Geraldine Page

Geraldine Page Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: November 22, 1924

Death Date: June 13, 1987

Birth Place: Kirksville, Missouri

Spouses: Rip Torn

Described by playwright Tennessee Williams, whose troubled heroines she often portrayed on stage and screen, as "the most disciplined and dedicated of actresses," Geraldine Page burst upon the NYC theatrical scene as the Southern spinster hoping for one last chance at love in a highly celebrated 1952 revival of Williams' "Summer and Smoke," which put both Page and off-Broadway on the map. On the strength of that performance, she secured roles in two movies released in 1953, "Taxi" and "Hondo," receiving her first of eight Oscar nominations for her supporting turn as an abandoned ranch wife who falls for John Wayne in the latter.

Despite this formidable introduction to movies, Page returned to her first love to make her Broadway debut in "Midsummer" in 1953. The following year, she appeared in Broadway productions of "The Immoralist" (with James Dean and Louis Jordan) and "The Rainmaker" (opposite Darren McGavin). No great beauty, Page displayed an unparalleled repertoire of tics and mannerisms that sometimes marred otherwise fine performances and other times enhanced them. After an eight-year absence from features, Page's highly-strung, eccentric persona finally broke through in the 1961 film version of her star-making "Summer and Smoke," which she followed by reprising her Broadway success as Williams' fading screen star Alexandra Del Lago in "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1962), earning back-to-back Best Actress Oscar nominations. Offered the female lead in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" on Broadway in the 60s, the Method-trained Page insisted that Lee Strasberg be present during the rehearsals, a demand which cost her the role and branded her with the reputation as somewhat difficult. Choosy about what parts she accepted, Page frequently turned down work that did not suit her taste. Her forte was sexually guarded and/or repressed women or women who just hadn't had a chance at the brass ring, and her ability to project the deep emotions of these characters guaranteed her standing as one of the best actresses of her generation. Brilliant as the spinster sister whose love for brother Dean Martin borders on the incestuous in "Toys in the Attic" (1963), she was a desperate wooer of Glenn Ford in "Dear Heart" (1965) before earning her fourth Oscar nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) as the doting mother (opposite husband Rip Torn) of Peter Kastner in Francis Ford Coppola's "You're a Big Boy Now" (1966). Memorable (and Oscar-nominated) for her no-holds barred, comic fight with friend Carol Burnett in "Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), she also contributed a performance of exquisite, enclosed self-pity to Woody Allen's first dramatic effort, the Bergmanesque "Interiors" (1978), earning her third Academy Award nomination as Best Actress.

Like many New York actors, Page was a regular performer during television's Golden Age in the 50s, but she became more selective regarding small screen roles after her movie career took off. She played Xantippe in NBC's "Hallmark Hall of Fame" adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Barefoot in Athens" (1966), about the early days of Socrates, and a month later delivered an Emmy-winning performance as Aunt Sookie in ABC's "A Christmas Memory" (adapted from the story by Truman Capote), a role she would reprise for "A Thanksgiving Visitor" (ABC, 1968) earning a second Emmy Award. She appeared infrequently during the 70s (i.e., "Live Again, Die Again" ABC, 1974; "Something For Joey" CBS, 1977) but stepped up her output considerably during the 80s, acting in acclaimed vehicles like the miniseries "The Blue and the Gray" (CBS, 1982) and "The Dollmaker" (ABC, 1984). She also portrayed Sally Phelps in the "American Playhouse" presentation of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (PBS, 1986) and closed out her TV career impressively as a concentration camp survivor in "Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfield Story" (ABC, 1986).

Despite her screen success, Page never turned her back on the theater. She was a great proponent of off-Broadway and regional theater, appearing throughout her career with repertory companies like the Academy Festival Theatre (Lake Forest, Illinois), where she was able to play another choice Williams' role in 1974, that of Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire." She performed in two Actors Studio productions ("Strange Interlude" 1963 and "Three Sisters" 1964, which was filmed) and continued to appear on Broadway in such productions as "Black Comedy" (1967), "Absurd Person Singular" (1974) and "Agnes of God" (1982). She smoked like a chimney for her Oscar-nominated role as the mother of a slain policeman in "The Pope of Greenwich Village" (1984) and finally took home a Best Actress statue for "A Trip to Bountiful" (1985), luminously portraying an elderly woman who fulfills her fervent desire of visiting the small Texas town of her youth. Page capped her big screen career as the maid of the house in which Bigger Thomas goes to work in "Native Son" (1986) and was appearing on Broadway as the eccentric medium Madame Arcati in a revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit" at the time of her death.

Credits

Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story

Actor
Itta Halaunbrenner
Movie
1986

My Little Girl

Actor
Molly
Movie
1986

Native Son

Actor
Peggy
Movie
1986

Muros de Cristal

Actor
Movie
1985

Walls of Glass

Actor
Mama
Movie
1985

White Nights

Actor
Anne Wyatt
Movie
1985

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Actor
Sally Phelps
Movie
1985

The Bride

Actor
Mrs. Baumann
Movie
1985

The Trip to BountifulStream

Actor
Mrs. Carrie Watts
Movie
1985
100%

The ParadeStream

Actor
Sarah
Movie
1984

The DollmakerStream

Actor
Mrs. Kendrick
Movie
1984

The Pope of Greenwich VillageStream

Actor
Mrs. Ritter
Movie
1984
77%

Un Défilé

Actor
Movie
1984

The Hitchhiker

Actor
Show
1983

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can

Actor
Jean Scott Martin
Movie
1982

Honky Tonk Freeway

Actor
Sister Mary Clarise
Movie
1981

Harry's War

Actor
"Aunt" Beverly
Movie
1981

InteriorsStream

Actor
Eve
Movie
1978
76%

The Rescuers

Voice
Madame Medusa
Movie
1977

Something for Joey

Actor
Ann Cappelletti
Movie
1977

Nasty Habits

Actor
Sister Walburga
Movie
1976

The Day of the LocustStream

Actor
Big Sister
Movie
1975
61%

Live Again, Die Again

Actor
Mrs. O'Neill
Movie
1974

The Snoop Sisters

Guest Star
Series
1973

KojakStream

Guest Star
Edna Morrison
Series
1973

Hazel's People

Actor
Anna Witmer
Movie
1973

Pete 'n' Tillie

Actor
Gertrude
Movie
1972

The BeguiledStream

Actor
Martha
Movie
1971
90%

J.W. Coop

Actor
Mama
Movie
1971

A Sister From Napoli

Actor
Sister Lucia
Movie
1971

Night Gallery

Guest Star
Series
1970

Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?

Actor
Mrs. Marrable
Movie
1969

Trilogy

Actor
Woman
Movie
1969

The Thanksgiving Visitor

Actor
Miss Sook
Show
1968

The Name of the Game

Guest Star
Series
1968

Le plus heureux des millionnaires

Actor
Movie
1967

La Chica del Lunes

Actor
Movie
1967

The Happiest Millionaire

Actor
Mrs. Duke
Movie
1967

You're a Big Boy Now

Actor
Margery Chanticleer
Movie
1966

Barefoot in Athens

Actor
Xantippe
Movie
1966

Dear HeartStream

Actor
Evie Jackson
Movie
1965
33%

The Three Sisters

Actor
Olga
Movie
1965

Toys in the Attic

Actor
Carrie Berniers
Movie
1963

Été et fumée

Actor
Movie
1962

Sweet Bird of YouthStream

Actor
Alexandra Del Lago (Princess Cosmonopolous)
Movie
1962
74%

Summer and Smoke

Actor
Alma Winemiller
Movie
1961

Windows

Actor
Woman
Show
1955

HondoStream

Actor
Angie Lowe
Movie
1953
90%

What's My Line?Stream

Guest
Game Show
1950