Fitzgerald, Geraldine (1913–2005)

Irish-American actress. Born in Dublin, Ireland, Nov 24, 1913; died July 17, 2005, in New York, NY; dau. of Edward (attorney) and Edith Fitzgerald; studied at Dublin Art School and Queen's College, London; cousin of Shelah Richards (1903–1985), actress; m. Edward Lindsay-Hogg (songwriter), 1936 (div., 1946); m. Stuart Scheftel, 1946 (died 1995); children: (1st m.) Michael Lindsay-Hogg (b. 1940, film and theater director); (2nd m.) Susan Scheftel (b. 1948).

Made debut at Gate Theater in Dublin (1932); made NY debut as Ellie Dunn in Heartbreak House (1938); appeared as Rebecca in Sons and Soldiers (1943), Tanis Talbot in Portrait in Black (1945), Jennifer Dubedat in The Doctor's Dilemma (1955), Goneril in King Lear (1956), Ann Richards in Hide and Seek (1957), as well as Gertrude in Hamlet at American Shakespeare Festival (1958); also appeared as the Queen in The Cave Dwellers (1961), Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night (1971), Jenny in The Threepenny Opera (1972), Felicity in The Shadow Box (1977) and Nora Melody in A Touch of the Poet (1978); appeared in one-woman show Songs of the Streets: O'Neill and Carlotta (1979); made theatrical history as the 1st woman to appear as the Stage Manager in Our Town, at Williamstown Festival; founded Everyman Street Theatre; directed Mass Appeal at Manhattan Theatre Club (1980) and The Lunch Girls, Theatre Row (1981). Films include The Mill on the Floss (1936), Dark Victory (1939), Till We Meet Again (1940), Watch on the Rhine (1943), Ladies Courageous (1944), 10 North Frederick (1958), The Pawnbroker (1965), Rachel, Rachel (1968), The Last American Hero (1973), Harry and Tonto (1974), Arthur (1981), Pope of Greenwich Village (1984), Poltergeist II (1986) and Arthur 2 (1988). Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Wuthering Heights (1939).

See also Women in World History.