Cummings, Constance (1910–2005)

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Cummings, Constance (1910–2005)

American-born stage and screen actress. Born Constance Halverstadt, May 15, 1910, in Seattle, Washington; died Nov 23, 2005, in Chelsea, London, England; dau. of Dallas Vernon Halverstadt (attorney) and Kate (Logan) Cummings (concert soprano); m. Ben W. Levy (English playwright and producer), 1933 (died 1973); children: 2.

Made stage debut in regional theater (1926) and Broadway debut in the chorus of Treasure Girl (1928); made film debut in The Criminal Code (1931), followed by Movie Crazy (with Harold Lloyd), Behind the Mask, Night after Night, Broadway Thru a Keyhole, This Man is Mine and Remember Last Night?; on marriage, moved to England (1934) and had an enormously successful career, appearing in such films as Seven Sinners, Haunted Honeymoon, The Battle of the Sexes, A Boy Ten Feet Tall, Jane Eyre and Blithe Spirit, and on stage in Sour Grapes, Skylark, The Petrified Forest, The Shrike, The Rape of the Belt, JB, The Cherry Orchard, and as Regina Conti in Young Madame Conti, Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary, Katherine in Goodbye Mr. Chips, and Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night (with Laurence Olivier). Won Tony award for performance in Wings; awarded Companion of the British Empire (1974).

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