Ruth Nelson (actress) explained

Ruth Nelson
Birth Name:	Ruth Gloria Nelson
Birth Date:	2 August 1905
Birth Place:	Saginaw, Michigan, U.S.
Death Place:	New York City, U.S.
Occupation:	Actress
Yearsactive:	1928–1991

Ruth Gloria Nelson (August 2, 1905 – September 12, 1992) was an American stage and film actress. She is known for her roles in films such as Wilson, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Humoresque, 3 Women, The Late Show and Awakenings. She was the wife of John Cromwell, with whom she acted on multiple occasions.

Early life

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Nelson was the daughter of Sanford Leroy Nelson and vaudeville actress Eva Mudge.^{[1] [2]} She attended Immaculate Heart Convent School in Los Angeles,^[3] studying first with Daniel Frohman^[4] and then with Richard Boleslawski at the American Laboratory Theatre in New York City during the early 1920s.^[3]

Career

Nelson made her stage debut in New York on April 4, 1928, at the Laboratory Theatre under Boleslawski's direction, portraying the title character in Jean-Jacques Bernard's Martine. Over the next two seasons, Nelson made two more appearances—in Checkhov's The Seagull and Vladimir Kirshon's Red Rust^[5] —prior to becoming, in 1931, a charter member of the newly formed theatre collective, The Group Theatre, with whom she remained throughout its run from 1931 to 1941, receiving particular praise for her performance as the chief striker's wife in Clifford Odets' play, Waiting for Lefty.^[6]

After the Group Theatre ended in 1941, Nelson relocated to Hollywood. Throughout the 1940s, she made a number of movies for 20th Century Fox and other Hollywood studios. One of these was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), directed by fellow Group Theatre member Elia Kazan. She also appeared in Kazan's film The Sea of Grass in 1947.

As her career began to take off, she was compelled to put things on hold when her husband, the director John Cromwell, a leading Roosevelt Democrat in the film industry, was falsely accused of Communism by actor Adolphe Menjou in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Hollywood in 1951^[7] and his career went on to be blacklisted. While offered a New York stage role as a wife in what turned out to be Death of a Salesman, Nelson turned it down as she did most acting offers at this time to stay in Los Angeles and support Cromwell.^[8]

Nelson had not made a Hollywood film for nearly 30 years when she appeared with her husband in 1977's 3 Women, directed by Robert Altman, and The Late Show, a film Robert Benton wrote and directed that Altman produced. The following year, she played Aunt Beatrice Sloan Cory and Cromwell portrayed the befuddled Bishop Martin in A Wedding, a comedy directed by Altman.

In 1980, stepson James Cromwell appeared with Nelson in John Korty's made-for-TV movie A Christmas Without Snow; two years later, they appeared onstage together in the Public Theater's production of Botho Strauss's Three Acts of Recognition, staged by Richard Foreman.^[9] Moreover, as early as 1968, Nelson had performed onstage under her stepson's direction, giving a well-received performance as Mary Tyrone in a regional production of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night;^{[10] [11]} reprising the role she'd first played on Broadway in 1957, initially as Florence Eldridge's understudy, and then as the permanent replacement for an ailing Fay Bainter during the show's national tour.^[12] Both critic Claudia Cassidy and director—and Group Theatre co-founder—Robert Lewis judged Nelson's Mary Tyrone the finest they'd ever seen.^{[13] [14] [15]}

Reviewing the 1966 revival of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth staged by Douglas Campbell at Minnesota's Guthrie Theatre, critic Stanley Kauffmann writes:

Nelson's final feature film appearance was in 1990's Awakenings; her performance—as the mother of a hospital patient played by Robert De Niro^{[16] [17]} (a role which—in a widely disseminated contemporaneous story published by Premiere Magazine—was erroneously reported as having gone to an Oscar-flaunting Shelley Winters)^[18] —was singled out for praise by several critics,^[19] including the Wall Street Journal's Julie Salamon: "Nelson achieves a wrenching beauty that stands out even among these exceptional actors doing exceptional things."^[20] In her 2012 memoir, the film's director, Penny Marshall, recalls:

Personal life

Nelson was married twice. She wed actor William Challee on August 2, 1931. They divorced in 1937.^[21] In 1947, Nelson married actor/director John Cromwell, whom she had first met two years before on the set of Anna and the King of Siam.^{[22] [23]} The marriage lasted 32 years until Cromwell's death in 1979 from a pulmonary embolism.^[24]

She was the stepmother of actor James Cromwell.^{[25] [26]}

Death

Nelson died on September 12, 1992, at her home in New York City from brain cancer complicated by a stroke and pneumonia.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1943		Nadya Simonov
1944	None Shall Escape	Alice Grimm
1944		Nell West
1944	Wilson	Ellen Wilson
1944		Lisbeth Chisholm
1945		Miss McDonough
1945		Kate Comstock
1946	Shock	Mrs. Margaret Cross	Uncredited
1946	Sentimental Journey	Mrs. McMasters
1946	Anna and the King of Siam	Unknown	Uncredited
1946	Till the End of Time	Amy Harper
1946	Humoresque	Esther Boray
1947		Selina Hall, Sam Hall's Wife
1947	Mother Wore Tights	Miss Ridgeway
1948	Arch of Triumph	Madame Fessier
1977		Mrs. Schmidt
1977	3 Women	Mrs. Rose
1978		Aunt Beatrice Sloan Cory
1989	Sea of Love	Woman on the street
1990	Awakenings	Mrs. Lowe

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Visions	Amelia	"Ladies in Waiting"
1980	Ryan's Hope	Mrs. Merck	"1.1322"
1980		Inez	TV film
1981	Hart to Hart	Ida Cox	"Blue Chip Murder"
1981	Skokie	Grandma Jannsen	TV film
1983		Judith Granville	TV film
1991	Lethal Innocence	Bernice	TV film

Further reading

Articles

• "Ruth Nelson, daughter of Eva Mudge". Variety. April 28, 1906. p. 5
• "Actress Who Saved Life With Flag, And Her Globe-Trotting Daughter; American Flag Saves Actress in Strike Riot; South African Miners Respected Ensign as Emblem of Liberty, Mrs. Nelson Declares". The New York World. February 6, 1914. p. 2
• Mantle, Burns (April 6. 1928). "Laboratorians Produce a Play". New York Daily News.
• Peak, Mayme Ober (December 18, 1943). "I Cover Hollywood: Former Boston Newsman to Play Woodrow Wilson". The Boston Globe. p. 12
• "Keys a Superlative Religious Hit; Production, Direction and Gregory Peck—All Bid for Academy Awards". Hollywood Motion Picture Review. December 18, 1944. p. 2
• "Ruth Nelson Stars in 'Humoresque; Character Actress in Old Newsboys' Show". The Pittsburgh Press. December 3, 1946. p. 27
• Kissel, Howard (March 30, 1990). "Times's Passage Melts 'Crucible'". New York Daily News. p. 43
• Watt, Doug (April 6, 1990). "Second Thoughts on First Nights: Miller's Timelessness, Sorkin's Trifle". New York Daily News. p. 39

Books

• Hailey, Kendall (1989). The Day I Became an Autodidact: And the advice, adventures, and acrimonies that befell me thereafter. New York: Dell. pp. 104–105. .
• Smith, Wendy (1990). Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931-1940. New York: Alfred A Knopf. .
• Bloom, Ken (2004). "Belasco Theatre". Broadway, Its History, People, and Places: An Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. pp. 60–61. .
• Schickel, Richard (2005). Elia Kazan: A Biography. New York: Harper Perennial. p. 13. .

Notes and References

1. "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ZZBV-F9W2 : 15 October 2021), Sanford Leroy Nelson and Genevra Delphine Mudge, 1904.
2. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30407169/eva-mudge-divorce-date-from-sanford-lero/ "Eva Mudge Gets Divorce"
3. Web site: Ruth Nelson, 87; Veteran Actress. Los Angeles Times. September 10, 2013. September 14, 1992.
4. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96764305/the-capital-times/ "Local Woman Visits Ex-charge, Now in 'Elizabeth, the Queen'"
5. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/ruth-nelson-54389 "Ruth Nelson"
6. Web site: Shipman. David. Obituary: Ruth Nelson. The Independent. September 10, 2013. September 22, 1992.
7. "Cromwell" essay by Kingsley Canham, in World Film Directors, Vol. One 1890-1940 p. 158
8. Web site: Lambert. Bruce. Ruth Nelson, 87, an Actress for Nearly 70 Years. The New York Times. September 10, 2013. September 13, 1992.
9. News: Theatre: 'Three Acts of Recognition,' Foreman Extravaganza'. Rich, Frank. April 8, 1982. The New York Times. C11. Some vignettes, as translated by Sophie Wilkins, are arresting. [...] Frank Maraden, as a failed actor, suddenly turns on a kindly old woman (Ruth Nelson) for giving him a birthday sweater purchased cheap at Woolworth's. [...] The cast members who fit best into Mr. Foreman's stylized scheme are Miss Nelson, Miss MacIntosh, James Cromwell, Cristine Rose, Bill Raymond (of the Mabou Mines), and Kate Manheim, that inimitable, ravaged siren of the anomic void. The others are either incompetent or waste time trying to create naturalistic characterizations when none are warranted.. .
10. Kelly, Kevin (April 23, 1968). "Perfection on Stage West". The Boston Globe. p. 33. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
11. https://www.newspapers.com/image/839189919/?clipping_id=118497555 "'Long Day's Journey' Final, Finest Stage West Offering of Year"
12. O'Neill, Pat (February 19, 1958). "Role at Nixon Is Arduous; Ruth Nelson Talks of Her Part in O'Neill Play; Actress Finds This Role a Drain on Energy; Husband, Noted Director, Says It Grips People". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 20. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
13. Cassidy, Claudia (May 4, 1964). "On the Aisle: In the Expanding Realm of Shakespeare Whodunit; How About Malvolio at Agincourt?". The Chicago Tribune. p. B3. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
14. Harris, Dale (September 18, 1992). "Obituary: Ruth Nelson, Conscience of the Group". The Guardian. p. 35. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
15. Lewis, Robert (1984). Slings and Arrows : Theater in my Life. New York: Stein and Day. p. 330. .
16. Maltin, Leonard (September 1991). "Awakenings". Video Review. Retrieved March 7, 2022
17. Agan, Patrick (1993). Robert De Niro: The Man, the Myth and the Movies. London: Robert Hale. pp. 187–188 . Retrieved March 7, 2022.
18. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96999818/the-baltimore-sun/ "Shelley Winters Flaunts Talent"
19. News: De Niro Shines in "Awakenings'. Stone, Judy. December 20, 1990. The San Francisco Chronicle. 4. For an all-too-brief time, he's free of the deeply symbiotic relationship with his too-devoted mother (Ruth Nelson, so splendidly shaken by his unexpected 'recovery').. . See also:
    • News: De Niro Shines in "Awakenings'. Honeycutt, Kirk. December 13, 1990. The Hollywood Reporter. 9, 18. The film's most tough-minded performance belongs to Ruth Nelson as Leonard's tenacious, white-haired mother. Having tended him for decades, she is overwhelmed by his recovery, yet better prepared to face its consequences than the doctors. . .
    • Carroll, Kathleen (December 20, 1990). "De Niro Rises and Shines in 'Awakenings'; Robin Williams and Ruth Nelson also touch the heart in this Tale of medical miracles". New York Daily News. p. 31, 39. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
    • News: Reviews: Awakenings. Svitil, Torene. December 21, 1990. Screen International. 14. Williams and Julie Kavner (who plays his nurse) are sympathetic and Ruth Nelson is flawless as his mother. . .
    • Agan, Patrick (1993). Robert De Niro: The Man, the Myth and the Movies. London: Robert Hale. pp. 187–188. .
20. News: Real Rip van Winkles in 'Awakenings'. Salamon, Julie. December 20, 1990. The Wall Street Journal. A14. . .
21. "COURT ACTIONS FILED". Reno Gazette-Journal. August 13, 1937.
22. "PURELY PERSONAL". Los Angeles Times. September 10, 1947.
23. Sullivan, Dan (May 31, 1964). "Nun Launches a Star for Guthrie Theater". Minneapolis Tribune. p. 1 Ent.. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
24. Web site: John Cromwell – Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. September 10, 2013. October 1, 1979.
25. News: Teenage Kicks: James Cromwell on being raised among film royalty, avoiding the draft, and losing at tennis; My Three Parents. Cromwell, James. January 8, 2021. The Guardian. SS1-3. My stepmother [Ruth Nelson], whom I consider my second mother, was a member of the New York Group Theatre. We went to see her perform Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night. When they announced her name, the audience booed, which was strange. At the end of the play, they gave her a standing ovation.. .
26. News: At the Movies: Getting Older? Great!. Weinrab, Bernard. July 30, 1999. New York Times. 24. By the time actors turn 50, their careers often take a downhill slide. Not 59-year-old James Cromwell's. [...] The actor grew up in Hollywood. His father was John Cromwell, an actor and director who was blacklisted in 1954 and then moved to the East Coast. His mother, Kay Johnson, was a stage and film actress, as was his stepmother, Ruth Nelson.. .