for which she won a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
as a member of the Outstanding Ensemble Performance. In 1989, she received her third Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove.
Later life
Wright's later film appearances included a major role in Somewhere in TimeSomewhere in Time (film)
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay...
(1980), the role of the grandmother in The Good Mother
The Good Mother (1988 film)
The Good Mother is a 1988 American drama film and an adaptation of Sue Miller's novel of the same name. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, the film Diane Keaton and Liam Neeson in the leading roles...
(1988) with Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, and the role of Miss Birdie in John Grisham
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
's The Rainmaker
The Rainmaker (1997 film)
The Rainmaker is a 1997 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. Coppola wrote the script, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham....
(1997), directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
.
In her last decade, Wright lived quietly in her New England home in the town of Bridgewater, Connecticut
Bridgewater, Connecticut
Bridgewater is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,824 at the 2000 census. It is the only remaining dry town in Connecticut.-Geography:...
in Litchfield County, appearing occasionally at film festivals and forums and at events associated with the New York Yankees. In 1996, she reminisced about Alfred Hitchcock at the Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events taking place each June. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival...
, and in 2003, she appeared on the Academy Awards show in a segment honoring previous Oscar-winners.
Teresa Wright died on March 6, 2005 of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
at the age of 86. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven.
Personal life
Wright was married to writer Niven BuschNiven Busch
Niven Busch was an American novelist and screenwriter of movies such as the acclaimed The Postman Always Rings Twice. His novels included Duel In the Sun and California Street...
from 1942 to 1952. They had two children: a son, Niven Terence Busch born December 2, 1944, and daughter, Mary Kelly Busch born September 12, 1947. She married playwright Robert Anderson in 1959. They were divorced in 1978, but maintained a close relationship until the end of her life. She has two grandchildren, one of whom, Jonah Smith, helped produce Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
's films Pi
Pi (film)
Pi, also titled ,WorldCat gives the title as [Pi] and provides a note which states, "Title is the mathematical symbol for Pi." . Amazon gives the title as Pi with no notation concerning the math symbol . is a 1998 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky...
(1998) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). In 1998, Smith accompanied his grandmother to Yankee Stadium when she was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch. It was her first visit to the stadium and sparked an interest in baseball. After Wright died in 2005, in honor of her heartfelt performance in The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees
The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 American film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. The film is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who died only one year before the film's release, at age 37, from amyotrophic lateral...
(1942), when the roll call of former Yankees who had passed on was announced on opening day, her name was read out among all the ballplayers.
Filmography and awards
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | Alexandra Giddens | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
|
| 1942 | Mrs. Miniver Mrs. Miniver (film) Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright. Based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, the film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture,... |
Carol Beldon | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
| 1942 | Eleanor Twitchell | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
|
| 1943 | Shadow of a Doubt Shadow of a Doubt Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell... |
Charlotte 'Charlie' Newton | |
| 1944 | Casanova Brown Casanova Brown Casanova Brown is a 1944 American romantic comedy film directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Frank Morgan. Written by Thomas Mitchell , Floyd Dell, and Nunnally Johnson, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards: for Best Score , Best Sound, Recording Casanova... |
Isabel Drury | |
| 1946 | Peggy Stephenson | ||
| 1947 | Pursued Pursued Pursued is a 1947 movie starring Robert Mitchum that combines western, film noir and psychological melodrama. The film was directed by Raoul Walsh and photographed in black-and-white by James Wong Howe.-Plot summary:... |
Thorley Callum | |
| 1947 | Millicent Hopkins | ||
| 1947 | The Trouble with Women | Kate Farrell | |
| 1948 | Enchantment | Lark Ingoldsby | |
| 1950 | Ellen Tevlin Vanner | ||
| 1950 | Ellen "Elly" Wilosek | ||
| 1952 | Something to Live For Something to Live For (film) Something to Live For is a 1952 American drama film starring Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, and Teresa Wright, directed by George Stevens, and released by Paramount Pictures... |
Edna Miller | |
| 1952 | California Conquest California Conquest California Conquest is a 1952 American film, directed by Lew Landers, and starring Cornel Wilde and Teresa Wright. The film is set in the early 1840s, and deals with a conspiracy by native Spanish Hidalgos to deliver the then-Mexican territory of California to the Russian Empire.-Plot:Don Arturo... |
Julie Lawrence | |
| 1952 | Laurie Osborne | ||
| 1953 | Count the Hours | Ellen Braden | |
| 1953 | Annie Jones | ||
| 1954 | Track of the Cat Track of the Cat Track of the Cat is a William A. Wellman film starring Robert Mitchum and Teresa Wright. The film is based on a 1949 adventure novel of the same name by Walter Van Tilburg Clark. This was Wellman's second adaptation of a Clark novel, the first being The Ox-Bow Incident... |
Grace Bridges | |
| 1955 | Doris Walker | TV broadcast | |
| 1956 | Ruth Simmons | ||
| 1957 | Escapade in Japan | Mary Saunders | |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 Playhouse 90 Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California... : The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker The Miracle Worker is a cycle of 20th century dramatic works derived from Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life. Each of the various dramas describes the relationship between Keller—a deafblind and initially almost feral child—and Anne Sullivan, the teacher who introduced her to... |
Annie Sullivan | Nominated — Emmy Award Emmy Award An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various... |
| 1958 | Elizabeth Grant | ||
| 1964 | Lonely Place | Stella | (Alfred Hitchcock Hour) |
| 1969 | Hail, Hero! | Santha Dixon | |
| 1969 | Mrs. Spencer | ||
| 1972 | Crawlspace | Alice Graves | Television film |
| 1974 | Edith Reynolds | Television film | |
| 1976 | Flood! | Alice Cutler | Television film |
| 1977 | Roseland Roseland (film) Roseland is a 1977 Merchant Ivory Productions' portmanteau film with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant.... |
May (the Waltz) | |
| 1980 | Somewhere in Time Somewhere in Time (film) Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay... |
Laura Roberts | |
| 1980 | Lucy Tate | Television film | |
| 1982 | Morning's at Seven Morning's at Seven Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway... |
Cora Swanson | Television film |
| 1983 | Bill: On His Own | Mae Driscoll | Television film |
| 1987 | Miranda's Grandmother | Television film | |
| 1988 | Grandmother | ||
| 1990 | Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception | Helene Berman | Television film |
| 1991 | Lethal Innocence | Myra | Television film |
| 1993 | |||
| 1997 | Colleen "Miss Birdie" Birdsong |
External links
- Teresa Wright at Reel Classics
- Obituary on Legacy.comLegacy.comLegacy.com was founded in 1998 and is the world's largest commercial provider of online memorials. The Web site hosts obituaries and memorials for more than 70 percent of all U.S. deaths. Legacy.com hosts obituaries for more than three-quarters of the 100 largest newspapers in the U.S., by...