Person Details

Birthday: 1911-10-30 06:20:51

Death: 2005-04-19 06:20:51

Aliases: Ruth March

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 21

TV Involvements: 12


Most Famous Work

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story. After working as an actress in summer stock, she returned to Providence and worked as a radio fashion commentator on a local station. She wrote the ad copy for a Providence clothing store and read it on the radio each afternoon. She was encouraged by a friend to try out for acting roles at the Providence Playhouse. The theater director there turned her down, saying the roles were cast only out of New York City. Later that week, she journeyed to New York City and on her first day there, she signed with a talent agent who booked her for a role in a play starting the next day back at the Providence Playhouse. In New York City, she also worked for a time as a model. She then landed a number of stage roles with touring companies. Dead End toured the country in 1937 and the last theater on the road trip was at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, where she was spotted on opening night by MGM talent scout Billy Grady. MGM signed her to a players contract and she made her film debut in 1937. She quickly became a leading lady in MGM's "B" unit, usually playing sophisticated, worldly roles. For a 1940 "A" picture role, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her turn as Elizabeth Imbrie, the cynical magazine photographer and almost-girlfriend of James Stewart's character Macaulay Connor in The Philadelphia Story. In 1941, exhibitors voted her the third-most popular new star in Hollywood. Hussey also worked with Robert Taylor in Flight Command (1940), Robert Young in Northwest Passage (1940) and H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), Van Heflin in Tennessee Johnson (1942), Ray Milland in The Uninvited (1944), and Alan Ladd in The Great Gatsby (1949). In 1946, she starred on Broadway in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play State of the Union. Her 1949 role in Goodbye, My Fancy on Broadway caused a Billboard reviewer to write: "Miss Hussey brings a splendid aliveness and warmth to the lovely congresswoman...." She filled in for Jean Arthur in the 1955 Lux Radio Theater presentation of Shane, playing Miriam Start, alongside original film stars Alan Ladd and Van Heflin. In 1960, she co-starred in The Facts of Life with Bob Hope. Hussey was also active in early television drama.

Most Famous Work

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Average
8

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

(1955) Paula Hudson
Lux Video Theatre
Average
6

Lux Video Theatre

(1950) Meg
Climax!
Average
3

Climax!

(1954) Alice Moore
Studio One
Average
4

Studio One

(1948) Nancy Edison
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Average
6
The Uninvited
Average
7

The Uninvited

(1944) Pamela Fitzgerald
Northwest Passage
Average
6

Northwest Passage

(1940) Elizabeth Browne
Marie Antoinette
Average
6

Marie Antoinette

(1938) Duchess de Polignac (uncredited)

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1973 Maggie Cartwright
1970 Voice Over
1963 Nurse Edie Ramsey
1960 Mary Gilbert
1959 Maia
1955 N/A
Paula Hudson
1954 Katherine Benson
Alice Moore
Martha
1953 N/A
Nora Connors
N/A
Emma
1952 Christine Powell
Jennie Sousa
1951 Ann Jackson
Mary
1950 Lorna Marvis
Meg
Linda Carson
Harriet Craig
Polly Baxter
Irene
Kit Marlowe
Meg Norton
1949 Jordan Baker
1948 Nancy Edison
Eve Meredith Curtis
1945 Dr. Hedy Fredericks, MD
1944 Lt. Ellen Foster
Barbara Thomas
Pamela Fitzgerald
1942 Eliza McCardle Johnson
Daisy Denton
1941 Cordelia 'Kay' Motford Pulham
Norma Haven
Professor Susan Drake
Martha Gray
1940 Lorna Gray
Elizabeth 'Liz' Imbrie
Self
Charlotte
Elizabeth Browne
1939 Dorothy Waters
Lily Cole
Helen Ingram
Miss Wattson
Sybil Ames
Mary Turner
Eve
1938 Kate McKim
Peggy Norton, victim
Duchess de Polignac (uncredited)
Joan Thayer
Nadine Piermont
Margaret Lee
Jane (dialogue scenes deleted)
1937 Annette
Mayor's Secretary (uncredited)
Year Character Movie/Tv

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