Ruth Bellamy

Ruth Elizabeth Bellamy was born in Enfield, North Carolina, the daughter of Phesington Sugg Bellamy and Lula Spruill Bellamy.[1] Her father was a businessman. Her mother, known as "Mamee", was a well-known social figure in Rocky Mount in her later years.[2]

Bellamy earned a bachelor's degree in dramatics[3] at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1928, and pursued further studies at Columbia University and the University of California.[4]

Bellamy was head of the Spoken English and Expression department at High Point College,[5] and taught dramatics;[6] she was active in women's club activities in High Point.[7][8] She worked at a travel agency in San Francisco.[5] She taught English and wrote in Japan for five years,[3] and in Hong Kong for two years.[9] She edited two books by Kuni Sasaki, including Reluctant Bachelor (1962).[10] She wrote poems, songs, plays, and articles, including a song titled "Blues Tokyo" that became popular in Japan.[4][5][11]

Bellamy also acted through much of her life, performing in school as a girl, and active on stage and backstage with the Morningside Players in New York, the Civic Theater in Washington, D.C., and the Tokyo Amateur Dramatic Club.[3]

Ruth Bellamy married and she had a son, David Owen Brownwood, born in Los Angeles in 1935. She married a screenwriter, William A. Golkopf, in 1946, in New York City;[12] they divorced in 1948. She died at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, in 1969, aged 62 years.[4][13] Her papers are archived at East Carolina University.[5]

• Ruth Bellamy at Find a Grave