Sandy Dennis

Sandra Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama Splendor in the Grass (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Sandy Dennis
Born
Sandra Dale Dennis

(1937-04-27)April 27, 1937[1]
DiedMarch 2, 1992(1992-03-02) (aged 54)
OccupationActress
Years active1952–1991

Dennis appeared in the films The Three Sisters (1966), Up the Down Staircase (1967), That Cold Day in the Park (1969), The Out-of-Towners (1970), God Told Me To (1976), The Four Seasons (1981), Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), and Another Woman (1988). Her final film appearance came in the crime drama film The Indian Runner (1991).

Dennis had a successful career on stage, appearing in the original stage production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. For her performance in the play A Thousand Clowns, she received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For her performance in the play Any Wednesday, she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Dennis was a well-renowned animal activist. She rescued stray cats from the bowels of Grand Central Terminal. At the time of her death in Westport, CT, she lived with more than 20 cats, who were adopted out by longtime friends to new homes.

Early life

Dennis was born in Hastings, Nebraska, the daughter of Yvonne (née Hudson), a secretary, and Jack Dennis, a postal clerk.[2][3] She had a brother, Frank. Dennis grew up in Kenesaw, Nebraska, and Lincoln, Nebraska, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1955; one of her classmates was writer and comedian Dick Cavett.[4] She attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and the University of Nebraska, appearing in the Lincoln Community Theater Group before moving to New York City at the age of 19.[5] She studied acting at HB Studio[6] in New York City.

Career

Early career

Dennis made her television debut in 1956 in the soap opera The Guiding Light.

She had an early break when cast as an understudy in the Broadway production of William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1957) directed by Elia Kazan. Kazan cast Dennis in her first feature film, a small part in Splendor in the Grass (1961), which starred Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.

Dennis was cast in Face of a Hero (1960) on Broadway alongside Jack Lemmon. The play had only a short run, but Dennis received good notices. The Complaisant Lover (1961–62) by Graham Greene was more successful, running for 101 performances; Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers were also in the cast.

Broadway stardom

Dennis achieved Broadway fame with her leading role in Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns (1962–63), for which she won a Tony award for her performance alongside Jason Robards. The show ran for 428 performances.

Around this time, Dennis guest-starred on episodes of the TV series Naked City ("Idylls of a Running Back", 1962, "Carrier", 1963), The Fugitive ("The Other Side of the Mountain", 1963), Arrest and Trial ("Somewhat Lower Than the Angels" 1964), and Mr. Broadway ("Don't Mention My Name in Sheboygan", 1964). She was the lead of the Broadway comedy Any Wednesday (1964–66), which ran for 983 performances and won her a second Tony.

Film stardom

Dennis's second film role was as Honey, the fragile, neurotic young wife of George Segal's character, in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Directed by Mike Nichols and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the film was a huge critical and commercial success and Dennis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

Dennis returned to the stage in a production of The Three Sisters (1966) with Geraldine Page and Kim Stanley that went to London and was filmed.

Dennis's first lead role in a movie was in Up the Down Staircase (1967), directed by Robert Mulligan, a box-office success, as was The Fox (1967), directed by Mark Rydell, despite its controversial subject matter. In 1967 Dennis was voted the 18th biggest star in the US.[7]

Dennis briefly returned to Broadway to star in Daphne in Cottage D (1967), which had a short run.

She starred in Sweet November (1968) as a terminally ill woman who takes multiple lovers, and made a TV version of the play A Hatful of Rain (1968).

Dennis went to London to star in A Touch of Love (1969), which flopped at the box office, as did That Cold Day in the Park (1969), despite being directed by Robert Altman. The Out-of-Towners (1970), a Neil Simon comedy with Jack Lemmon, was a hit.

Television and supporting roles

Dennis made a TV movie with Stuart Whitman, Only Way Out Is Dead (1970). She returned to Broadway for How the Other Half Loves (1971) by Alan Ayckbourn, which ran for over 100 performances, then did another TV movie Something Evil (1972), directed by Steven Spielberg, which drew a mixed reception.

Let Me Hear You Smile (1973) on Broadway only lasted one performance, but Absurd Person Singular (1974–76) was a big hit, running 591 performances.

In 1974 she played Joan of Arc in the pilot of Witness to Yesterday, Patrick Watson's series of interviews with great figures out of the past.

Dennis was in Mr. Sycamore (1975) with Jason Robards and had a small role in the low-budget horror film God Told Me To (1976) by Larry Cohen. Her performance in the British comedy Nasty Habits (1977) drew harsh criticism from Vincent Canby in the New York Times.[8]

Dennis guest starred in Police Story ("Day of Terror... Night of Fear", 1978), and starred in the TV movies Perfect Gentlemen (1979) (written by Nora Ephron), and Wilson's Reward (1981). On Broadway she briefly joined the cast of the long-running Same Time, Next Year.

She had a well-received part in Alan Alda's The Four Seasons (1981) and was in The Supporting Cast (1981) on Broadway for Gene Saks. She was in the stage production and film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982).

Later career

In the mid- and late 1980s, Dennis acted less due to growing health problems. She appeared on TV in Young People's Specials ("The Trouble with Mother", 1985), The Love Boat ("Roommates/Heartbreaker/Out of the Blue", 1985), Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Arthur, or the Gigolo", 1985) and The Equalizer ("Out of the Past", 1986). In motion pictures, she had supporting roles in a 1986 remake of Laughter in the Dark, which was never completed, Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988), and the horror films 976-EVIL (1989) and Parents (1989).

Her final role was in the crime drama The Indian Runner, filmed in 1990 and released in 1991. The movie marked Sean Penn's debut as a film director. Actor Viggo Mortensen, who played one of her two sons, wrote of the preparations for the movie and filming in the vicinity of Omaha, Nebraska:

"When I first met with Sean Penn and his producer, Don Phillips, to discuss the possibility of my playing Frank, one of the first questions I asked them was who, if anyone, they had in mind to play the mother. When Sean answered that he did not want to consider anyone other than Sandy Dennis for the part, I couldn't have been happier, or more in agreement. Aside from my feelings for her as a friend, I believed she would be a great asset to the movie and would inspire us all to do our best. This proved to be true. As it turned out, most of her work was cut from the movie. The bulk of her role was in an eight-page scene in which Frank is taken by [his brother] Joe to visit their parents for the first time since returning from a three-year tour in Vietnam. [The entire long scene was cut so that Frank would seem ungrateful to their parents. Sean Penn felt this improved the movie. In Sandy Dennis’ short scene that remains in the movie, she is seen with her husband, played by Charles Bronson, and only one of their sons, Joe.][9]

Death

Sandy Dennis died from ovarian cancer on March 2, 1992, at her home in Westport, Connecticut, at age 54.[10]

Personal life

Dennis lived with prominent jazz musician Gerry Mulligan from 1965 until they split up in 1974. She lived with actor Eric Roberts from 1980 to 1985. In a 1989 interview with People magazine, Dennis revealed she and Mulligan had suffered a miscarriage in 1965, adding, "If I'd been a mother, I would have loved the child, but I just didn't have any connection with it when I was pregnant ... I never, ever wanted children. It would have been like having an elephant."[11]

After Dennis's death, she was identified as bisexual by Hollywood historians.[12][13][14] According to her biographer Peter Shelley, Eric Roberts, upon being asked if Dennis was bisexual, said she had told him about her many lesbian relationships and that she "appreciated the beauty of women. But Sandy also liked and appreciated what a very, very young man could do to a woman, I suppose."[15] This was published more than 20 years after her death.

During Dennis's lifetime, in-depth published interviews with her, such as one with The Christian Science Monitor during her stint performing in an ensemble cast at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1981, made no mention of close relationships with women. That interview included the following exchange about her marital status:

At one point I say, "When you were married to Gerry Mulligan ..." but she breaks in, tersely: "I was never married to anybody." I point out that "Who's Who" says she was married to Mulligan.

She says, "It's not—I'm not fussy about that—the truth is I was never married. We had a long association but we never married..."

But there it is in Current Biography: "In June, 1965, after a three-week courtship, Sandy Dennis was married to Gerry Mulligan, the jazz saxophonist and composer."

She sits bolt upright and repeats: "I've never been married. And I'm not fussy about it. It's just the truth is, that I was never married. It isn't true that I was ever married, which means that I never got a divorce. The newspapers jumped to that conclusion. It's so hard to get to somebody and say ... Oh, they're so funny about it."[16]

Acting style

A life member of The Actors Studio[17] and an advocate of method acting, Dennis was often described as neurotic and mannered in her performances; her signature style included running words together and oddly stopping and starting sentences, suddenly going up and down octaves as she spoke, and fluttering her hands. Walter Kerr famously remarked that she treated sentences as "weak, injured things" that needed to be slowly helped "across the street"; Pauline Kael said that she "has made an acting style of postnasal drip." In his book The Season, William Goldman called her a quintessential "critics' darling" who got rave reviews no matter how unusual her acting and questionable her choice of material. During her stint in Any Wednesday, Kerr said, "Let me tell you about Sandy Dennis. There should be one in every home."

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Splendor in the Grass Kay
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Honey Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance
Laurel Award for Top Female New Face
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Three Sisters Irina
1967 Up the Down Staircase Sylvia Barrett Moscow International Film Festival Best Actress Award (tied with Grynet Molvig for A Time in the Sun)
The Fox Jill Banford
1968 Sweet November Sara Deever
1969 A Touch of Love Rosamund Stacey
That Cold Day in the Park Frances Austen
1970 The Out of Towners Gwen Kellerman Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated—Laurel Award for Top Female Comedic Performance
1975 Mr. Sycamore Jane Gwilt
1976 God Told Me To Martha Nicholas
1977 Nasty Habits Sister Winifred
1981 The Four Seasons Anne Callan
1982 Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Mona
1986 Laughter in the Dark Unknown
1988 Another Woman Claire
976-EVIL Aunt Lucy
1989 Parents Millie Dew
1991 The Indian Runner Mrs. Roberts Final film role

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1956 Guiding Light Alice Holden Unknown episodes
1962 Naked City Eleanor Ann Hubber Episode: "Idylls of a Running Back"
1963 Naked City Lorraine Episode: "Carrier"
The Fugitive Cassie Bolin Episode: "The Other Side of the Mountain"
1964 Arrest and Trial Molly White Episode: "Somewhat Lower Than the Angels"
Mr. Broadway Patricia Kelsey Episode: "Don't Mention My Name in Sheboygan"
1968 A Hatful of Rain Celia Pope Television film
1970 Only Way Out Is Dead Dr. Enid Bingham Television film
1972 Something Evil Marjorie Worden Television film
1978 Police Story Sharon Bristol Episode: "Day of Terror... Night of Fear"
Perfect Gentlemen Sophie Rosenman Television film
1980 Wilson's Reward Martha James Television film
1985 The Execution Elsa Spahn Television film
The Love Boat Gina Caldwell Episode: "Roommates/Heartbreakers/Out of the Blue"
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Helen Episode: "Arthur, or the Gigolo"
Young People's Specials Patricia Benson Episode: "The Trouble with Mother"
1986 The Equalizer Kay Wesley Episode: "Out of the Past"

Theater

Run Title Role Notes
Dec. 5, 1957 – Jan. 17, 1959 The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Reenie Flood
Flirt Conroy
Understudy
Oct. 20, 1960 – Nov. 19, 1960 Face of a Hero Millicent Bishop Theatre World Award
Nov. 1, 1961 − Jan. 27, 1962 The Complaisant Lover Ann Howard
Apr. 5, 1962 − Apr. 13, 1963 A Thousand Clowns Sandra Markowitz Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
Feb. 18, 1964 − Jun. 26, 1966 Any Wednesday Ellen Gordon Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
Oct. 15, 1967 – Nov. 18, 1967 Daphne in Cottage D Daphne
Mar. 29, 1971 – Jun. 26, 1971 How the Other Half Loves Teresa Phillips
Jan. 16, 1973 Let Me Hear You Smile Hannah Heywood
Oct. 8, 1974 − Mar. 6, 1976 Absurd Person Singular Eva
Mar. 14, 1975 – Sept. 3, 1978 Same Time, Next Year Doris Replacement
Aug. 6, 1981 – Sept. 5, 1981 The Supporting Cast Sally
Feb. 18, 1982 – Apr. 4, 1982 Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean Mona

References

  1. Peter Shelley (8 November 2013). Sandy Dennis: The Life and Films. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-0589-0.
  2. Sandy Dennis Biography (1937–1992)
  3. Lincoln High School (1955). The Links, vol. 39. Lincoln, NE: Lincoln High School. p. 38.
  4. Sandy Dennis. Yahoo Movies.
  5. HB Studio Alumni
  6. 'Star Glitter Is Catching' By Richard L. Coe. The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959–1973) [Washington, D.C] 07 Jan 1968: H1.
  7. Canby, Vincent (19 March 1977). "'Nasty Habits' of Nuns in Politics". New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  8. Viggo Mortensen’s statements about Sandy Dennis
  9. Daniels, Lee A. "Sandy Dennis, Veteran Actress And Prize Winner, Is Dead at 54" The New York Times, March 5, 1992
  10. Hutchings, David. "The Queen of Artfully Oddball Roles Finds Peace as a Cat-Crazed Recluse". People Magazine. Time, Inc. Retrieved 2011-08-29.
  11. Stern, Keith (2009). Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals. Dallas: BenBella Books. p. 138. ISBN 978-1933771878.
  12. Hadleigh, Boze (1996). Hollywood Lesbians. NY: Barricade Books. p. 246. ISBN 1569800677.
  13. Zimmerman, Bonnie (1999). Lesbian Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1. NY: Routledge. p. 375. ISBN 0815319207. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  14. Shelley, Peter (2013). Sandy Dennis: The Life and Films. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0786471973. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  15. Sweeney, Louise (August 20, 1981). "Sandy Dennis; The Talent Shows, the Cats Don't". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  16. Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 278. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
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