Nancy Guild
Nancy Joan Guild (October 11, 1925 – August 16, 1999) was an American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in Somewhere in the Night (1946), The Brasher Doubloon (1947), and the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). Although appearing in major films, Guild never achieved as much fame at 20th Century Fox, the studio that had signed her to a seven-year contract, as she had hoped for, and eventually gave up acting for marriage.
Nancy Guild | |
|---|---|
 Nancy Guild in the trailer for The Brasher Doubloon (1947) | |
| Born | Nancy Joan Guild October 11, 1925 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | August 16, 1999 (aged 73) East Hampton, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Arizona |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946–1971 |
| Spouse(s) | John Bryson (1978-1995; divorced) Ernest H. Martin (1951-1975; divorced); 2 children Charles Russell (1947-1950; divorced); 1 child |
| Children | Elizabeth Anne (b. 1949)[1] Cecilia Martin Ford Polly Martin[2] |
Film career
Guild was a University of Arizona freshman[3] when a Life magazine photographer noticed her. After her picture was published in a spread on campus fashions, five Hollywood studios screen-tested her, and she was signed by 20th Century Fox. The studio's publicity writers declared "Guild rhymes with wild!" when hyping her first film, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Somewhere in the Night.[2]
On the rebound from an engagement with producer Edward Lasker, Guild married fellow Fox contract player Charles Russell in 1947. The following year, they appeared together in the musical Give My Regards to Broadway (1948). They had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1949.[4]
She left Fox and appeared in movies as a freelance and at Universal Studios, where she appeared in an Abbott and Costello picture and the Francis the Talking Mule movie Francis Covers the Big Town (1953), her last picture.
Television
Guild was a panelist on the DuMont network's Where Was I? game show in 1952-1953.[5]
Personal life
Having divorced Russell in 1950, on August 16, 1951, Guild married the Broadway impresario Ernest H. Martin,[6] the producer of Guys and Dolls and later The Sound of Music and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She appeared occasionally on television and briefly returned to the movies in Otto Preminger's Such Good Friends (1971).
In 1975, she divorced Martin and married photojournalist John Bryson in 1978. She divorced Bryson in 1995.
Death
On August 16, 1999, Guild died of emphysema in East Hampton, New York, at the age of 73.[7]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Somewhere in the Night | Christy Smith | |
| 1947 | The Brasher Doubloon | Merle Davis | |
| 1948 | Give My Regards to Broadway | Helen Wallace | |
| 1949 | Black Magic | Marie Antoinette / Lorenza | |
| 1951 | Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man | Helen Gray | |
| 1951 | Little Egypt | Sylvia Graydon | |
| 1953 | Francis Covers the Big Town | Alberta Ames | |
| 1971 | Such Good Friends | Molly | (final film role) |
References
- "Nancy Guild - The Private Life and Times of Nancy Guild. Nancy Guild Pictures". www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com.
- "Nancy Guild, 73, Insouciant 40's Actress". Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- Parsons, Louella O. (June 17, 1945). "Life Magazine Model Paged For 'Concerto' Test". Tampa Bay Times. Florida, St. Petersburg. International News Service. p. 34. Retrieved December 4, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- Hopwood, Jon. "Nancy Guild". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 1170. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
- "Marriages". Billboard. September 1, 1951. p. 42. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- Lentz, Harris M., III (2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 1999: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. ISBN 9780786452040. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
