A noted radio and stage performer, Mercedes McCambridge won an Oscar for her screen debut as the political hatchet woman in "All the King's Men" (1949) but subsequently made only occasional film appearances. An intense actress with piercing dark eyes and a strong, resonant voice, she specialized in forceful or domineering roles and was not afraid to play the unsympathetic role of Joan Crawford's insanely jealous and vindictive nemesis in Nicholas Ray's flamboyantly psychological Western, "Johnny Guitar" (1954). She earned a second Academy Award nomination as Rock Hudson's headstrong older sister in "Giant" (1956) and later played Elizabeth Taylor's mother in "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959). McCambridge also provided the memorable voice-over for the demon-child in "The Exorcist" (1973). A recovered alcoholic, she has served as honorary chair of the Alcoholism Information Month and has appeared before the Senate committee on Alcoholism and Narcotics.
- Also Credited As:
Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge
- Born:
March 17, 1918 in Joliet, Illinois, USA
- Died:
March 2, 2004.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Voice actor
Family
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Father: John Patrick McCambridge.
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Mother: Marie McCambridge.
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Son: John L Markle. born in 1941; father, William Fifield; nearly killed by thugs in 1961 and hospitalized c. 1961 again as a result of an auto accident; killed his wife and two daughters and committed suicide on November 16, 1987 within four days of being dismissed as vice president of Stephens Inc., a Little Rock (AR) brokerage company; left half of his estate (estimated $500,000) to McCambridge
Education
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Mundelein College, Chicago, Illinois, BA, 1937
Milestones
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1936 Starred on radio series, Big Sister
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1945 Broadway debut, A Place of Our Own
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1945 Stage debut, Hope for the Best
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1949 Film debut, All the King s Men ; won Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress
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1950 TV debut in The Voice of the Cricket on NBC s Tele-Theatre
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1952 Hosted own radio program
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1952 Traveled for Adlai Stevenson s presidential election campaign
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1954 Sparred onscreen and off with Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar
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1956 Again campaigned for Stevenson
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1956 Garnered second Oscar nomination for her performance as Rock Hudson s older sister in Giant
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1959 Played Mrs. Holly, the mother of Catherine (Elizabeth Taylor) in Suddenly, Last Summer
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1960 Led the crowd that stormed the Los Angeles Democratic convention to draft Adlai Stevenson
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1962 Returned to Broadway as replacement in Who s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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1972 Earned a Tony nomination for her performance in The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks
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1972 TV-movie debut, Killer by Night (CBS)
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1973 Provided vocals used for the possessed Regan in The Exorcist
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1979 Portrayed the family matriarch in the NBC miniseries The Sacketts
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1980 Final film (to date) Echoes
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1991 Replaced Irene Worth as the grandmother in the Broadway production of Neil Simon s Lost in Yonkers ; later toured in the role
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Began career on radio while still in college
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Co-starred with Orson Welles on Ford Theater radio program for two years
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Spent much of her childhood on family farm in Blackstone, IL
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Starred in national tours of Agnes of God (1983) and night, Mother (1984)
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Supplied all female voices for radio series, I Love a Mystery