Geraldine Fitzgerald facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Geraldine Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald in 1956
Born	Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (1913-11-24)November 24, 1913 Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland
Died	July 17, 2005(2005-07-17) (aged 91) Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1932–1991
Spouse(s)	Edward Lindsay-Hogg ​ ​ (m. 1936; div. 1946)​ Stuart Scheftel ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 1994)​
Children	2, including Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (born November 24, 1913 – died July 17, 2005) was a talented Irish actress. She was known for her work in movies, on stage, and on television. She was nominated for important awards like the Academy Award and Tony Award. She also won an Emmy Award. Geraldine Fitzgerald is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, The Irish Times newspaper named her one of Ireland's greatest film actors.

Early Life and Acting Start

Geraldine Fitzgerald was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland. This town is south of Dublin. Her father, Edward Martin FitzGerald, was a lawyer. Her mother was Edith Catherine Richards.

Geraldine first studied painting at the Dublin School of Art. But her aunt, actress Shelah Richards, inspired her to try acting. In 1932, she began her acting career. She performed at Dublin's Gate Theatre. After two years there, she moved to London. In London, she became successful in British films. Some of these films included The Mill on the Floss and Turn of the Tide.

Becoming a Star: Her Career

Geraldine Fitzgerald with Orson Welles in Heartbreak House (1938)

Geraldine Fitzgerald's success in London led her to New York City in 1938. She started performing on Broadway. Her first American play was Heartbreak House. She acted alongside the famous Orson Welles. A Hollywood producer named Hal B. Wallis saw her in this play. He then signed her to a contract with Warner Bros..

In 1939, she had two big successes. She appeared in the Bette Davis movie Dark Victory. She also received an Academy Award nomination. This was for her supporting role in Wuthering Heights.

Geraldine Fitzgerald in Dark Victory (1939), her first American film

She continued to act in many films for Warner Bros. These included Shining Victory (1941) and Watch on the Rhine (1943). She also worked for 20th Century Fox in Wilson (1944). However, her career sometimes faced challenges. She occasionally disagreed with the studio bosses. For example, she lost a role in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Even so, she kept working through the 1940s. She co-starred with John Garfield in Nobody Lives Forever (1946).

In 1946, she left Hollywood and moved back to New York City. She later became a naturalized United States citizen in 1955.

Trailer for Shining Victory (1941)

During the 1960s, her career had a comeback. She became known as a strong character actor. Some of her successful films from this time include The Pawnbroker (1964) and Rachel, Rachel (1968). Later, she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute award for The Mango Tree (1977). She also appeared in the comedy Arthur (1981). In this film, she played the wealthy grandmother of Dudley Moore's character. She also acted in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986).

Geraldine Fitzgerald also returned to stage acting. She received great praise for her performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night in 1971. In 1976, she started performing as a cabaret singer. Her show, Streetsongs, was very popular on Broadway. It even became a PBS television special. She also became a successful theatre director. In 1982, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. This made her one of the first women to receive such a nomination. She also helped start the Everyman Theater of Brooklyn. This was a street theater company that performed around New York City.

She also appeared on television shows. These included Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Golden Girls, and Cagney and Lacey. In 1988, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her guest role in The Golden Girls. She also won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role in the NBC Special Treat episode "Rodeo Red and the Runaways".

On February 8, 1960, Geraldine Fitzgerald received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This honored her contributions to motion pictures.

Personal Life

Geraldine Fitzgerald and her son Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1944

Geraldine Fitzgerald was married twice. Her first marriage was to Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg in 1936. They divorced in 1946. They had one son, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who became a director. Her second marriage was to American businessman Stuart Straus Scheftel in 1946. They had a daughter named Susan.

There were some rumors about her son Michael's father. This was because he looked like Orson Welles, whom Geraldine worked with. However, a biography of Welles from 2015 suggests that Welles was not Michael's father. Geraldine Fitzgerald was in Ireland when her son was conceived, and Welles was not overseas at that time.

The English actress Tara Fitzgerald is Geraldine's great-niece.

Later Years and Death

Geraldine Fitzgerald passed away at the age of 91 in New York City. She had been battling Alzheimer's disease for a long time. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Wuthering Heights (1939)
• Winner — Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming - NBC Special Treat (1975)
• Nominated — Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Mass Appeal (1982)
• Nominated — Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series - The Golden Girls (Episode "Mother's Day") (1988)

Filmography

Television Roles

Images for kids

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  Fitzgerald in 1956

See also

In Spanish: Geraldine Fitzgerald para niños