Julie Haydon | |
|---|---|
 Haydon in 1936 | |
| Born | Donella Donaldson (1910-06-10)June 10, 1910 Oak Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 24, 1994(1994-12-24) (aged 84) La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Gate of Heaven Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1931–1963 |
| Spouse(s) | George Jean Nathan (1955-1958) (his death)[1] |
Julie Haydon (bornDonella Donaldson, June 10, 1910 – December 24, 1994)[1] was an AmericanBroadway, film, and television actress who received second billing as the female lead in theBen Hecht–Charles MacArthur 1935 film vehicle for Noël Coward,The Scoundrel. After her Hollywood career ended in 1937, she turned to the theatre, originating the roles of Kitty Duval inThe Time of Your Life (1939) and Laura Wingfield inThe Glass Menagerie (1945). Later she became an editor of works by her husband and a lecturer on his works and about many celebrities with whom she worked.
Born in theChicago suburb ofOak Park, to Orin Donaldson, a newspaper publisher, and Ella Horton,[2] Haydon began her acting career when she was 19, studying withNeely Dickson at the Hollywood Community Theater.[3] She then toured withMinnie Maddern Fiske inMrs. Bumstead Leigh. Within two years, she playedOphelia in a production ofHamlet at the Hollywood Playhouse.
Shortly after, she began appearing in films, in 1931. Her first film, in which she was billed under her birth name, wasThe Great Meadow, aJohnny Mack Brown Western drama made byMGM. In 1932, she signed withRKO,[4] and her first major role came that year inThe Conquerors, directed byWilliam Wellman[citation needed] Her most notable performance[4] came in 1935'sThe Scoundrel playing oppositeNoël Coward,[citation needed] but, despite a new contract with MGM,[5] only a few more films were to come in her short career, includingA Family Affair (1937), the initial movie in theAndy Hardy series.
Some people, including Haydon,[6] have held that it was Haydon and notFay Wray who provided the heroine's bone-chilling screams in theKing Kong film of 1933, but this claim is disputed.[7]
Haydon retired from films in 1937.[4]
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Haydon debuted on Broadway in 1935[8] inBright Star byPhilip Barry, which ran for only seven performances before closing.[9] Her next Broadway production,Shadow and Substance byPaul Vincent Carroll, in which she played a saintly maid, was more successful, running for nine months in 1938.[10] Next, in 1939, she created the role of the prostitute, Kitty Duval, inWilliam Saroyan'sPulitzer Prize-winningThe Time of Your Life.[11] She also starred in the 1942 Broadway production of Saroyan's playHello Out There. Haydon was the original Laura Wingfield in the first production ofTennessee Williams'The Glass Menagerie in 1945.[12] Her final appearance on Broadway came in 1947'sOur Lan'.[13]
Beginning in 1949, Haydon began making appearances on television. She performed in episodes ofKraft Television Theater (1949),Armstrong Circle Theater (1950),The United States Steel Hour (1954), andRobert Montgomery Presents (1954).[citation needed]
After his death, she delivered lectures taken from books written by her husband, George Jean Nathan, two collections of which Haydon edited. She also wrote occasional magazine articles about the actors she had worked with in her career.[4]
Haydon recorded two albums forFolkways Records in the early 1960s,George Jean Nathan's The New American Credo (1962) andColette's Music Hall (L'Envers du Music-Hall): By Colette (1963).
In 1962, the actress left New York City and returned to the Midwest. For a decade, she was actress in residence at the College of St. Teresa inWinona, Minnesota. She played the role of Amanda Wingfield in revivals ofThe Glass Menagerie, and in 1980, returned to New York to perform the role off-off-Broadway.
In 1955, at the age of 45, Haydon married 73-year-olddrama criticGeorge Jean Nathan, who died three years later. She never remarried and worked as a drama coach as well as appearing onstage in community theater and college productions.
Haydon died on December 24, 1994, inLa Crosse, Wisconsin, of abdominal cancer, aged 84.[1] She was buried next to her husband in theCemetery of the Gate of Heaven inHawthorne, New York.
A collection of Nathan-Haydon papers were donated to the La Crosse Public Library archives. A collection of Nathan papers is atCornell University.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | The Great Meadow | Pioneer Mother | Uncredited |
| 1932 | The Beast of the City | Blonde in Police Lineup | Uncredited |
| Symphony of Six Million | Miss Grey - Felix's Nurse-Receptionist | ||
| The Roadhouse Murder | Maid | Uncredited | |
| Westward Passage | Bridesmaid | Uncredited | |
| Thirteen Women | Mary | (scenes deleted) | |
| Come on Danger! | Joan Stanton | ||
| A Bill of Divorcement | Party Guest | Uncredited | |
| The Conquerors | Frances Standish Lennox | ||
| 1933 | Lucky Devils | Doris Jones | |
| Scarlet River | Julie Haydon | Uncredited | |
| Song of the Eagle | Gretchen | ||
| Son of the Border | Doris | ||
| Golden Harvest | Ellen Goodhue | ||
| After Tonight | Hysterical Nurse | Uncredited | |
| 1934 | Their Big Moment | Fay Harley | |
| The Age of Innocence | May Welland | ||
| When Strangers Meet | Mrs. Mary Mason | ||
| 1935 | The Scoundrel | Cora Moore | |
| 1936 | A Son Comes Home | Jo | |
| The Longest Night | Eve Sutton | ||
| 1937 | A Family Affair | Joan Hardy Martin | |
| 1947 | Citizen Saint | Sister Delphina |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
