Mary MacArthur (February 15, 1930 - September 22, 1949) was an American actress. Her death from respiratory polio at age 19 led to creation of the Mary MacArthur Memorial Fund, which provided money for research and for treatment of people with that disease.
MacArthur was born on February 15, 1930, in New York City. [1] She was the daughter of playwright Charles MacArthur and actress Helen Hayes. Actor James MacArthur was her brother by adoption. [2] Hayes's pregnancy led to a "widely publicized theatrical controversy" [3] and an arbitration settlement after she suddenly left a Pacific Coast production of Coquette, causing the play to close. The producer said that he should not have to pay the Actors' Equity Association's standard "two weeks' salary in lieu of notice" to the play's cast, because the pregnancy was covered by the contract's "act of God" clause. [4] An arbitration committee awarded the pay to the actors. [4]
MacArthur attended Rosemary Hall girls' school in Greenwich, Connecticut, [2] and was a 1949 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. [5] She first appeared on stage in 1937 at age 7, in a walk-on appearance with a curtsy (but no lines) when Hayes was performing in Victoria Regina . The New York Times reported, "There were telegrams and flowers backstage, a gift from her mother and the company, and a lot of sentiment." [6]
When MacArthur was 17, she said that she had become interested in acting only within the previous two years. She explained, "My father told me it was time I got a career for myself. He said I couldn't write so I'd better try acting. And now I'm just trying to find out whether I'm any good or not." [7]
In 1946, MacArthur began a theatrical apprenticeship in acting and stagecraft at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania. [8] Her professional stage debut occurred there on July 15, 1946, when she performed with Hayes in Alice Sit-by-the-Fire. [9]
A review in The Philadelphia Inquirer called the first-night performance "memorable" and added, "It was probably as trying and triumphant a night as any mother and daughter ever experienced." [10] The trying aspect for MacArthur arose from "her mother's enviable reputation as the 'First Lady of the Theater'", while Hayes wanted "to see her own child captivate and hold an audience". [10] The review noted that MacArthur "proved to be her mother's daughter, playing the part of Amy Grey with the teen-age perfection it calls for." [10] A review distributed by the International News Service had a different perspective. It said that MacArthur "stumbled over her lines" and summarized, "though she tried very hard, it was the general feeling among the 400 socialite-spectators that Mary MacArthur is not a born actress." [11]
In 1947 MacArthur, as a member of the supporting cast, toured with Lillian Gish in The Marquise . [12] MacArthur and Hayes appeared again in Alice Sit-by-the-Fire to open the summer 1948 season at the Olney summer theater. When that 10-day run ended, Hayes left to perform in England, while MacArthur remained as resident ingenue. [13] MacArthur and Hayes acted together in The Glass Menagerie in Nyack, New York, in the summer of 1949. [2]
Joint appearances sometimes caused problems for Hayes. When both were appearing on an episode of the radio program Theatre Guild on the Air , director Homer Fickett realized that Hayes "was nervous for Mary, which made Mary nervous, and they were both making me nervous." [14] He said to Hayes, "Helen, you know what you are doing — you are playing Mrs. MacArthur." [14] The tension then lifted. [14] The two also appeared together on the radio program Cavalcade of America . [15]
MacArthur became ill in the summer of 1949 in Westport, Connecticut, while she was performing with Hayes in a pre-Broadway version of the comedy play Good Housekeeping. [16] The play was to have been the vehicle for MacArthur's New York City stage debut. She was admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital on September 14, 1949, [2] and died there on September 22, 1949, aged 19. The cause of death was then said to be "a generalized virus infection". [2] Later reports said that she died of respiratory polio. [17]
Fundraising efforts led by MacArthur's friends led to creation of the Mary MacArthur Memorial Fund of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Basil O'Connor, the foundation's president, announced plans for the fund on January 9, 1950, saying that half of the proceeds would be used for care of patients in the community where the money was raised, and the other half would finance respirator centers in at least five cities. The friends' initial efforts were to be supplemented by activities of committees in several cities, with contributions to be solicited from people in the entertainment community. [17]
In January 1950, students from the Professional Children's School put on a memorial performance to honor MacArthur. The two-hour variety show, which Life magazine called the "biggest event of the theatrical year, junior division", raised $9,000 for the March of Dimes. [18]
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright, screenwriter, and 1935 winner of the Academy Award for Best Story.
Coquette is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film, starring Mary Pickford. The film was a box office success. For her role, Pickford won the second Academy Award for Best Actress.
Helen Hayes MacArthur was an American actress whose career spanned 82 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor and recording artist.
Hope Elise Ross Lange was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Selena Cross in the 1957 film Peyton Place. In 1969 and 1970, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Carolyn Muir in the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.
Ida Lupino was a British actress, director, writer, and producer. Throughout her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed eight, working primarily in the United States, where she became a citizen in 1948. She is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir, The Hitch-Hiker, in 1953.
Constance Campbell Bennett was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in What Price Hollywood? (1932), Bed of Roses (1933), Topper (1937), Topper Takes a Trip (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, Two-Faced Woman (1941).
Sylvia Sidney was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in 1973. She later gained attention for her role as Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton's 1988 film Beetlejuice, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Ann Marie Blyth is an American retired actress and singer. She began her acting career on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (1941–42), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film Mildred Pierce. Her other notable film roles include Brute Force (1947), Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), Once More, My Darling (1949), The World in His Arms (1952), All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), Kismet (1955), and The Helen Morgan Story (1957).
Ruth Roman was an American actress of film, stage, and television.
Joyce Collins Bulifant is an American actress and author. In addition to recurring roles on television, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Marie Slaughter, Bulifant is recognized for film roles in The Happiest Millionaire and Airplane! and as a frequent panelist on game shows, including Chain Reaction, Match Game, and Password Plus.
Melody Patricia Patterson was an American actress known for her role as Wrangler Jane in the 1960s television series F Troop and for her role as Ellie in the horror film Blood and Lace (1971).
The Fulton Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 210 West 46th Street in Manhattan, New York City, that was opened in 1911. It was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1955. The theatre was demolished in 1982. After the former Little Theatre on 44th Street became the current Helen Hayes Theatre, the Fulton Theatre was sometimes referred to as the First Helen Hayes Theatre.
Edna Cecil Cunningham was an American film and stage actress, singer, and comedienne.
Mary Sarah Healy was an American actress, singer, and variety entertainer.
That Brennan Girl, also known as Tough Girl, is a 1946 American melodrama film produced and directed by Alfred Santell and starring James Dunn, Mona Freeman, William Marshall, and June Duprez. The story concerns a young woman raised in an unwholesome environment who joins a confidence racket run by one of her mother's friends. She agrees to marry the victim of one of her scams, becomes a war widow, and is left to raise a baby, but abandons it each evening to go out dancing. After the child suffers an accident in her absence, she is charged with child neglect and loses custody. She mends her ways by devotedly caring for an abandoned infant and meets up again with the con man, who has also reformed after a prison stint, and together they build a new life. The film was the last work of director Santell and the last leading role for actor Dunn.
Arthur MacArthur IV is the only child of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Jean MacArthur. He is also the grandson of Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur Jr.
Mary Pauline Hartline was an American model and actress who became one of television's early stars.
Helen Flint was an American actress.
Patricia Kirkland was an American actress.