Biography for
Judy Holliday More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

21 June 1921, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

7 June 1965, New York City, New York, USA (breast cancer)

Birth Name

Judith Tuvim

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Judy Holliday was born Judith Tuvim in New York City on June 21, 1921. Her mother was a piano instructor who was attending a play when she went into labor. She made it just in time. Judy would be her only child. By the time Judy was four years old, her mother had enrolled her in ballet school and this helped her to foster a life long interest in show business. Two years later her parents divorced. By the time she got to high school, Judy had begun to develop an interest in the theater. She excelled in several high school plays along with her studies and after graduation, got a job in the Orson Welles Mercury Theater--as a switchboard operator. Slowly, Judy worked her way on the stage. From that point on Judy appeared on stages in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. as well as New York City. In addition to the theaters, Judy toured the nightclub circuit as part of a group called "The Revuers". After being on the stage, Judy went to Hollywood and made her first foray into the film world. It was through the Revuers that Judy had her first shot at the silver screen in a film entitled, GREENWICH VILLAGE in 1944. Unfortunately, most of what they shot ended up on the cutting room floor. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Judy got two more roles in films that year, SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS and WINGED VICTORY. At least in the latter, Judy had a chance to have a few lines of dialogue. True, they were small, but it was a step up over GREENWICH VILLAGE. Afterwards, Judy left California to go back to New York and continue her stage career. It would be five more years before she would return to the big screen. When she did return, it was for the production of ADAM'S RIB playing Doris Attinger. Based on her success in that film, Judy was signed to play Billie Dawn in 1950's BORN YESTERDAY. (She had successfully played the stage version). Her acting was so superb in this production, she was nominated for and won Best Actress. Judy was completely convincing as the "dumb blonde" in that film. She had reached the pinnacle of her craft and was a force to be reckoned with, but unforeseen circumstances loomed on the horizon. After filming THE MARRYING KIND, Judy was summoned before the Un-American Activities Committee to ask her about organizations and affiliations she was associated with. Joseph McCarthy, the junior Senator from Wisconsin, had earlier stated that he had a list of Communists in the State Department. In fact, there was no list, only McCarthy trying to make a name for himself. He and his fellow committee members made the allegations sound credible. It wasn't long before the "Red Scare" spilled over into the entertainment industry. Numerous entertainers were summoned to Washington to answer for their "questionable" associations. Judy was one of those called to testify. Fortunately for her, she was not "blacklisted" as were some of her counter-parts, but the damage was done. It was the old adage of "guilt by association". Now the Oscar winning actress didn't get the parts that she probably could have had. Her film career was curtailed somewhat, but rebounded. She continued with her stage and musical efforts, but limited time on the screen. After filming THE SOLID GOLD CADILLAC in 1956, Judy was absent from movies for the next four years. Her last film was the MGM production of BELLS ARE RINGING with Dean Martin in 1960 and it was one of her best. She was 39, an age where she should have been fast becoming a household name. Her performances were flawless, an actress with a fantastic talent. But she had become ill with cancer. She had pulled her life together and continued to work the stage and make records, but she was slowly dying. Judy died three weeks before her 44th birthday in New York City on June 7, 1965. If only Judy had been dealt a better hand at life, she could have very well been one of the most famous actresses of all time.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Mini Biography

Rejected by the Yale Drama School, Judy began in the theater as a backstage operator for Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. She made her stage debut when she joined Betty Comden and Adolph Green in a cabaret group called the Revuers. Working their way up through the circuit, the group was hired by 20th Century Fox to appear in the film 'Greenwich Village (1944)'. With only a bit part in the movie, Judy would appear in two more films that same year before she was dropped by the studio. Judy moved to the stage where she appeared in the 1945 production of the play "Kiss Them for Me". Her big break came when she replaced Jean Arthur in the Garson Kanin play "Born Yesterday". When Columbia bought the film rights to the play, Harry Cohn wanted Rita Hayworth in the role of Billie Dawn. With the help of her two co-stars and great reviews for her performance in 'Adam's Rib (1949)', Judy got the part she had played on the stage. Her superb comic timing and quirky charm won her the Oscar for Best Actress. Unfortunately, the role of Billie also typecast Judy. The parts that she would play in the few movies that she made were to be variations of the same character. Jack Lemmon, who worked with Judy in the film 'It Should Happen to You (1954)', had nothing but praise for her. But by the time she made 'The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956)', Judy and Hollywood parted company. With only slightly more than half a dozen films, Judy had made her mark on the movies and she went back to the stage. She would once more be called to film 'Bells Are Ringing (1960)', which was the filmed version of her hit Broadway play of the same name. After that, things began to turn down for Judy. Some of her next plays were flops and she had a very unhappy romance with a musician named Mulligan. Judy was 43 when cancer claimed her in 1965.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana

Mini Biography

A true New York girl, born and raised, Judith Tuvim was the only child of parents Abe Tuvimand Helen. In school, she excelled in academics, winning several awards for her skills as a writer. While in her early teens, she developed what would become a life-long love for theater. In 1938, she made her professional debut as part of a nightclub act called "The Revuers". Her partners in the act included aspiring playwrights Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The Revuers had a loyal following and even their own weekly radio show on NBC. In 1944, The Revuers broke up after a failed attempt to break into films. Judith adopted the stage name of "Judy Holliday" as part of a "makeover" process that was orchestrated by 20th Century Fox. Judy's breakthrough performance would come on the stage however, in the 1945 play "Kiss Them For Me". She followed it up in 1946, with the lead role of "Billie Dawn" in Garson Kanin's smash hit "Born Yesterday". She married classical musician 'David Oppenheim' in January of 1948. Later, they would have a son named Jonathan, born in November of 1952. In 1950, Judy reprised her Born Yesterday role in the film version for Columbia Studios. Her hysterical and endearing portrayal of dumb blonde "Billie Dawn" earned her an upset win at the Academy Awards, beating out the likes of Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson for the Best Actress Oscar. Her new found fame made her a prime target for the Communist witch hunters of the early 1950s. She became the subject of a secret F.B.I. investigation and a victim of "blacklisting". She was later cleared of any serious wrong-doing after testifying before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, but by then the damage to her career had already been done. The quality roles befitting an Oscar winning actress did not come her way. She was forced to star in lesser roles that were often just flat variations of the Billie Dawn character. It's a testament to her acting abilities that she was able to rise above the material and give solid performances time and time again. When not lighting up the silver screen, Judy divided her time between the stage and making records. She was a unique and gifted performer whose life and career were cut tragically short when she lost her 5 year battle with cancer in June of 1965.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Glenn McMahon

Spouse

Dave Oppenheim

(5 January 1948 - 1 March 1958) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Despite her image of a "dumb blond", she was actually very smart. Her I.Q was measured at 172. She often said that it took a lot of smarts to convince people that her characters were stupid.

Singer.

Listed by Madonna as one of her biggest influences.

According to biographer Gary Carey, Holliday flummoxed the House Un=American Activities Committee so much in its search for "subversives" in the film industry (by essentially playing her Billie Dawn character on the witness stand) that she ended up being the only person ever called before HUAC who was neither blacklisted nor compelled to name names.

During the Broadway musical "Bells Are Ringing", she had a brief fling with her co-star Sydney Chaplin, the son of Charles Chaplin.

An only child.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 217-218. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Son, Jonathan Oppenheim, is a film editor.

Lived in the building where John Lennon was murdered.

Dated Nicholas Ray in 1944.

Won Broadway's 1957 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Bells Are Ringing," a role she recreated in the film version of the same name, Bells Are Ringing (1960).

To help build up Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib (1949) was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part in Born Yesterday (1950).

Her performance as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday (1950) is ranked #96 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Son Jonathan Oppenheim born November 11, 1952.

Following her divorce she became involved with jazz musician Gerry Mulligan. After learning she had breast cancer and stopped filming, she began writing songs with him...he the music and she the lyrics. . Some of these songs appear on the album "Holliday With Mulligan" that they recorded together in 1961; it was not released until 1980.

Co-wrote and performed songs with jazz legend Gerry Mulligan for the album "Holliday with Mulligan".

Personal Quotes

You have to be smart to play a dumb blonde over and over and keep the audience's attention without extraordinary physical equipment.

Salary

The Marrying Kind (1952)	$200,000
Greenwich Village (1944)	$400/week

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