Matinee Classics - Mercedes McCambridge Biography & Filmography

Mercedes McCambridge ACTOR

PHOTOS

MERCEDES MCCAMBRIDGE BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Mercedes McCambridge was born on March 16th, 1916 in Joliet, Illinois with the birth name Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge, born to Marie and John Patrick McCambridge. After high school she went on to study ay Mundelein College and then began to pursue a career in entertainment.

She first began by finding work as a radio actress and also began to gain experience as a stage actress making her way into a number of Broadway productions. Some of her early radio credits added to her resume were, "I Love a Mystery" and "Abies's Irish Rose".

After gaining quite a bit of experience on the stage and radio she began to break into the film industry appearing on, "All the King's men" (1949) for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Other roles she added were in, "Johnny Guitar" (1954) starring Sterling Hayden, Scott Brady and Joan Crawford, "Giant" (1956) starring Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, "Suddenly, Last Summer" (1959) starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift, "Angel Baby" (1969), "99 Women" (1969), "The Other Side of the Wind" (1972) and "Thieves" (1977) among others.

She did not neglect stage acting and later in her career she toured in a production of, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and was seen again on the stage in such plays as, "The Mousetrap" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot".

McCambridge added to her credits voice over work such as on the film, "The Excorcist" where she played the voice of the possessed child. She also did the voice of the narrator on the television short, "Lyman H. Howe's High Class Moving Pictures". Originally, she did not receive credit for "The Exorcist" voice over work, however after a legal battle, she was credited for the use of her voice.

She was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry and to Television. Some of her television series roles included, "Rawhide", "Bewitched", "The Dakotas", "The Defenders", "Vacation Playhouse", "Gunsmoke" and "Charlie's Angels".

Throughout her lifetime she married twice, first to William Fifield in 1941 and together they had one child before the marriage came to an end in 1946. She then married Fletcher Markle in 1950 and they also had one child together before their marriage came to an end as well in 1962.

She never re-married and at one point in her life entered rehabilitation, realizing she had an addiction to alcohol. In 1980, she chose to retire from the industry with some of her latest roles on the television series, "Amazing Stories" (1987), "Cagney and Lacey" (1988), "Magnum, P.I." (1981) and "Hagen" (1980).

Mercedes McCambridge passed away on March 2nd, 2004 in La Jolla, California from natural causes.