Cara Williams

Cara Williams
Williams in 1960.
Born	Bernice Kamiat (1925-06-29) June 29, 1925 (age 91) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, interior designer
Years active	1941–1978
Spouse(s)	Alan Gray (1945–1947; divorced) John Drew Barrymore (1952–1959; divorced) Asher Dann (?–present)
Children	2

Cara Williams (born June 29, 1925) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Billy's Mother in The Defiant Ones (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and for her role as Gladys Porter on the television series Pete and Gladys, which ran from 1960-1962 and for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy.

Cara Williams was born Bernice Kamiat in Flatbush, Brooklyn, the daughter of New York-born Florence "Flora" (née Schwartz 1897-1990), whose parents were Romanian Jewish immigrants, and Benjamin Kamiat, an Austrian Jewish immigrant. Benny Kamiat was a well-known figure in Brooklyn and a journalist for the Brooklyn Eagle. Her mother worked as a manicurist next to Brooklyn's Albee Theatre, where she would leave her daughter Bernice with the theatre owners to babysit. Young Bernice began making impersonations of all the screen stars she watched in the movies there, and knew she wanted to be an actress. Her parents divorced, and her mother relocated her to Los Angeles, where she chose Cara Williams as her stage name and attended the Hollywood Professional School. Soon, she began performing in radio and at the age of 16 in 1941, she was signed to a film contract and began performing in bit roles, credited as Bernice Kay.

Williams married Alan Gray in 1945; they had a daughter, Cathy Gray, but the marriage ended after two years. Williams then married John Drew Barrymore, the father of Drew Barrymore, in 1952. The marriage was troubled and they divorced in 1959. Their son, John Blyth Barrymore, is a former actor. She is currently married to her third husband, Los Angeles real estate entrepreneur Asher Dann. Williams grew up in the same neighborhood as Oscar-winning actress Susan Hayward.

Her first credited role was in the 1941 western Wide Open Town. She followed this with the dramas Girls Town (1942) and Happy Land (1943) with Don Ameche. In 1944, she appeared uncredited in the Oscar-nominated musical film Sweet and Low-Down and as a secretary in the Oscar-winning film Laura directed by Otto Preminger. She also had a supporting role in the drama In the Meantime, Darling, which stars Jeanne Crain. Around this time, she took some time off, marrying her first husband, Alan Gray, in 1945 and having her daughter Cathy.