Everything about Celeste Holm totally explained
Celeste Holm (born
April 29,
1917) is an
American stage,
film, and
television actress, perhaps best remembered for her
Academy Award-winning performance in
Gentleman's Agreement (1947), as well as for her Oscar-nominated performance in
All About Eve (1950).
Biography
Early life
Born in
New York City, Holm grew up in
Long Valley, New Jersey as an only child. Her mother, Jean Parke, was an
American portrait artist and author, while her father, Theodor Holm, was a
Norwegian insurance adjuster for
Lloyd's of London. Holm studied acting at the
University of Chicago before becoming a stage actress in the late
1930s following a brief first marriage, which produced her first child, son
Ted Nelson.
Career
Holm's first professional theatrical role was in a production of
Hamlet starring
Leslie Howard, and she quickly rose to prominence with her portrayal of Ado Annie in the original
Broadway production of
Oklahoma! in 1943.
After she starred in the Broadway production of
Bloomer Girl,
20th Century Fox signed Holm to a movie contract in 1946, and in her first two years as a film actress Holm cemented herself immediately as a formidable performer, especially when she won an
Oscar and
Golden Globe for best supporting actress in
Gentleman's Agreement. After her famous performance in
All About Eve, however, Holm realized she preferred live theater to movie work, and took on very few film roles over the following decade. The most successful of these were the comedy
The Tender Trap (1955) and the musical
High Society (1956), both co-starring Holm with
Frank Sinatra. Holm starred in the TV series
Honestly, Celeste! (1954-55) and was a panelist on
Who Pays? (1959).
In 1965, she starred alongside
Lesley Ann Warren as the Fairy Godmother in the
CBS television production of
Cinderella. In 1970 and '71 she was featured on NBC-TV's "Nancy". During the 1970s and 1980s, Holm returned more fully to screen acting, with roles in films such as
Tom Sawyer,
Three Men and a Baby and in television series (often as a guest star) such as
Columbo and
Falcon Crest. In the 1990s, Holm was a series regular on the ABC soap opera
Loving as Isabella Alden #2 (1991-1992) and the CBS primetime series
Promised Land (1996-1999).
Celeste Holm has received many honors in her lifetime: the 1968
Sarah Siddons Award for distinguished achievement in
Chicago theatre; she was appointed to the National Arts Council by then-President
Ronald Reagan, knighted by
King Olav of
Norway, and inducted into the
American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1992. She remains active for social causes as a spokesperson for
UNICEF, and for occasional professional engagements.
Private life
Holm's first marriage was to
Ralph Nelson around 1938. Their son,
Ted Nelson, is the co-creator of
Hypertext.
She married Francis E. Davies, a
Roman Catholic for whom she was received into the Roman Catholic church for the purposes of their 1940 wedding. They divorced shortly thereafter.
From 1946 until 1952 she was married to airline executive A. Schuyler Dunning, with whom she'd a second son, Daniel Dunning.
Holm was married to fellow actor
Wesley Addy from 1966 until his death in 1996. It was by far her longest marriage. They had no children. They played a married couple on
Loving.
On
April 29,
2004, on her 87th birthday she married opera singer
Frank Basile.
In 2006, Holm was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the SunDeis Film Festival at
Brandeis University.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Celeste Holm'.
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