# 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 in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
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.

## Work
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1947 | Miracle on 34th Street | Peter's Mother | George Seaton | Uncredited |
| 1948 | Call Northside 777 | Receptionist | Henry Hathaway | Uncredited |
| 1949 | A Letter to Three Wives | Sadie Dugan | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Uncredited |
| 1949 | City Across the River | Mrs. Katie Cusack | Maxwell Shane | |
| 1949 | Father Was a Fullback | Geraldine | John M. Stahl | |
| 1950 | Perfect Strangers | Lena Fassler | Bretaigne Windust | |
| 1950 | I'll Get By | Miss Murphy | Richard Sale | |
| 1950 | All About Eve | Birdie Coonan | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | |
| 1951 | The Mating Season | Ellen McNulty | Mitchell Leisen | |
| 1951 | As Young as You Feel | Della Hodges | Harmon Jones | |
| 1951 | The Model and the Marriage Broker | Mae Swasey | George Cukor | |
| 1952 | With a Song in My Heart | Clancy | Walter Lang | |
| 1953 | Titanic | Maude Young | Jean Negulesco | |
| 1953 | Pickup on South Street | Moe Williams | Samuel Fuller | |
| 1953 | The Farmer Takes a Wife | Lucy Cashdollar | Henry Levin | |
| 1954 | Rear Window | Stella | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 1955 | Daddy Long Legs | Alicia Pritchard | Jean Negulesco | |
| 1955 | Lucy Gallant | Molly Basserman | Robert Parrish | |
| 1956 | The Proud and Profane | Kate Connors | George Seaton | |
| 1959 | A Hole in the Head | Sophie Manetta | Frank Capra | |
| 1959 | Pillow Talk | Alma | Michael Gordon | |
| 1961 | The Misfits | Isabelle Steers | John Huston | |
| 1961 | The Second Time Around | Aggie Gates | Vincent Sherman | |
| 1962 | Birdman of Alcatraz | Elizabeth Stroud | John Frankenheimer | |
| 1962 | How the West Was Won | Agatha Clegg | John Ford Henry Hathaway George Marshall | |
| 1963 | For Love or Money | Chloe Brasher | Michael Gordon | |
| 1963 | Move Over, Darling | Grace Arden | Michael Gordon | |
| 1963 | A New Kind of Love | Leena | Melville Shavelson | |
| 1965 | Boeing Boeing | Bertha | John Rich | |
| 1967 | The Incident | Bertha Beckerman | Larry Peerce | |
| 1968 | What's So Bad About Feeling Good? | Mrs. Schwartz | George Seaton | final film role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1954 | Lux Video Theatre | Lux Video Theatre Guest | Episode: Christmas in July |
| 1955 | The Best of Broadway | Mrs. Fisher | Episode: The Show-Off |
| 1955 | The 20th Century Fox Hour | Abby | Episode: Christopher Bean |
| 1955 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | Aggie Hurley | Episode: The Catered Affair |
| 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Lottie Slocum | Season 1 Episode 32: The Baby Sitter |
| 1957 | Telephone Time | Mary Devlin | Episode: Plot to Save a Boy |
| 1957 | The United States Steel Hour | Ma Garfield | Episode: The Human Pattern |
| 1960 | GE True Theatre | Doris Green | Episode: Sarah's Laughter |
| 1960 | Startime | Mrs. Gillis | Episode: The Man |
| 1961 | Frontier Circus | Bertha Marie Beecher | Episode: Journey from Hannibal |
| 1962 | Wagon Train | Madame Sagittarius | Episode: The Madame Sagittarius Story |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1926 | The Shelf | Miss Paterson | Morosco Theatre, Broadway |
| 1931 | In Times Square | Sally Stewart | Longacre Theatre, Broadway |
| 1957 | New Girl in Town | McCathy | 46th Street Theatre, Broadway |
| 1961 | UTBU | Performer | Hayes Theatre, Broadway |

### Radio

| Year | Program | Notes | Ref. |
| 1953 | Theatre Guild on the Air | Episode: A Square Peg | |

## 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
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1950 | Best Supporting Actress | All About Eve | Nominated |
| 1951 | Best Supporting Actress | The Mating Season | Nominated |
| 1952 | Best Supporting Actress | With a Song in My Heart | Nominated |
| 1953 | Best Supporting Actress | Pickup on South Street | Nominated |
| 1959 | Best Supporting Actress | Pillow Talk | Nominated |
| 1962 | Best Supporting Actress | Birdman of Alcatraz | Nominated |
Primetime Emmy Awards
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1956 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Goodyear Television Playhouse | Nominated | |
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.
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
| 1958 | Best Actress in a Musical | New Girl in Town | Won | |
Golden Globe Awards
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1950 | Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture | All About Eve | Nominated |
| 1951 | Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture | The Mating Season | Nominated |
| 1965 | Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture | Boeing Boeing | Nominated |