Eileen Herlie
| Eileen Herlie | |
|---|---|
2000 photograph
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| Born |
Eileen Isobel Herlihy March 8, 1918 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | October 8, 2008 (aged 90) New York City, New York, US |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1947–2008 |
Eileen Herlie (March 8, 1918 – October 8, 2008) was a Scottish-American actress.
Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The Eagle Has Two Heads by Jean Cocteau. She was married and divorced from Witold Kuncewicz and Philip Barrett, but had no children.
Herlie's first big film break was being cast by Laurence Olivier in his 1948 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. She portrayed Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, though eleven years younger than Olivier, who portrayed her son.
Herlie played Gertrude again in the 1964 Broadway production starring Richard Burton (and also in the 1964 film version of the production). Herlie's other film appearances included the role of Helen Carte in The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953), and roles in Freud in 1962, and The Sea Gull (1968), the first major film version in English of Anton Chekhov's celebrated play.
In 1955, Herlie made her Broadway debut as Irene Molloy in The Matchmaker (which was later made into Hello, Dolly!). In 1960, she was nominated for a Tony Award as 'Best Actress in a Musical' for Take Me Along, an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!, in which she played opposite Jackie Gleason. In 1962, she co-starred with Ray Bolger in All American, where they sang "Once Upon a Time". Also on Broadway, she appeared in Photo Finish (1963) and Halfway Up the Tree (1967), both written by Peter Ustinov, and Crown Matrimonial, in which she played Queen Mary (1973). She had previously played Queen Mary in the 1972 made-for-television film The Woman I Love, starring Richard Chamberlain as Edward VIII and Faye Dunaway as Wallis Simpson. When Crown Matrimonial was telecast on the Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1974, however, the role of Queen Mary went to film actress Greer Garson.
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