Who Am I? August 7, 2021

I was born in N.Y.C. in the 1920’s to Witia, a Russian-Jewish immigrant, who worked as both an actress and a teacher. My dad, Abraham, was of Romanian-Jewish descent and he worked as a realtor.

As a youngster I was briefly a part of the American Ballet under Balanchine but my real calling came later on, after I had graduated George Washington High School. I found my career path and a ‘home’ at the ‘Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre’ where I studied acting under Sanford Meisner and movement under the tutelage of Martha Graham. I also enrolled in the Actors Studio.

On Broadway I received good notices for a role in a play written by Sidney Kingsley. I was lucky enough to reprise that same role in a William Wyler directed film that won me a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Alas, I was to receive 4 such nominations during my long career but won only once for a role in a 1970’s film.

As a young woman I was never really involved in politics but I somehow stepped in a landmine by eulogizing a co-star of mine who was being investigated by H.U.A.C. (“House of Un-American Activities Committee”). I refused to testify before the Committee and that earned me a place on the infamous publication ‘Red Channels.” That kiss of death largely blacklisted me from films for a dozen years in the prime of my life.

Luckily I was able to find work on TV, on Broadway, and in non-Hollywood shot films. One of those 1960’s era TV series won 4 Emmys. As the years went by and roles dried up for actresses “of a certain age” I reinvented myself to be the person behind the camera serving as a director of short films, TV movies and documentaries. I always hated to see people treated unfairly so I undertook documentaries with a social conscience featuring themes of poverty, domestic abuse and mental illness.

Somehow, I did find time to write down my memoirs. I have been a guest at the Cliffhanger Film Festivals in Fort Lee, N.J. and even into my 90’s I appeared as a celebrity at the Chiller Theater held at the Parsippany Hilton in April 2019.

I was married twice and I was said to remark: “I’ve been married to a communist and a fascist and neither of them ever took out the garbage…” That’s me in the photo below.

(1a)Who Am I? (1b) Whose funeral did I attend and spoke at that got me into so much trouble? (1c) Ironically, I played the mother of one of the McCarthy Era’s tormentors in an HBO film. Who did I play and what was the name of the production? (2a)In which film did I earn an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor? (2b)What is the title of my memoir? (2c)What role did I play in both the Kingsley play and Wyler film referred to above? (2d)One of my documentaries also won me an Oscar. What was the name of that work? (3) Why is there a plaque with my grandfather Leon’s name on it in Rishon L’zion in Israel? (4)Here is a bonus question and a tough one for extra credit. In 1968 I made a film in Rome and brought my cat along. What was the cat’s name??