Biography for
Ruth Gordon (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

30 October 1896, Quincy, Massachusetts, USA

Date of Death

28 August 1985, Edgartown, Massachusetts, USA (stroke)

Birth Name

Ruth Gordon Jones

Height

5' 1" (1.55 m)

Mini Biography

When Ruth Gordon convinced her father, a sea captain, to let her pursue acting she came to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She acted in a few silents 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 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 returned to movies briefly. Her most memorable role during this period in the early 1940s was as Mary Todd in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940).

She left Hollywood to return to theater. Back in New York, she married 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 screen relationship was modeled on their own marriage. She returned to film acting during the 1960s. It is during this last period of her career that she became a movie star, with memorable roles in Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Harold and Maude (1971). She has written several books since the mid-1970s and has appeared on TV. She won an Emmy for her role on "Taxi" (1978) in 1979.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Amy Harper

Spouse

Garson Kanin	(2 December 1942 - 28 August 1985) (her death)
Gregory Kelly	(1921 - 9 July 1927) (his death)

Trivia

Her only child, a son, was the product of an out-of-wedlock relationship with Jed Harris, in between marriages.

Her obsession with acting was partly inspired by a performance she attended of "The Pink Lady" at a Boston theatre. It starred Hazel Dawn as a seductive Parisian vamp.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1956 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for portraying Dolly Levi in Thornton Wilder's "The Matchmaker."

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 330-332. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

Was portrayed by Jean Simmons in the movie, The Actress (1953).

The oldest person to host "Saturday Night Live" (1975). She was born in 1896.

Was a close friend of actor Bud Cort.

Natalie Wood was so fond of her that she named her the godmother to her firstborn Natasha Gregson Wagner.

There is a 2009 biography of the lives and careers of the Kanin family (Garson, Ruth [Gordon], Michael and Fay): "A Family Affair - The Kanins in Hollywood and on Broadway" written by Josh Kanin (her nephew by marriage) and Wayne Lindholm.

Personal Quotes

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.

If you believe, then you hang on. If you believe, it means you've got imagination, you don't need stuff thrown out on a blueprint, and don't face facts-what can stop you? If I don't make it today, I'll come in tomorrow.

All I wanted out of a career was to look like Hazel Dawn and wear pink feathers.

[On winning the Oscar at age 72, after fifty years in show business.] "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is, for a young actress like myself."

In our family we don't divorce our men - we bury them.

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