Audrey Christie
American actress (1912–1989)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Audrey Christie (June 27, 1912[a] – December 19,[b] 1989) was an American actress, singer and dancer.
Early life
Christie was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended a fine arts school in Chicago, but she quit at age 15 after finding success as a performer with the Six Chicago Steppers.[3]
Career
Originally, Christie worked as a singer and dancer, starting as a teenager in vaudeville shows,[2] but she later acted in dramatic roles as well.[1] Early roles on Broadway included Follow Thru (1929), Sailor, Beware! (1933), The Women (1936), I Married an Angel (1938),[2] and Without Love (1942). She had a lead role in The Desk Set (1956).
In the 1930s Christie was a favorite of audiences at the Muny Opera in St. Louis when she was "a young girl in a flamboyant costume, roaring toward the footlights on a motorcycle or leaping in a clownish dance routine across the stage."[3]
She performed in the films Keeper of the Flame (1943),[4] Deadline – U.S.A. (1952), Carousel (1956), Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), Harlow (1965), Frankie and Johnny (1966), The Ballad of Josie (1967), Mame (1974), and Harper Valley PTA (1978).
Christie acted in several episodes of the anthology TV series Studio One and another TV series, Fair Exchange.[2] During the 1964–1965 television season, she had a recurring role on the situation comedy The Cara Williams Show. In 1975, she appeared on the sitcom Maude, playing the role of Maude's overbearing mother. And on TV's Barney Miller appeared in two episode, 'The Courtesans' as a "Madame", and in the episode 'Old Love' as an overbearing stage mother.
She won a Donaldson Award for her performance in the play The Voice of the Turtle.[1]
Personal life and death
She was married to Guy Robertson, also a performer, and they had a daughter.[3]
Her second marriage was to actor Donald Briggs,[3] who predeceased her. They had a son[3] and three grandchildren.[1] Although both of them were from Chicago, they met only when they were in a touring company of the play Without Love. After marriage, they generally maintained separate careers, only occasionally working together on television or in stock theater.[5]
Christie died of emphysema on December 19,[b] 1989, at her home in West Hollywood, California.[1]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | Keeper of the Flame | Jane Harding | |
| 1952 | Deadline – U.S.A. | Mrs. Willebrandt | |
| 1956 | Carousel | Mrs. Mullin | |
| 1961 | Splendor in the Grass | Frieda Loomis | |
| 1964 | The Unsinkable Molly Brown | Mrs. Gladys McGraw | |
| 1965 | Harlow | Thelma | |
| 1966 | Frankie and Johnny | Peg | |
| 1967 | The Ballad of Josie | Annabelle Pettijohn | |
| 1974 | Mame | Mrs. Upson | |
| 1975 | Maude | Mother "Florence" Chadbourne | |
| 1978 | Harper Valley PTA | Flora Simpson Reilly |
