Teresa Wright | |
|---|---|
 Wright in 1953 | |
| Born | Muriel Teresa Wright (1918-10-27)October 27, 1918 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | March 6, 2005(2005-03-06) (aged 86) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1941–1997 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Muriel Teresa Wright (October 27, 1918 – March 6, 2005) was an American actress. She won the 1942Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Carol Beldon inMrs. Miniver. She was nominated for the same award in 1941 for her debut work inThe Little Foxes. Also in 1942, she received a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her performance inThe Pride of the Yankees, oppositeGary Cooper. She is also known for her performances inAlfred Hitchcock'sShadow of a Doubt (1943), and inWilliam Wyler'sThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
Wright received threeEmmy Award nominations for her performances in the originalPlayhouse 90 television version ofThe Miracle Worker (1957), in theNBC Sunday Showcase featureTheMargaret Bourke-White Story (1959), and in the CBS drama seriesDolphin Cove (1989). She earned the acclaim of top film directors, includingWilliam Wyler, who called her the most promising actress he had directed,[1] and Alfred Hitchcock, who admired her thorough preparation and quiet professionalism.[2]
Muriel Teresa Wright was born on October 27, 1918, in New York City,[3] the daughter of Martha Espy and Arthur Hendricksen Wright, an insurance agent.[citation needed][4] Her parents separated when she was young. She grew up inMaplewood, New Jersey, where she attendedColumbia High School.[3] After seeingHelen Hayes star inVictoria 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.[5]
Wright earned a scholarship to the Wharf Theater inProvincetown, Massachusetts, where she was an apprentice for two summers.[3][5] Following her high school graduation in 1938, she went to New York, shortened her name to "Teresa Wright", and was hired as understudy toDorothy McGuire andMartha Scott for the role of Emily inThornton Wilder's stage production ofOur Town atHenry Miller's Theatre.[citation needed] Wright took over the role when Scott left for Hollywood to film the on-screen version of the play.[3]
In autumn 1939, Wright began a two-year appearance in the stage playLife with Father, playing the role of Mary Skinner. It was there that she was discovered bySamuel 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:
Miss Wright was seated at her dressing table, and looked for all the world like a little girl experimenting with her mother's cosmetics. I had discovered in her from the first sight, you might say, an unaffected genuineness and appeal.[3]
Goldwyn immediately hired the young actress for the role ofBette Davis' daughter in the1941 adaptation ofLillian Hellman'sThe Little Foxes, signing her to a five-year Hollywood contract with the Goldwyn Studios. Asserting her seriousness as an actress, Wright insisted her contract contain unique clauses by Hollywood standards:
The aforementioned Teresa Wright shall not be required to pose for photographs in a bathing suit unless she is in the water. Neither may she be photographed running on the beach with her hair flying in the wind. Nor may she pose in any of the following situations: In shorts, playing with a cocker spaniel; digging in a garden; whipping up a meal; attired in firecrackers and holding skyrockets for the Fourth of July; looking insinuatingly at a turkey for Thanksgiving; wearing a bunny cap with long ears for Easter; twinkling on prop snow in a skiing outfit while a fan blows her scarf; assuming an athletic stance while pretending to hit something with a bow and arrow.[6]
In 1941, Wright was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film début inThe Little Foxes. The following year, she was nominated again, this time forBest Actress forThe Pride of the Yankees, in which she played oppositeGary Cooper as the wife ofLou Gehrig. The same year, she won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress as the daughter-in-law ofGreer Garson's character inMrs. Miniver. Wright is the first of only nine actors who have been nominated in both categories in the same year.[3][7] Her three Academy Award nominations and one Academy Award in her first three films is unique.[8] She remains the only performer to have received Academy Award nominations for her first three films.[9]
In 1943, Wright appeared in the acclaimedUniversal filmShadow of a Doubt, directed byAlfred Hitchcock, playing a young woman who discovers her beloved uncle (played byJoseph Cotten) is a serial murderer. Hitchcock thought Wright was one of the more intelligent actors he had worked with, and through his direction, he brought out her vivacity, warmth, and youthful idealism—characteristics uncommon in Hitchcock's heroines.[6] In 1946, Wright delivered another notable performance inWilliam Wyler'sThe Best Years of Our Lives, an award-winning film about the adjustments of servicemen returning home after World War II. CriticJames Agee praised her performance inThe Nation:
This new performance of hers, entirely lacking in big scenes, tricks, or obstreperousness—one can hardly think of it as acting—seems to me one of the wisest and most beautiful pieces of work I have seen in years. If the picture had none of the hundreds of other things it has to recommend it, I could watch it a dozen times over for that personality and its mastery alone.[10]
Four years later, she would appear in another story of war veterans,Fred Zinnemann'sThe Men (1950), which starredMarlon Brando in his film debut.[6] In 1947, Wright appeared in the westernPursued oppositeRobert Mitchum. The moody "Freudian western" was written by her first husbandNiven Busch. The following year, she starred inEnchantment, 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." AndThe New York Times concluded: "Teresa Wright plays with that breathless, bright-eyed rapture which she so remarkably commands."[3]
In December 1948, after rebelling against thestudio system that brought her fame, Wright had a public falling out with Samuel Goldwyn, which resulted in the cancellation of Wright's contract with his studio. In a statement published inThe New York Times, Goldwyn cited as reasons her refusal to publicize the filmEnchantment, and her being "uncooperative" and refusing to "follow reasonable instructions".[10] In her written response, Wright denied Goldwyn's charges and expressed no regret over losing her $5,000 per week contract.
I would like to say that I never refused to perform the services required of me; I was unable to perform them because of ill health. I accept Mr. Goldwyn's termination of my contract without protest—in fact, with relief. The types of contracts standardized in the motion picture industry between players and producers are archaic in form and absurd in concept. I am determined never to set my name to another one ... I have worked for Mr. Goldwyn seven years because I consider him a great producer, and he has paid me well, but in the future I shall gladly work for less if by doing so I can retain my hold upon the common decencies without which the most glorified job becomes intolerable.[10][11]
Years later, in an interview withThe New York Post, Wright recalled: "I was going to beJoan 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.[5]
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In the 1950s, Wright appeared in several unsuccessful films, includingThe Capture (1950),Something to Live For (1952),California Conquest (1952),The Steel Trap (1952),Count the Hours (1953),The Actress (1953) andTrack of the Cat (1954), oppositeRobert Mitchum again.[citation needed] Despite the poor box-office showing of these films, Wright was usually praised for her performances.[3] Toward the end of the decade, Wright began to work more frequently in television and theatre. She receivedEmmy Award nominations for her performances in thePlayhouse 90 original television version ofThe Miracle Worker (1957) and in the Breck Sunday Showcase featureThe Margaret Bourke-White Story (1960).[citation needed] In 1955 she played Doris Walker inThe 20th Century-Fox Hour remake of the 1947 movieMiracle on 34th Street, oppositeMacDonald Carey andThomas Mitchell. In 1957, she starred on Broadway inThe Dark at the Top of the Stairs byWilliam Inge. Directed byElia Kazan, it ran for 468 performances.
On February 8, 1960, Wright was inducted to theHollywood Walk of Fame with two stars: one for motion pictures at 1658 Vine Street, and one for television at 6405 Hollywood Boulevard.[12]
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, andWho's Happy Now? (1969) at the Village South Theatre in the role of Mary Hallen. During this period, she toured throughout the United States in stage productions ofMary, Mary (1962),Tchin-Tchin (1963) in the role of Pamela Pew-Picket, andThe 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 forThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) on CBS,Bonanza (1964) on NBC,The Defenders (1964, 1965) on CBS andCBS Playhouse (1969).[citation needed]
In 1975, Wright appeared in the Broadway revival ofDeath of a Salesman, and in 1980, appeared in the revival ofMorning's at Seven, for which she won aDrama Desk Award as a member of the Outstanding Ensemble Performance.
She appeared onThe Love Boat S6 E11 "A Christmas Presence" as Sister Regina, who foils a con man's scheme to smuggle stolen gold molded as a painted creche scene. The episode aired on 12/18/1982. In 1989, she received her third Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the CBS drama seriesDolphin Cove.[citation needed] She also appeared inMurder, She Wrote in the episode "Mr. Penroy's Vacation". Her last television role was in an episode of the CBS drama seriesPicket Fences in 1996.[citation needed]
Wright's later film appearances included a major role inSomewhere in Time (1980), the grandmother inThe Good Mother (1988) withDiane Keaton, and her final role as Miss Birdie inJohn Grisham'sThe Rainmaker (1997), directed byFrancis Ford Coppola.
Wright was married to writerNiven Busch from 1942 to 1952. They had two children: a son, Niven Terence Busch, born December 2, 1944; and a daughter, Mary-Kelly Busch, born September 12, 1947.[1] She married playwrightRobert Anderson in 1959.[13] They divorced in 1978, but maintained a close relationship until the end of her life.
In her last decade, Wright lived quietly in her New England home in the town ofBridgewater, Connecticut, inLitchfield 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 theEdinburgh International Film Festival, and in 2003, she appeared on the Academy Awards show in a segment honoring previous Oscar-winners.[3]
Her daughter, Mary-Kelly, is an author of books for children and young adults.[14] Wright has two grandchildren, one of whom, Jonah Smith, co-producedDarren Aronofsky's filmsPi (1998) andRequiem for a Dream (2000). In 1998, Smith accompanied Wright on her first visit toYankee Stadium when she was invited to throw the ceremonial first pitch. Her appearance inPride of the Yankees had sparked an interest in baseball and led her to become a Yankees fan.
Teresa Wright died on March 6, 2005 after suffering a heart attack at age 86 in Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut.[1] She donated her body to Yale School of Medicine before being buried atEvergreen Cemetery in New Haven.[15]
When the roll call of former Yankees who had died was announced at Old Timer's Day on July 5, 2005, Wright's name was read among the ballplayers and members of the Yankees family.
A Girl's Got to Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright byDonald Spoto was published in February 2016. Spoto was a close friend to Wright for more than 30 years, and was given exclusive access by her family to her papers and correspondence.[16][17]
