Lee Remick
Swiss-British postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Stroud, no. 56738, 1996. Photo: Sam Shaw. Caption: Lee Remick, on the Bowery, New York City, 1960.
Lee Remick (1935-1991) was an American actress admired for her versatility and beauty. Her best-known films include A Face in the Crowd (1957), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Wild River (1960), and Days of Wine and Roses (1962).
Lee Ann Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1935. Her parents were Francis Edwin Remick, a department store owner, and Margaret Patricia Waldo, an actress. Remick studied acting at Bernard College in Manhattan New York and at the Actor's Studio, known for its method acting. Only 16, she made her Broadway debut in 1953 with 'Be Your Age' alongside Conrad Nagel. Remick went on to appear in musicals such as 'Oklahoma!' by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers and 'Show Boat'by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. From 1953, she was seen on television in live dramas. She made her film debut in A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957). While making the film in Arkansas, Remick stayed with a local relative where she practised her baton tricks daily so she could portray herself credibly as a majorette alongside her opposite actor Walter Matthau. Her next role was also southern: Eula Varner, the hot-blooded daughter-in-law of Will Varner (Orson Welles) in The Long, Hot Summer (Martin Ritt, 1958). She emerged as a real star in the role of an apparent rape victim whose husband is tried for killing her attacker in Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959), where she starred opposite James Stewart. Then she reunited with director Elia Kazan for The Wild River (1960) with Montgomery Clift.
Lee Remick played the leading female role alongside Yves Montand in Sanctuary (Tony Richardson, 1961). Remick was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Jack Lemmon's alcoholic wife in The Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards, 1962). In 1962, under contract to Fox, she was approached to replace Marilyn Monroe in George Cukor's Something's Got to Give. The idea was finally abandoned. When Marilyn died, the film remained unfinished. Remick appeared in the 1964 Broadway musical 'Anyone Can Whistle', with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book and direction by Arthur Laurents, which ran for only a week. Remick's performance is captured on the original cast recording. This began a lifelong friendship between Remick and Sondheim, and she later appeared in the 1985 concert version of his musical 'Follies'. Lee received a Tony Award nomination in 1966 for her portrayal of a blind woman terrorised by a gang of drug smugglers in the play 'Wait Until Dark', written by Frederick Knott, under the direction of Arthur Penn and co-starring Robert Duvall. It was a big success and ran for 373 performances. In the film version, Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967), Audrey Hepburn played the role of the blind Suzy Hendrix. Remick starred in No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, 1968) with Rod Steiger and George Segal, The Detective (Gordon Douglas, 1968) with Frank Sinatra, and Hard Contract (S. Lee Pogostin, 1969) with James Coburn In 1969, she left the USA to settle in London with her second husband, director Kip Gowens.
Lee Remick was married twice. Her first husband, with whom she had a son and a daughter, was Bill Colleran, an American television producer. Her second husband was the British film producer Kip Gowens. She appeared in the British comedy Loot (Silvio Narizzano, 1970). It is based on the play of the same name by Joe Orton and stars Richard Attenborough. She won Golden Globe Awards for the TV film The Blue Knight (1973), and for playing the title role in the miniseries Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974). For the latter role, she also won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, and enormous popularity. In the cinema, she starred in films such as The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) opposite Gregory Peck, one of the biggest hits of the year. Remick followed it up with leading actress roles in Telefon (Don Siegel, 1977), with Charles Bronson; The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978) with Richard Burton, and The Europeans (James Ivory, 1978), based on the novel by Henry James. With her husband Kip Gowens, she worked on a number of television movies including The Women's Room (1980), and Rearview Mirror (1984). In 1988 Lee Remick formed a production company with partners James Garner and Peter K. Duchow. Lee Remick died in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 55 from the effects of kidney and liver cancer. A very weak, almost unrecognisable Lee made one of her last public appearances three months before her death, to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard. She was cremated at Westwood Memorial Park. Her children, Kate (1959) and Matt Colleran (1961), sang the title song from one of her Broadway musical shows 'Anyone Can Whistle'.
Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia (French, Dutch, and English), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Lee Remick
Swiss-British postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Stroud, no. 56738, 1996. Photo: Sam Shaw. Caption: Lee Remick, on the Bowery, New York City, 1960.
Lee Remick (1935-1991) was an American actress admired for her versatility and beauty. Her best-known films include A Face in the Crowd (1957), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Wild River (1960), and Days of Wine and Roses (1962).
Lee Ann Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1935. Her parents were Francis Edwin Remick, a department store owner, and Margaret Patricia Waldo, an actress. Remick studied acting at Bernard College in Manhattan New York and at the Actor's Studio, known for its method acting. Only 16, she made her Broadway debut in 1953 with 'Be Your Age' alongside Conrad Nagel. Remick went on to appear in musicals such as 'Oklahoma!' by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers and 'Show Boat'by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. From 1953, she was seen on television in live dramas. She made her film debut in A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957). While making the film in Arkansas, Remick stayed with a local relative where she practised her baton tricks daily so she could portray herself credibly as a majorette alongside her opposite actor Walter Matthau. Her next role was also southern: Eula Varner, the hot-blooded daughter-in-law of Will Varner (Orson Welles) in The Long, Hot Summer (Martin Ritt, 1958). She emerged as a real star in the role of an apparent rape victim whose husband is tried for killing her attacker in Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959), where she starred opposite James Stewart. Then she reunited with director Elia Kazan for The Wild River (1960) with Montgomery Clift.
Lee Remick played the leading female role alongside Yves Montand in Sanctuary (Tony Richardson, 1961). Remick was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Jack Lemmon's alcoholic wife in The Days of Wine and Roses (Blake Edwards, 1962). In 1962, under contract to Fox, she was approached to replace Marilyn Monroe in George Cukor's Something's Got to Give. The idea was finally abandoned. When Marilyn died, the film remained unfinished. Remick appeared in the 1964 Broadway musical 'Anyone Can Whistle', with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book and direction by Arthur Laurents, which ran for only a week. Remick's performance is captured on the original cast recording. This began a lifelong friendship between Remick and Sondheim, and she later appeared in the 1985 concert version of his musical 'Follies'. Lee received a Tony Award nomination in 1966 for her portrayal of a blind woman terrorised by a gang of drug smugglers in the play 'Wait Until Dark', written by Frederick Knott, under the direction of Arthur Penn and co-starring Robert Duvall. It was a big success and ran for 373 performances. In the film version, Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967), Audrey Hepburn played the role of the blind Suzy Hendrix. Remick starred in No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, 1968) with Rod Steiger and George Segal, The Detective (Gordon Douglas, 1968) with Frank Sinatra, and Hard Contract (S. Lee Pogostin, 1969) with James Coburn In 1969, she left the USA to settle in London with her second husband, director Kip Gowens.
Lee Remick was married twice. Her first husband, with whom she had a son and a daughter, was Bill Colleran, an American television producer. Her second husband was the British film producer Kip Gowens. She appeared in the British comedy Loot (Silvio Narizzano, 1970). It is based on the play of the same name by Joe Orton and stars Richard Attenborough. She won Golden Globe Awards for the TV film The Blue Knight (1973), and for playing the title role in the miniseries Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974). For the latter role, she also won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, and enormous popularity. In the cinema, she starred in films such as The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) opposite Gregory Peck, one of the biggest hits of the year. Remick followed it up with leading actress roles in Telefon (Don Siegel, 1977), with Charles Bronson; The Medusa Touch (Jack Gold, 1978) with Richard Burton, and The Europeans (James Ivory, 1978), based on the novel by Henry James. With her husband Kip Gowens, she worked on a number of television movies including The Women's Room (1980), and Rearview Mirror (1984). In 1988 Lee Remick formed a production company with partners James Garner and Peter K. Duchow. Lee Remick died in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 55 from the effects of kidney and liver cancer. A very weak, almost unrecognisable Lee made one of her last public appearances three months before her death, to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard. She was cremated at Westwood Memorial Park. Her children, Kate (1959) and Matt Colleran (1961), sang the title song from one of her Broadway musical shows 'Anyone Can Whistle'.
Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia (French, Dutch, and English), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.