Biography
Born on 4 June 1907 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Rosalind Russell died on 28 November 1976 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. She trained for a time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making her professional stage debut in the late 1920s. Her early Broadway credits included the 1930 revue The Garrick Gaieties and the 1931 play Company's Coming. During the 1930s she appeared in the musical The Night Is Young, which starred Evelyn Laye and Ramon Navarro and featured a score by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, as well as in Reckless, a film loosely inspired by the life of Libby Holman.
In the 1940s Russell took the lead in My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), receiving Best Actress Oscar nominations for each performance. Additional screen roles from that decade and the early 1950s encompassed His Girl Friday (1940), A Woman Of Distinction (1950), The Girl Rush (1955) and Picnic (1955). Returning to the stage after 1950, she starred in Wonderful Town (1953), whose score was written by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The production, drawn from her earlier film My Sister Eileen and ultimately from stories by Ruth McKinney via the play by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, earned her strong critical acclaim and completed 559 performances.
She next appeared on Broadway in 1956 in the hit comedy Auntie Mame, reprising the role for the 1958 screen adaptation and thereby securing her fourth Oscar nomination. In 1962 she played the lead in the musical Gypsy, delivering Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim numbers that included “Rose’s Turn,” “Some People,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Mr Goldstone, I Love You,” “Toreadorable,” “Small World,” “You’ll Never Get Away From Me” (shared with Karl Malden) and “Together Wherever We Go” (shared with Natalie Wood). The final duet was omitted from the film’s original release yet restored for later video editions; Lisa Kirk supplied the vocal dubbing for most of Russell’s songs, while Marni Nixon dubbed Natalie Wood. Other leading film parts in the 1960s were Five-Finger Exercise (1962), Rosie! (1967) and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968). Her final screen appearances came in Mrs. Pollifax – Spy (1971) and the 1972 television movie The Crooked Hearts. Also in 1972 she was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a special Oscar honoring her philanthropic efforts.
In the 1940s Russell took the lead in My Sister Eileen (1942), Sister Kenny (1946) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1947), receiving Best Actress Oscar nominations for each performance. Additional screen roles from that decade and the early 1950s encompassed His Girl Friday (1940), A Woman Of Distinction (1950), The Girl Rush (1955) and Picnic (1955). Returning to the stage after 1950, she starred in Wonderful Town (1953), whose score was written by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The production, drawn from her earlier film My Sister Eileen and ultimately from stories by Ruth McKinney via the play by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, earned her strong critical acclaim and completed 559 performances.
She next appeared on Broadway in 1956 in the hit comedy Auntie Mame, reprising the role for the 1958 screen adaptation and thereby securing her fourth Oscar nomination. In 1962 she played the lead in the musical Gypsy, delivering Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim numbers that included “Rose’s Turn,” “Some People,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Mr Goldstone, I Love You,” “Toreadorable,” “Small World,” “You’ll Never Get Away From Me” (shared with Karl Malden) and “Together Wherever We Go” (shared with Natalie Wood). The final duet was omitted from the film’s original release yet restored for later video editions; Lisa Kirk supplied the vocal dubbing for most of Russell’s songs, while Marni Nixon dubbed Natalie Wood. Other leading film parts in the 1960s were Five-Finger Exercise (1962), Rosie! (1967) and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968). Her final screen appearances came in Mrs. Pollifax – Spy (1971) and the 1972 television movie The Crooked Hearts. Also in 1972 she was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a special Oscar honoring her philanthropic efforts.