Celeste Holm

Overview

Celeste Holm was an only child, born into a home where her mother was a painter and her father worked in insurance. She would study acting at the University of Chicago and make her stage debut in 1936. Her Broadway debut came when she was 19 in 'The Time of Your Life'. She appeared in many successful plays, including "The Women", "Oklahoma!" and "Bloomer Girl". It was in the production of "Oklahoma!" that Celeste would sing the showstopper, "I Cain't Say No". She was signed by 20th Century Fox in 1946 and appeared in her first film, Three Little Girls in Blue (1946). With her third film, Gentleman's Agreement (1947), she would win the Supporting Actress Oscar and a Golden Globe. Celeste would be nominated twice more for Academy Awards in the Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve (1950). But, Celeste was a star who loved the stage so she left Hollywood, only to return for two MGM musicals in the 1950s. They were The Tender Trap (1955) and High Society (1956). In addition to her stage career, Celeste appeared on television in her own series, Honestly, Celeste! (1954) and as a panelist on Who Pays? (1959). In 1970, Celeste returned to television series as the chaperone to the president's daughter on Nancy (1970). For the next two decades, she would appear on television in regular series, miniseries and movies. Celeste Holm died at age 95 of a heart attack on July 15, 2012.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

Lived on Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City, in a co-op apartment she bought in 1953 for $10,000 cash.
(July 15, 2012) Early morning, she was admitted to New York's Roosevelt Hospital with dehydration and suffered a heart attack whilst in the facility. Holm died a few hours later.
Originated the role of boy-crazy Ado Annie, the girl who "cain't say no", in "Oklahoma!" on Broadway in the 1940s.
In 1957 King Olav V of Norway made her Knight 1st Class of the Order of St. Olav for her help in saving one of Norway's national treasures, the schooner "Christian Radich".
Was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002.

[on her wisecracking smart girl image] I hated that. It's stereotyped. I only played that kind of role in two pictures and that was enough, thank you. It's not me.
We live by encouragement and die without it - slowly, sadly, and angrily.
My Norwegian family says, "You're the most grounded American we've ever met".
[on Bette Davis] I walked onto the set [All About Eve (1950)] and there's Bette and I say, "Good morning", and she said, "Oh, shit, good manners", and I felt as if I'd been hit in the face with a wet flounder, and I never spoke to her again. She called me a "bitch", okay.
I believe that if a man does a job as well as a woman, he should be paid as much.

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