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Shirley Booth

Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth 1950.JPG
Booth in 1950
Born Marjory Ford
(1898-08-30)August 30, 1898
Brooklyn, New York
Died October 16, 1992(1992-10-16) (aged 94)
North Chatham, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting place Mount Hebron Cemetery
Education P.S. 152
Occupation Actress
Years active 1925–1974
Spouse(s) Ed Gardner (m. 1929; div. 1942)
William H. Baker, Jr. (m. 1943; his death 1951)

Shirley Booth (August 30, 1898 – October 26, 1992) was an American stage, film, radio and television actress.

Primarily a theater actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received her first Tony Award in 1950 (she would go on to win two more). She made her film debut, reprising her role in the 1952 film version, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance. Despite her successful entry into films, she preferred acting on the stage, and made only four more films.

From 1961 until 1966, she played the title role in the sitcom Hazel, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards. She was later acclaimed for her performance in the 1966 television production of The Glass Menagerie. Her final role was that of Mrs. Claus in the 1974 animated television special The Year Without a Santa Claus.

Booth was born Marjory Ford in New York City to Albert James and Virginia M. (née Wright) Ford. In the 1905 New York state census, she was listed as Thelma Booth Ford. She had one sibling, a younger sister, Jean (born in 1914). Her childhood was spent in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where she attended Public School 152.

When she was seven, Booth's family moved to Philadelphia where she first became interested in acting after seeing a stage performance. When Booth was a teenager, her family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she became involved in . She made her stage debut in a production of Mother Carey's Chickens. Against her father's protests, she dropped out of school and traveled to New York City to further pursue a career. She initially used the name "Thelma Booth" when her father forbade her to use the family name professionally. She eventually changed her name to Shirley Booth.


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