# Susan Tyrrell

Susan Tyrrell (born Susan Jillian Creamer; March 18, 1945 – June 16, 2012) was an American character actress. Tyrrell's career began in theater in New York City in the 1960s in Broadway and off Broadway productions. Her first film was Shoot Out (1971). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's Fat City (1972). In 1978, Tyrrell received the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Andy Warhol's Bad (1977). Her New York Times obituary described her as "a whiskey-voiced character actress (with) talent for playing the downtrodden, outré, and grotesque."

## Early life

Tyrrell was born in San Francisco, California, to a British mother, Gillian (née Tyrrell; 1913–2012), and an American father, John Belding Creamer. Her mother was a socialite and member of the diplomatic corps in China and the Philippines during the 1930s and 1940s. Her father John was an agent with the William Morris Agency who represented Leo Carrillo, Loretta Young, Ed Wynn, and Carole Lombard.
Tyrrell spent her childhood in New Canaan, Connecticut. She was a poor student and as a teenager became estranged from her mother. Through her father's connections, Tyrrell was employed in the theatrical production of Time Out for Ginger (1963) starring Art Carney in New York City. Her father also persuaded Look magazine to follow her as she toured with the show, but he died shortly afterwards.

## Career

Tyrrell made her Broadway debut in 1965 as a replacement performer in the comedy Cactus Flower. In 1968, as a member of the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, she was in the cast of King Lear and revivals of The Time of Your Life (1969) and Camino Real (1970). Off-Broadway, Tyrrell appeared in the 1967 premiere of Lanford Wilson's The Rimers of Eldritch and a 1979 production of Father's Day (play) at The American Place Theatre.
Tyrrell's television debut was in Mr. Novak (1964) and her film debut was in Shoot Out (1971). Tyrrell was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's Fat City (1972). In 1976, she played a psychotic character in I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. In 1978, she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Bad.
Later, Tyrrell starred as Queen Doris in the indie Forbidden Zone (1980). She sang the film's song, "Witch's Egg". A year later, she portrayed Vera in Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981). From 1981 to 1982, Tyrrell starred as Gretchen Feester, in the ABC's short-lived situation comedy series Open All Night. She then had a starring role in the exploitation horror film Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981).
In 1983, Tyrrell played Solly in the sexploitation film Angel and its 1984 sequel, Avenging Angel. Then followed roles in the adventure film Flesh+Blood, the Vincent Price anthology horror film From a Whisper to a Scream (1987), the animated feature film The Chipmunk Adventure (1987), and Big Top Pee-wee (the 1988 sequel to 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure). Tyrrell took a supporting role in John Waters' Cry-Baby (1990).
In 1992, she guest starred on an episode of Wings "Marriage Italian Style" and she performed her own one-woman show, Susan Tyrrell: My Rotten Life, a Bitter Operetta. In the late 1990s, Tyrrell had roles in the Tales from the Crypt episode "Comes the Dawn" (1995), the animated series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997), and the psychological thriller film Buddy Boy (1999).
In the 2000s, Tyrrell appeared in Bob Dylan's Masked and Anonymous (2003) and The Devil's Due at Midnight (2004). Her final appearance was in the 2012 independent film Kid-Thing.

## Personal life

Tyrrell moved to New York City in the early 1960s to focus on theater work, for the first time meeting and socializing with openly LGBT people. The artistic crowd of "New York freaks" she associated with included "Andy Warhol people", among them Candy Darling, with whom Tyrrell had a relationship and shared an apartment.
In the mid-1970s, Tyrrell had a two-year relationship with actor Hervé Villechaize and shared a home with him in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles.
Tyrrell had two brief marriages and no children. In 1981 she told an interviewer that she had decided on tubal ligation surgery, "to ensure that no actors come out of me."
Tyrrell suffered from essential thrombocytosis, a disease of the blood. In early 2000, her disease necessitated bilateral below-knee amputations. That year, Johnny Depp hosted a benefit at the Viper Room to help defray Tyrrell's medical bills. Megan Mullally, Jack Black, and Chloe Webb attended.
In 2008, Tyrrell moved to Austin, Texas, to be closer to her niece. In January 2012, Tyrrell wrote in her journal, "I demand my death be joyful and I never return again." She died on June 16, 2012, in Austin. She was cremated and her ashes scattered.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | The Steagle | Louise | |
| 1971 | Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me | Jack | |
| 1971 | Shoot Out | Alma | |
| 1972 | Fat City | Oma Lee Greer | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress (2nd place) National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress (2nd place) Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1974 | Catch My Soul | Emilia | |
| 1974 | Zandy's Bride | Maria Cordova | |
| 1974 | To Kill the King | Maggie Van Birchard | |
| 1976 | The Killer Inside Me | Joyce Lakeland | |
| 1977 | Andy Warhol's Bad | Mary Aiken | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1977 | Wizards | Narrator | Voice, Uncredited |
| 1977 | Islands in the Stream | Lil | |
| 1977 | I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Lee | |
| 1977 | September 30, 1955 | Melba Lou | |
| 1977 | Another Man, Another Chance | Alice | |
| 1978 | Loose Shoes | Boobies | |
| 1979 | Racquet | Miss Baxter | |
| 1980 | Forbidden Zone | Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension / Ruth Henderson | |
| 1981 | Document of the Dead | Narrator | Voice |
| 1981 | Subway Riders | Eleanor Langley | |
| 1981 | Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker / Night Warning | Cheryl Roberts (Aunt Cheryl) | |
| 1981 | Tales of Ordinary Madness | Vera | |
| 1982 | Liar's Moon | Lora Mae Bouvier | |
| 1982 | Fast-Walking | Evie | |
| 1983 | Fire and Ice | Juliana | Voice |
| 1984 | Angel | Solly Mosler | |
| 1984 | The Killers | Susu, Second Ragpicker | |
| 1985 | Avenging Angel | Solly Mosler | |
| 1985 | Flesh and Blood | Celine | |
| 1986 | The Christmas Star | Sara | |
| 1987 | The Chipmunk Adventure | Claudia Furschtein | Voice |
| 1987 | From a Whisper to a Scream | Beth Chandler | |
| 1987 | The Underachievers | Mrs. Grant | |
| 1988 | Tapeheads | Nikki Morton | |
| 1988 | Big Top Pee-wee | Midge Montana | |
| 1989 | Far from Home | Agnes Reed | |
| 1990 | Rockula | Chuck the Bartender | |
| 1990 | Cry-Baby | Ramona Rickettes | |
| 1991 | Motorama | Bartender | |
| 1992 | Susan Tyrrell: My Rotten Life, a Bitter Operetta | The Woman | |
| 1995 | The Demolitionist | Mayor Eleanor Grimbaum | |
| 1995 | Digital Man | Mildred Hodges | |
| 1995 | Powder | Maxine | |
| 1997 | Poison Ivy: The New Seduction | Mrs. B | |
| 1997 | Pink as the Day She Was Born | Lana | |
| 1998 | Relax...It's Just Sex | Alicia Pillsbury | |
| 1999 | Buddy Boy | Sal | |
| 1999 | Swap Meet | | |
| 2003 | Masked and Anonymous | Ella the Fortune Teller | |
| 2008 | The Boneyard Collection | High Priestess | |
| 2012 | Kid-Thing | Esther | Voice Final film role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1964 | Mr. Novak | Phyllis Freuchen | Episode: "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" |
| 1971 | Bonanza | Mrs. Jill Conway | Episode: "Fallen Woman" |
| 1975 | Baretta | Pamela / Jenny | Episode: "Double Image" |
| 1976 | Starsky and Hutch | Annie / Isabelle Oates | Episode: "The Collector" |
| 1978 | Kojak | Mary Torino | Episode: "In Full Command" |
| 1978 | Lady of the House | Helen Proctor | TV movie |
| 1981–1982 | Open All Night | Gretchen Feester | 13 episodes |
| 1986 | If Tomorrow Comes | Bertha | 1 episode |
| 1988 | Windmills of the Gods | Neusa Muñoz Angel | 2 episodes |
| 1992 | Wings | Sconset Sal | Episode: "Marriage, Italian Style" (as Susan Tyrell) |
| 1995 | Tales from the Crypt | Mona | Episode: "Comes the Dawn" |
| 1997 | Extreme Ghostbusters | Achira | Voice Episodes: "Darkness at Noon, Part 1", "Darkness at Noon, Part 2" |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1967 | The Rimers of Eldritch | Patsy Johnson | Cherry Lane Theatre |
| 1968 | Cactus Flower | Botticelli's Springtime [Replacement] Toni (Understudy) [Replacement] | Broadway |
| 1968 | A Cry for Players | Jenny | Broadway |
| 1969 | King Lear | Ensemble | Broadway |
| 1969 | Invitation to a Beheading | Marthe | The Public Theater |
| 1969 | A Cry of Players | Jenny | Broadway |
| 1969 | The Time of Your Life | Kitty Duval | Broadway |
| 1970 | Camino Real | Esmeralda | Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center |
| 1979 | Father's Day (play) | Louise | The American Place Theatre |
| 1992 | Susan Tyrrell: My Rotten Life, a Bitter Operetta | The Woman | |
| 1997 | The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite | Patsy, Older Woman, Waitress | Center Theatre Group |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result |
| 1973 | Fat City | NSFC Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 1973 | Fat City | NYFCC Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 1973 | Fat City | Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated |
| 1978 | Andy Warhol's Bad | Saturn Award | Best Supporting Actress | Won |
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