Celeste Holm (April 29, 1917 – July 15, 2012) was an American stage, film and television actress.

Holm won an Academy Award for her performance in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and was Oscar nominated for her roles in Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve (1950). She originated the role of Ado Annie in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! (1943).

Early life

Born and raised in New York City, Holm was an only child. Her mother, Jean Parke, was an American portrait artist and author; her father, Theodor Holm, was a Norwegian businessman whose company provided marine adjustment services for Lloyd's of London. Because of her parents' occupations, she traveled often during her youth and attended various schools in Holland, France and the United States. She graduated from University High School for Girls in Chicago, where she performed in many school stage productions. She then studied drama at the University of Chicago before becoming a stage actress in the late 1930s.

Career

 

Holm's first professional theatrical role was in a production of Hamlet starring Leslie Howard. She first appeared on Broadway in a small part in Gloriana (1938), a comedy which lasted for only five performances, but her first major part on Broadway was in William Saroyan's revival of The Time of Your Life (1940) as Mary L. with fellow newcomer Gene Kelly. The role that got her the most recognition from critics and audiences was as Ado Annie in the premiere production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! in 1943.

After she starred in the Broadway production of Bloomer Girl, 20th Century Fox signed Holm to a movie contract in 1946. She made her film debut that same year in Three Little Girls in Blue, making a startling entrance in a “Technicolor red” dress singing “Always a Lady,” a belting Ado Annie-type song, although the character was different—a lady. In 1947 she won an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in Gentleman's Agreement. After another supporting role in All About Eve, however, Holm realized she preferred live theater to movie work, and only accepted a few select film roles over the next decade. The most successful of these were the comedy The Tender Trap (1955) and the musical High Society (1956), both of which co-starred Frank Sinatra. She starred as a professor-turned-reporter in New York City in the CBS television series Honestly, Celeste! (fall 1954) and was thereafter a panelist on Who Pays? (1959). She also appeared several times on ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom.[citation needed]

In 1958, she starred as a reporter in an unsold television pilot called The Celeste Holm Show, based on the book No Facilities for Women. Holm also starred in the musical The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall. In 1965, she played the Fairy Godmother alongside Lesley Ann Warren in the CBS production of Cinderella. In 1970-71, she was featured on the NBC sitcom Nancy, with Renne Jarrett, John Fink and Robert F. Simon. In the story line, Holm played Abby Townsend, the press secretary of the First Lady of the United States and the chaperone of Jarrett's character, Nancy Smith, the President's daughter. During the 1970s and 1980s, Holm did more screen acting, with roles in films such as Tom Sawyer and Three Men and a Baby, and in television series (often as a guest star) such as Columbo, The Eleventh Hour, Archie Bunker's Place and Falcon Crest. In 1979, she played the role of First Lady Florence Harding in the television mini-series, Backstairs at the White House. She was a regular on the ABC soap opera Loving, appearing first in 1986 in the role of Lydia Woodhouse and again as Isabelle Dwyer Alden #2 from 1991 to 1992. She last appeared on television in the CBS television series Promised Land (1996–99).

Honors

A life member of The Actors Studio, Holm received numerous honors during her lifetime, including the 1968 Sarah Siddons Award for distinguished achievement in Chicago theatre; she was appointed to the National Arts Council by then-President Ronald Reagan, appointed Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav by King Olav of Norway in 1979, and inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1992. She remained active for social causes as a spokesperson for UNICEF, and for occasional professional engagements. From 1995 she was Chairman of the Board of Arts Horizons, a not-for-profit arts-in-education organization.

In 2006, Holm was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the SunDeis Film Festival at Brandeis University.

Holm was a guest at the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Aberdeen, Maryland. Some of the movies in which she appeared were screened at the festival, and the un-aired television pilot for Meet Me in St. Louis was shown. She received an honorary award during the dinner banquet at the close of the event.

Personal life

Attending the Academy Awards in 1988

• Holm's first marriage was to Ralph Nelson in 1936. Their son, Internet pioneer and sociologist Ted Nelson (born 1937), was raised by his maternal grandparents. The marriage ended in 1939. In his 2010 memoir, Possiplex, her son, credited with coining the term “hypertext,” described this and other choices as “entirely the right decisions.” He reportedly did not name his mother in the book.

• Holm married Francis Emerson Harding Davies, an English auditor, on January 7, 1940. Davies was a Roman Catholic, and she was received into the Roman Catholic Church for the purposes of their 1940 wedding; the marriage was dissolved on May 8, 1945.

• From 1946 to 1952, Holm was married to airline public relations executive A. Schuyler Dunning, with whom she had a second son, businessman Daniel Dunning.

• From 1961 to 1996, she was married to actor Wesley Addy (1913–1996), until his death at age 83 in 1996.

• On April 29, 2004, her 87th birthday, Holm married opera singer Frank Basile, age 41. The couple met in October 1999 at a fundraiser at which Basile was hired to sing. Soon after their marriage, Holm and Basile sued to overturn the irrevocable trust that was created in 2002 by Daniel Dunning, Holm's younger son. The trust was ostensibly set up to shelter Holm's financial assets from taxes though Basile contended the real purpose of the trust was to keep him away from her money. The lawsuit began a five-year battle with her sons, which cost millions of dollars, and according to an article in The New York Times, left Holm and her husband with a fragile hold on their home, which Holm purchased for $10,000 cash in 1953 from her film earnings, and which is now believed to be worth at least $10,000,000.

Health and death

According to her husband, Holm had been treated for memory loss since 2002, suffered skin cancer, bleeding ulcers and a collapsed lung, and had hip replacements and pacemakers.

In June 2012, Holm was admitted to New York's Roosevelt Hospital with dehydration. She suffered a heart attack on July 13 in the facility, dying at home on July 15, where she chose to spend her final days. She is survived by husband Frank Basile and her sons and grandchildren.

Work

Film Year Title Role Notes 1946 Three Little Girls in Blue Miriam Harrington   1947 Carnival in Costa Rica Celeste   1947 Gentleman's Agreement Anne Dettrey   1948 Road House Susie Smith   1948 The Snake Pit Grace   1949 Chicken Every Sunday Emily Hefferan   1949 A Letter to Three Wives Addie Ross (voice, uncredited)   1949 Come to the Stable Sister Scholastica   1949 Everybody Does It Doris Blair Borland   1950 Champagne for Caesar Flame O'Neill   1950 All About Eve Karen   1955 The Tender Trap Sylvia Crewes   1956 High Society Liz Imbrie   1962 Bachelor Flat Helen Bushmill   1963 Hailstones and Halibut Bones Narrator (voice) Short film 1967 Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! Louise Halloran   1973 Tom Sawyer Aunt Polly   1976 Bittersweet Love Marian   1977 The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover Florence Hollister   1987 Three Men and a Baby Mrs. Holden   1989 Nora's Christmas Gift Nora Richards Video 1997 Still Breathing Ida   2005 Alchemy Iris   2012 Driving Me Crazy Mrs. Ginsberg   2013 College Debts Grandma GG Completed Television Year Title Role Notes 1950 All Star Revue Guest Actress Episode "1.6" 1951 Lux Video Theatre Eliza Margaret Best Episode: "The Pacing Goose" Episode: "Second Sight" 1952 Schlitz Playhouse   Episode: "Four's a Family" 1952 Lux Video Theatre Katherine Case Episode: "The Bargain" 1953 Lux Video Theatre Miss Prynne Episode: "Lost Sunday" 1953 Hollywood Opening Night   Episode: "Mrs. Genius" 1953 Your Jeweler's Showcase   Episode: "Heart's Desire" 1954 Honestly, Celeste! Celeste Anders TV series 1955 The United States Steel Hour Madge Collins Episode: "The Bogey Man" 1956 Climax! Mary Miller Episode: "The Empty Room Blues" 1956 Sneak Preview   TV series 1956 Carolyn Carolyn Daniels TV movie 1956 The Steve Allen Show Mad Meggie Episode: "2.8" 1956 Producers' Showcase Mad Meggie Episode: "Jack and the Beanstalk" 1957 Schlitz Playhouse Lettie Morgan Episode: "The Wedding Present" 1957 Goodyear Playhouse Maggie Travis Episode: "The Princess Back Home" 1957 Zane Grey Theater Sarah Kimball Episode: "Fugitive" 1957 The Yeoman of the Guard Phoebe Meryll TV movie 1960 Art Carney Special   Episode: "The Man in the Dog Suit" 1960 The Christophers   Episode: "Women of the Bible" 1961 Play of the Week Virginia Episode: "A Clearing in the Woods" 1962 Follow the Sun Miss Bullfinch Episode: "The Irresistable Miss Bullfinch" 1962 Checkmate Laraine Whitman Episode: "So Beats My Plastic Heart" 1962 Alcoa Premiere Laura Bennett Episode: "Cry Out in Silence" 1963 Dr. Kildare Nurse Jane Munson Episode: "The Pack Rat and Prima Donna" 1963 Burke's Law Helen Forsythe Episode: "Who Killed the Kind Doctor?" 1964 The Eleventh Hour Billie Hamilton Episode "How Do I Say I Love You?" 1965 Mr. Novak Rose Herrod Episode: "An Elephant Is Like a Tree" 1965 Cinderella Fairy Godmother TV movie 1965 Run for Your Life Margot Horst Episode: "The Cold, Cold War of Paul Bryan" 1965 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color Mrs. Fuller 4 episodes 1965 The Fugitive Flo Hagerman Episode: "The Old Man Picked a Lemon" 1966 The Long Hot Summer Libby Rankin Episode: "Face of Fear" 1966 Meet Me in St. Louis Mrs. Smith TV movie 1967 The Fugitive Pearl Patton Episode: "Concrete Evidence" 1967 The F.B.I. Flo Clementi Episode: "The Executioners: Part 1" Episode: "The Executioners: Part 2" 1967 Cosa Nostra, Arch Enemy of the FBI Flo Clementi TV movie 1967 Insight Mrs. Berns Episode: "Fat Hands and a Diamond Ring" 1970 The Name of the Game Irene Comdon Episode: "The Brass Ring" 1970 Swing Out, Sweet Land Nancy Lincoln TV movie 1970-1971 Nancy Abigail 17 episodes 1972 The Delphi Bureau Sybil Van Loween Episode: "Pilot" 1973 Medical Center Dr. Linda Wilson Episode: "No Margin for Error" 1974 Medical Center Geraldine Stern Episode: "Web of Intrigue" 1974 The Streets of San Francisco Mrs. Shaninger Episode: "Crossfire" 1974 The Underground Man Beatrice Broadhurst TV movie 1974 Death Cruise Elizabeth Mason TV movie 1974 The Manhunter   Episode: "The Truck Murders" 1976 The American Woman: Portraits of Courage Elizabeth Cady Stanton TV movie 1976 Captains and the Kings Sister Angela TV miniseries 1976 Columbo Mrs. Brandt Episode: "Old Fashioned Murder" 1977 The Love Boat II Eva McFarland TV movie 1977 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color   Episode: "The Bluegrass Special" 1977 Wonder Woman Dolly Tucker Episode: "I Do, I Do" 1978 Lucan   Episode: "You Can't Have My Baby" 1978 Fantasy Island Mabel Jarvis Episode: "The Beachcomber/The Last Whodunnit" 1979 Fantasy Island Sister Veronica Episode: "The Look Alikes/Winemaker" 1979 Backstairs at the White House Mrs. Florence Harding TV miniseries 1979 Trapper John, M.D. Claudia Episode: "The Shattered Image" 1979 The Love Boat Estelle Castlewood 1 episode 1981 Midnight Lace Sylvia Randall TV movie 1981 As the World Turns Lauren Roberts TV series 1981 Archie Bunker's Place Estelle Harris 4 episodes 1982 American Playhouse Celebrity Episode: "The Shady Hill Kidnapping" 1982 Trapper John, M.D. Lillie Townsend Episode: "Don't Rain on My Charade" 1983 Archie Bunker's Place Estelle Harris Episode: "Three Women" 1983 This Girl for Hire Zandra Stoneham TV movie 1984 Jessie Molly Hayden TV movie 1984 Jessie Molly Hayden 6 episodes 1984 The Love Boat Florence Flanders 1 episode 1985 Matt Houston Katherine Hershey Episode: "Company Secrets" 1985 Falcon Crest Anna Rossini 6 episodes 1987 Murder by the Book Claire TV movie 1987 Magnum, P.I. Abigail Baldwin Episode: "The Love That Lies" 1988 Spenser: For Hire Rose Episode: "Haunting" 1989 CBS Summer Playhouse Samantha Orbison Episode: "Road Show" 1989 Polly Miss Snow TV movie 1989-1990 Christine Cromwell Samantha Cromwell 4 episodes 1990 Polly: Comin' Home! Miss Snow TV movie 1991-1992 Loving Isabella Alden TV series 1992 Cheers Grandmother Gaines Episode: "No Rest for the Woody" 1995 Great Performances   Episode: "Talking With" 1996 Home of the Brave Hattie Greene TV movie 1996 Once You Meet a Stranger Clara TV movie 1996-1999 Promised Land Hattie Greene 67 episodes 1996 Touched by an Angel Hattie Greene Episode: "Promised Land" 1997 Touched by an Angel Hattie Greene Episode: "The Road Home: Part 1" Episode: "Amazing Grace: Part 2" 1998 Touched by an Angel Hattie Greene Episode: "Vengeance Is Mine: Part 1" 2000 The Beat Frances Robinson 13 episodes 2002 Third Watch Florence Episode: "Transformed" 2004 Whoopi Diana Episode: "The Squatters" Theatre Year Title Role Notes 1938 Gloriana Lady Mary   1940 The Time of Your Life Mary L   1940 Another Sun Maria   1940 The Return of the Vagabond His Daughter   1941 Eight O'Clock Tuesday Marcia Godden   1941 My Fair Ladies Lady Keith-Odlyn   1942 Papa Is All Emma   1942 All the Comforts of Home Fifi Oritanski   1942 The Damask Cheek Calla Longstreth   1943 Oklahoma! Ado Annie Carnes   1944 Bloomer Girl Evalina   1950 Affairs of State Irene Elliott   1951 The King and I Anna Leonowens Replacement 1952 Anna Christie Anna Christopherson   1954 His and Hers Maggie Palmer   1958 Interlock Mrs. Price   1958 Third Best Sport Helen Sayre   1960 Invitation to a March Camilla Jablonski   1967 Mame Mame Dennis Replacement 1970 Candida Candida   1974 Habeas Corpus Lady Rumpers   1979 The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall Julia Faysle   1991 I Hate Hamlet Lilian Troy   1994 Allegro Grandma Taylor