Filmography

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? - ( Mrs Schwartz / 1968 / Released / )

The Incident - ( Bertha Beckerman / 1967 / Released / )

Boeing Boeing - ( Bertha / 1965 / Released / )

A New Kind of Love - ( Lena O'Connor / 1963 / Released / )

For Love or Money - ( Chloe Brasher / 1963 / Released / Universal )

Move Over, Darling - ( Grace Arden / 1963 / Released / Fox Films, Ltd. )

Birdman of Alcatraz - ( Elizabeth Stroud / 1962 / Released / )

How the West Was Won - ( Agatha Clegg / 1962 / Released / Cinerama Inc )

The Misfits - ( Isabelle Steers / 1961 / Released / )

The Second Time Around - ( Aggie / 1961 / Released / Fox Films, Ltd. )

A Hole in the Head - ( Sophie Manetta / 1959 / Released / )

Pillow Talk - ( Alma / 1959 / Released / Universal-International )

The Proud and the Profane - ( Kate Connors / 1956 / Released / )

Daddy Long Legs - ( Miss Prichard / 1955 / Released / )

Lucy Gallant - ( Molly Basserman / 1955 / Released / Paramount Pictures )

Rear Window - ( Stella / 1954 / Released / )

Pickup on South Street - ( Moe / 1953 / Released / )

As Young As You Feel - ( / 1951 / Released / )

All About Eve - ( Birdie / 1950 / Released / )

A Letter to Three Wives - ( / 1948 / Released / )

TV Credits

Full Biography (Back to top)

Character actress who after many unrewarded years on the stage enjoyed almost immediate, and enduring, success following her film debut in the late 1940s. Usually in the role of the sardonic chorus figure, strewing films with witty asides and cynical observations, Ritter enlivened a host of excellent productions and earned her place as one of the best character players the screen has ever known. Ritter earned six Academy Award nominations as best supporting actress: "All About Even" (1950), "The Mating Season" (1951), "With a Song in My Heart" (1952), "Pickup on South Street" (1953), "Pillow Talk" (1959), and "The Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962). Ritter's first screen role was in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) playing the mother sent from Macy's to Gimbel's by Kris Kringle. In "All About Eve" (1950), she was Birdie, the ex-vaudevillian ("I closed the first half for 11 years and you know it!"), who now is Margo Channing's maid and companion and who utters the immortal line, "What a story. Everything but the bloodhounds yapping at her rear end." That hard edge came to use in "Titanic" (1953), when she was the Unsinkable Molly Brown, playing cards as the ship begins to sink. In "Rear Window" (1954), she was Jimmy Stewart's housekeeper, in "Pillow Talk" (1959), her witticisms stole scenes from Doris Day, and in "A Hole in the Head" (1959), she was Frank Sinatra's understanding sister-in-law. In "How the West Was Won" (1962), Ritter was a spinster traveling to the west with Debbie Reynolds, and in "A New Kind of Love" (1963), a fashion designer alongside Joanne Woodward -- a job one might never imagine Ritter doing in real life. In film after film, her presence was the highlight of the picture, and although she was more than 40 before she stepped before a camera, Ritter eventually worked with virtually every major director of her period (Hitchcock, Mankiewicz, etc.) and every major star (Edward G. Robinson, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, etc.) stealing scenes from most of them. Ritter began working in TV regularly about the mid-50s. One of her earliest roles was in the 1955 "Goodyear TV Playhouse: A Catered Affair," written by Paddy Chayefsky. In a role that was eventually played by Bette Davis on the big screen, Ritter was a mother who can't keep her daughter's wedding small. She appeared on other anthology programs and made occasional appearances on Jack Paar's late-night talk show.

Profession(s):
Actor

Sometimes Credited As:

Family
daughter:Monica Moran (survived her)
husband:Joseph Moran (survived her)

Awards (Back to top)

Tony Actress (Musical) "New Girl in Town" 1958

Milestones (Back to top)

1968 Made final film, "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?"

1955 Originated role of mother in Paddy Chayefsky's "The Catered Affair" on TV (NBC)

1953 Played the Unsinkable Molly Brown in "Titanic"

1950 Had first Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress for "All About Eve"

1947 Made screen debut in small role in "Miracle on 34th Street"

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Thelma Ritter

Filmography