Meg Mundy Explained

Meg Mundy
Birth Name:Margaret Anne Mary Mundy
Birth Date:January 4, 1915
Birth Place:Marylebone, London, England
Occupation:Actress
Years Active:1934–2001
Spouse:Konstantinos Yannopoulos (September 15, 1951–; divorced)[1]
Marc Daniels (1942[2] –51; divorced)
Children:1
Mother:Clytie Hine
Relatives:John Hine Mundy (brother)

Margaret Anne Mary Mundy (January 4, 1915 – January 12, 2016) was an English-born American actress and model. She was born in London, and in 1921, at the age of six, emigrated to the United States with her family.

Personal life

Mundy was born in Marylebone, London. Her mother, Australian opera singer Clytie Hine, studied at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, South Australia. Her father was English cellist John Mundy. In 1921, the couple emigrated to the United States with their two children. Their father became orchestra manager of the Metropolitan Opera. After retiring as a performer, Hine coached opera singers and musical performers. Meg's younger brother was Columbia University history professor John Hine Mundy.[3] Mundy celebrated her 100th birthday on January 4, 2015, and died on January 12, 2016, at the age of 101.[4]

Marriages

Career

In 1940, modeling agency founder Harry Conover cited Mundy as one of the 10 top models ("those who lure the highest salaries").[5] A newspaper article two years later reported that Mundy was "said to be Manhattan's highest paid model."[2]

Mundy debuted as a concert singer at Carnegie Hall in 1942.[6]

In 1948 Mundy starred in The Respectful Prostitute (see below), but Dorothy Parker professed ignorance: "Meg Mundy? What's that, a Welsh holiday?" (Film star Ann Dvorak succeeded Mundy in that role.) Mundy also played Mary McLeod, the lead female role, in the Broadway production of Detective Story.[7] [8]

On television she played, among other roles, an antiques fancier on an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and wealthy matriarch Mona Aldrich Croft on The Doctors from 1972 to 1973 and 1975–82, leaving 3 months before the show ended.After playing the role of Isabelle Alden on the pilot for the new soap Loving, she briefly played Maeve Stoddard's imperious mother Julia on Guiding Light. She later played the role of Dimitri Marrick's wealthy aunt, Eugenia von Voynavitch on All My Children.

Her film credits included roles in Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), Oliver's Story (1978), The Bell Jar (1979), and as the mother of Mary Tyler Moore's character in Ordinary People (1980), which won the Academy Award as Best Picture Of The Year. She appeared in the 1983 Walter Matthau-Robin Williams film The Survivors, the 1987 films Fatal Attraction and Someone to Watch Over Me, and in two episodes of Law & Order in the 1990s.

Awards

In 1948 Mundy won the Theatre World Award for her performance in The Respectful Prostitute at the Cort Theatre.[9]

In 1982 she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama Series at the 9th Daytime Emmy Awards for her role on The Doctors.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1956Alfred Hitchcock Presents Martha Sturgis-Appelby Season 1 Episode 29: "The Orderly World of Mr. Appelby"
1956Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ellen Blanchard Season 2 Episode 13: "Mr. Blanchard's Secret"
1978Breaking Up Louise Crawford
1978Eyes of Laura Mars Doris Spenser
1978Oliver's Story Mrs. Barrett
1979The Bell Jar Bea Ramsey
1980Ordinary People Grandmother
1983The Survivors Mace Lover
1987Fatal Attraction Joan Rogerson
1987Someone to Watch Over Me Antonia

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Inquirer.com: Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes. www.inquirer.com.
  2. News: Durling. E.V.. On the Side. Shamokin News-Dispatch . Shamokin News-Dispatch. September 29, 1942. Pennsylvania, Shamokin. 4. Newspapers.com. April 2, 2016.
  3. Web site: Cross . Timothy P. . John Hine Mundy (1917–2004) . Perspectives on History . American Historical Association . May 29, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171107112726/https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/october-2005/in-memoriam-john-hine-mundy . November 7, 2017 . live.
  4. News: Notice of death of Meg Mundy. January 20, 2016. The New York Times. January 20, 2016.
  5. News: Barron. Mark. Former Model Starts Agency. The Times Leader . The Wilkes-Barre Record. December 11, 1940. Pennsylvania, Wilkes-Barre. 14. Newspapers.com. April 2, 2016.
  6. News: Stevenson. L.L.. Lights of New York. The Daily Reporter . Greenfield Daily Reporter. May 28, 1942. Indiana, Greenfield. 6. Newspapers.com. April 2, 2016.
  7. Web site: Meg Mundy . Internet Broadway Database . The Broadway League . January 29, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201020121222/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/meg-mundy-54051 . October 20, 2020.
  8. http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1826 Detective Story profile
  9. http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=54051 Profile