Biography

Ruth Gordon

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When Ruth Gordon convinced her father, a sea captain, to let her pursue an acting career, she came to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She acted in a few silent films that were made at Fort Lee, New Jersey in 1915. She made her Broadway debut in "Peter Pan" as Nibs the same year. The next 20 years she spent on the stage, even appearing at the Old Vic in London in the successful run of "The Country Wife" in 1936. Nearly 25 years after her film debut, she briefly returned to films. Her most memorable film role during this period in the early 1940s was as Mary Todd in the film Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).

She then left Hollywood to return to the theater. Back in New York, she married her second husband, Garson Kanin in 1942 (her first husband, Gregory Kelly, a stage actor, died in 1927). She began writing plays and, later, she and her husband collaborated on screenplays for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, whose on-screen relationship was modeled on their own marriage. She returned to acting in films in the 1960s. It is during this last period of her career that she became a film star again, with memorable roles in the films Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Harold and Maude (1971). She wrote several books during the mid-1970s and appeared on TV. She won an Emmy for her role on the TV series Taxi (1978) in 1979.
- IMDb mini biography by: Amy Harper <LookItUp1@aol.com>

Was a close friend of actor Bud Cort, with whom she co-starred in the film Harold and Maude (1971).
Was excited about returning to films after 22 years with a part in "The Loved One" (1965) and looked forward to having a renewed film career despite her advanced age. When her part was cut from the film's final release print, it was a major disappointment for her, but she persevered and won an Academy Award three years later for the film Rosemary's Baby (1968).
Natalie Wood was so fond of her that she named her as the godmother of her firstborn child, Natasha Gregson Wagner.
She has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Harold and Maude (1971). She has also written one film that is in the registry: Adam's Rib (1949).
Twice married, she gave birth to her only child at age 32, an illegitimate son, Jones Harris (b. October 16, 1929). The boy's father was Jed Harris, to whom she was not married. Her only grandchild was Jack Gwynne Emmet Harris (b. March 17, 1972).

The great have no friends. They merely know a lot of people.
Why should ruts be so comfortable and so unpopular?
The kiss. There are all sorts of kisses, lad, from the sticky confection to the kiss of death. Of them all, the kiss of an actress is the most unnerving. How can we tell if she means it or if she's just practicing?
The best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance.
Never give up, and never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts.

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