Thelma Ritter

Thelma Ritter (February 14, 1902 – February 5, 1969) was an American character actress who, known for her strong New York City accent, diminutive size, and plain look, favored working-class roles. She earned a Tony Award and six Academy Award nominations, more than any other actress in the Best Supporting Actress category.

These nominations were for her performances in All About Eve (1950), The Mating Season (1951), With a Song in My Heart (1952), Pickup on South Street (1953), Pillow Talk (1959), and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962). Her other film roles include those in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Rear Window (1954), The Misfits (1961), and How the West Was Won (1962).

Ritter shared the 1958 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for performance in the musical New Girl in Town with her co-star Gwen Verdon. She received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nomination for Goodyear Television Playhouse in 1956.

Early and personal life
Ritter was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 14, 1902, the first child of Charles and Lucy Ritter. Her father was a bookkeeper, later an office manager.

At age 11, Ritter played Puck in a semi-professional dramatic society's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. As a teenager she appeared in high-school plays and stock companies. After initially being rebuffed, she received formal training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (ADA) upon her graduation from Manual Training High School.

Although she subsequently struggled to establish a stage career, Ritter decided to take a hiatus from acting to raise her two children, Monica and Joe. Their father, her husband, Joseph Moran, was also an actor; in the mid-1930s, he changed professions, becoming an actors' agent and then an advertising executive.

Career
Ritter's first professional experience came with stock theater companies in New York and New England. Her Broadway credits include UTBU (1965), New Girl in Town (1956), In Times Square (1931), and The Shelf (1926).

Ritter's first movie role was in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She made a memorable impression in a brief uncredited part, as a frustrated mother unable to find the toy that Kris Kringle has promised her son. Her third role, in writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives (1949), left a mark, although Ritter was again uncredited. Mankiewicz kept Ritter in mind, and cast her as Birdie Coonan in All About Eve (1950), which earned her an Oscar nomination. A second nomination followed for her work in the Mitch Leisen ensemble screwball comedy The Mating Season (1951) starring Gene Tierney and John Lund. She enjoyed steady film work for the next dozen years.

She appeared in many of the episodic drama TV series of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, General Electric Theater, and The United States Steel Hour ‘’Wagon Train’’. Other film roles were as James Stewart's nurse in Rear Window (1954) and as Doris Day's housekeeper, Alma, in Pillow Talk (1959). Although best known for comedy roles, she played the occasional dramatic role, most notably in With a Song in My Heart (1952), Pickup on South Street (1953), Titanic (1953), The Misfits (1961), and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), for which she received her final Oscar nomination. Her last work was an appearance on The Jerry Lewis Show on January 23, 1968.

Death
On January 27, 1969, Ritter suffered a heart attack at her residence in Queens, New York City. She died from a second heart attack on February 5, in New York City, at age 66.

Legacy
In 2019, Ritter was listed at number 1 on The Evening Standard list of ten women who changed the face of film forever.

Awards and nominations
Ritter received six Academy Award nominations during her career, without a win. This ties her with Deborah Kerr and Amy Adams with the second most such nominations among actresses, behind Glenn Close’s eight. Peter O'Toole also has eight without a win among men. Only Kerr and O'Toole have received honorary awards from the Academy.

In 1955 Ritter co-hosted the Oscar ceremony, notably trading wisecracks with Bob Hope.

Academy Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Tony Award

In 1958, Ritter won a Tony Award in a rare tie (with her co-star, Gwen Verdon) for their work in New Girl.

Golden Globe Awards