29 Facts About Ruth Gordon

1.

Ruth Gordon Jones was an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright.

2.

Ruth Gordon began her career performing on Broadway at age 19.

3.

Ruth Gordon won an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy, and two Golden Globe Awards for her acting, as well as three Academy Award nominations for her writing.

4.

Ruth Gordon Jones was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, at 41 Winthrop Avenue.

5.

Ruth Gordon later resided at 41 Marion Street and 14 Elmwood Avenue.

6.

Ruth Gordon was the child of Annie Tapley and Clinton Jones.

7.

Ruth Gordon's only sibling was an older half-sister Claire, from her father's first marriage.

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8.

In 1915, Ruth Gordon appeared as an extra in silent films that were shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey, including as a dancer in The Whirl of Life, a film based on the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle.

9.

Ruth Gordon described her favorably as "ever so gay", and became her friend and mentor.

10.

In 1918, Ruth Gordon played opposite actor Gregory Kelly in the Broadway adaptation of Booth Tarkington's Seventeen.

11.

In December 1920, Ruth Gordon checked into a Chicago hospital to have her legs broken and straightened to treat her lifelong bow-leggedness.

12.

In 1929, Ruth Gordon was starring in the hit play Serena Blandish when she became pregnant by the show's producer, Jed Harris.

13.

Ruth Gordon continued to act on the stage throughout the 1930s, including notable runs as Mattie in Ethan Frome, Margery Pinchwife in William Wycherley's Restoration comedy The Country Wife at London's Old Vic and on Broadway, and Nora Helmer in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at Central City, Colorado, and on Broadway.

14.

Ruth Gordon was signed to a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film contract for a brief period in the early 1930s, but did not make a movie for the company until her supporting role in Greta Garbo's final film, Two-Faced Woman.

15.

Ruth Gordon had better luck at other studios in Hollywood, appearing in supporting roles in a string of films, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Dr Ehrlich's Magic Bullet and Action in the North Atlantic, in the early 1940s.

16.

Ruth Gordon's Broadway acting appearances in the 1940s included Iris in Paul Vincent Carroll's The Strings, My Lord, Are False, Natasha in Katharine Cornell and Guthrie McClintic's revival of Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, and leading roles in her own plays, Over Twenty-One and The Leading Lady.

17.

Ruth Gordon married her second husband, writer Garson Kanin, in 1942.

18.

Ruth Gordon would go on to write three volumes of memoirs in the 1970s: My Side, Myself Among Others, and An Open Book.

19.

Ruth Gordon continued her stage-acting career in the 1950s, and was nominated for a 1956 Tony, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play, for her portrayal of Dolly Levi in Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker, a role she played in London, Edinburgh, and Berlin.

20.

In 1966, Ruth Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for Inside Daisy Clover opposite Natalie Wood.

21.

Ruth Gordon won another Golden Globe for Rosemary's Baby, and was nominated again, in 1971, for her role as Maude in Harold and Maude.

22.

Ruth Gordon went on to appear in 22 more films and at least that many television appearances through her 70s and 80s, including successful sitcoms such as Rhoda and Newhart.

23.

Ruth Gordon portrayed a murderous author on the 1977 episode Columbo: Try and Catch Me.

24.

Ruth Gordon made countless talk-show appearances, in addition to hosting Saturday Night Live in 1977.

25.

Ruth Gordon won an Emmy Award for a guest appearance on the sitcom Taxi, for a 1979 episode called "Sugar Mama", in which her character tries to solicit the services of a taxi driver, played by series star Judd Hirsch, as a male escort.

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26.

Ruth Gordon had a minor role as Ma Boggs, the mother of Orville Boggs, in the Clint Eastwood films Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can.

27.

In 1983, Ruth Gordon was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.

28.

Ruth Gordon had made her last public appearance two weeks before, at a benefit showing of the film Harold and Maude, and had recently finished acting in four films.

29.

Ruth Gordon attended the opening ceremony, standing on a bench in the lobby so she could be seen.