Gale Sondergaard

Gale Sondergaard
in the trailer for Dramatic School (1938)
Born	Edith Holm Sondergaard February 15, 1899 Litchfield, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	August 14, 1985 (aged 86) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Cremains scattered into the Pacific Ocean
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1936–1983
Spouse(s)	Neill O'Malley (1922–1930) (divorced) Herbert J. Biberman (1930–1971) (his death) 2 children

Gale Sondergaard (February 15, 1899 – August 14, 1985) was an American actress.

Sondergaard began her acting career in theater, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse (1936). She played supporting roles in various films during the late 1930s and early 1940s, including The Cat and the Canary (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940) and The Letter (1940). She was nominated for a second Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Anna and the King of Siam (1946) but by the end of the decade her film appearances were fewer.

Married to the director Herbert Biberman, Sondergaard supported him when he was accused of communism and named as one of the Hollywood Ten in the early 1950s, which effectively ended her film career. She moved with Biberman to New York City and worked in theatre, and acted in film and television occasionally from the late 1960s. She moved back to Los Angeles where she died from cerebrovascular thrombosis.

Early life

She was born Edith Holm Sondergaard on February 15, 1899, in Litchfield, Minnesota to Danish-American parents, Hans and Christin (Holm) Sondergaard. Her father taught at University of Minnesota, where she was a drama student.^[1]

Stage and film career

She studied acting at the Minneapolis School of Dramatic Arts before joining the John Keller Shakespeare Company. She later toured North America in productions of Hamlet, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth. After becoming a member of the Theatre Guild, she began performing on the New York stage.^[2]

in the trailer for The Letter (1940)

Sondergaard made her first film appearance in Anthony Adverse (1936) as "Faith Paleologue" and became the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for this performance.^[1][3] Her career as an actress flourished during the 1930s, and included a role opposite Paul Muni in The Life of Emile Zola (1937).^[4]

During pre-production of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's classic The Wizard of Oz (1939), an early idea was to have the Wicked Witch of the West portrayed as a slinky, glamorous villainess in a black sequined costume, inspired by the Evil Queen in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).^[1] Sondergaard was originally cast as the witch in "Oz" and was photographed for two wardrobe tests, both of which survive. One was as a glamorous wicked witch, and another as a conventionally ugly wicked witch. After the decision was made to have an ugly wicked witch, Sondergaard, reluctant to wear the disfiguring makeup and fearing it could damage her career, withdrew from the role, and it went to veteran character actress Margaret Hamilton. Sondergaard was, however, cast as the sultry and slinky Tylette (a magically humanized, but devious, cat) in 1940s The Blue Bird.^[5]

In 1940, she played the role of the exotic and sinister wife in The Letter, supporting Bette Davis.^[1] She received a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the King's principal wife in Anna and the King of Siam in 1946.^[6]

House Un-American Activities Committee

Sondergaard's career suffered irreparable damage during the United States Congressional HUAC Red Scare of the early 1950s, when her husband was accused of being a communist and named as one of the Hollywood Ten.^[7] (In the 2000 movie One of the Hollywood Ten, Sondergaard was portrayed by actress Greta Scacchi while Jeff Goldblum was cast as Biberman.) With her career stalled, she supported her husband during the production of Salt of the Earth (1954).^[8][9]

Highly controversial when it was made, and not a commercial success, its artistic and cultural merit was recognized in 1992 when the National Film Preservation Board selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. One of the Hollywood Ten (2000) chronicled Sondergaard's relationship with Biberman and her role in the making of Salt of the Earth. The Bibermans sold their home in Hollywood shortly after they completed Salt of the Earth, and moved to New York where Sondergaard was able to work in theatre.^[7]

Personal life

Her younger sister Hester Sondergaard was also an actress who starred in the following films: Jigsaw, The Naked City, and Seeds of Freedom.^[10]

Sondergaard was first married in 1922 to actor Neill O'Malley; they divorced in 1930. On 15 May 1930, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she married her second husband, Herbert Biberman, a theater director then associated with the Theatre Guild Acting Company; he became a film director and died in 1971.^[11] They had two children, Daniel Hans Biberman and Mrs. Joan Campos.^[1]

Sondergaard made a few more film and television appearances, before retiring. She died from cerebrovascular thrombosis in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 86.^[1]

Acting credits

Stage

Opening date	Closing date	Title	Role	Theatre	Refs
Oct 08, 1928	Nov 1928	Faust	The Witch	Guild Theatre	[12]
Nov 19, 1928	Jan 1929	Major Barbara	Sarah Undershaft, Lady Britomart's daughter	Guild Theatre	[13]
Oct 7, 1929	Nov 1929	Karl and Anna	Marie's sister	Guild Theatre	[14]
Dec 17, 1929	Feb 1930	Red Rust	Nina	Martin Beck Theatre	[15]
May 11, 1931	May 23, 1931	Alison's House	Elsa - Replacement	Ritz Theatre	[16]
Feb 21, 1933	March 1933	American Dream	Lydia Kimball, The First Play, 1650	Guild Theatre	[17]
May 17, 1934	Jul 1934	Invitation to a Murder	Lorinda Channing	Theatre Masque	[18]
Nov 6, 1933	Nov 1933	Doctor Monica	Anna	Playhouse Theatre	[19]
Dec 19, 1940	Dec 28, 1940	Cue for Passion	Frances Chapman	Royale Theatre	[20]
Apr 02, 1980	April 26, 1980	Goodbye Fidel	Prudencia	Ambassador Theatre	[21]

Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs
1936	Anthony Adverse	Faith Paleologus	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress	[4]
1937	Maid of Salem	Martha Harding		[4]
	Seventh Heaven	Nana, Diane's Sister		[4]
	The Life of Emile Zola	Lucie Dreyfus		[4]
1938	Lord Jeff	Doris Clandon		[4]
	Dramatic School	Madame Therese Charlot		[4]
1939	Never Say Die	Juno Marko		[4]
	Juarez	Empress Eugenie		[4]
	Sons of Liberty	Rachel Salomon		[22]
	The Cat and the Canary	Miss Lu		[4]
	The Llano Kid	Lora Travers		[4]
1940	The Blue Bird	Tylette (the cat)		[4]
	The Mark of Zorro	Inez Quintero		[4]
	The Letter	Mrs. Hammond		[4]
1941	The Black Cat	Abigail Doone		[4]
	Paris Calling	Colette		[4]
1942	My Favorite Blonde	Madame Stephanie Runick		[4]
	Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen	Mrs. Van Dorn		[4]
1943	A Night to Remember	Mrs. Devoe		[4]
	Appointment in Berlin	Gretta Van Leyden		[4]
	Isle of Forgotten Sins	Marge Willison		[4]
	The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler	Anna Huber		[4]
	Crazy House	uncredited cameo performance		[4]
1944	The Spider Woman	Adrea Spedding		[4]
	Follow the Boys	herself		[4]
	Christmas Holiday	Mrs. Monette		[4]
	The Invisible Man's Revenge	Lady Irene Herrick		[4]
	Gypsy Wildcat	Rhoda		[4]
	The Climax	Luise		[4]
	Enter Arsène Lupin	Bessie Seagrave		[4]
1946	The Spider Woman Strikes Back	Zenobia Dollard		[4]
	Night in Paradise	Queen Attossa		[4]
	Anna and the King of Siam	Lady Thiang	nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress	[4]
	The Time of Their Lives	Emily		[4]
1947	Pirates of Monterey	Señorita De Sola		[4]
	Road to Rio	Catherine Vail		[4]
1949	East Side, West Side	Nora Kernan		[4]
1969	Savage Intruder	Leslie		[23]
	Slaves	New Orleans lady		[4]
	It Takes a Thief	Madame Olga Millard	TV, episode "The Scorpio Drop"
1970	Get Smart	Hester Van Hooten	TV, episode "Rebecca of Funny-Folk Farm"
	Tango		TV
	The Best of Everything	Amanda Key	TV
1971	Night Gallery	Abigail Moore	TV, episode "The Dark Boy"	[24]
	The Bold Ones: The Lawyers	Mrs. Marley	TV, episode "The Letter of the Law"
1973	The Cat Creature	Hester Black	TV	[25]
1974	Medical Center	Myra	TV, episode "Adults Only"
	Nakia	Bert	TV, episode "The Quarry"
	Police Story	Marge White	TV, episode "A World Full of Hurt"
1976	Ryan's Hope	Marguerite Beaulac	TV, 6 episodes
	The Return of a Man Called Horse	Elk Woman		[4]
	Hollywood on Trial	herself	documentary	[4]
1977	Visions	Ora Drummond	TV, episode "Pleasantville"	[26]
1978	Centennial	Aunt Augusta	TV mini series
1981	The Fall Guy	Mrs. Jackson	TV, episode "The Human Torch"
1983	Echoes	Mrs. Edmunds		[4]

References

1. Axel Nissen (2007). Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties. McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 196–202. ISBN 978-0-7864-2746-8.
2. "Gale Sondergaard". International Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
3. "The 9th Academy Awards". Oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
4. "Gale Sodergaard". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
5. Peter Lev (15 March 2013). Twentieth Century-Fox: The Zanuck-Skouras Years, 1935–1965. University of Texas Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-292-74447-9.
6. "1946 19th Oscar nominees". Oscar.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
7. David J. Hogan (1 June 2014). The Wizard of Oz FAQ: All That's Left to Know About Life, According to Oz. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 113–115. ISBN 978-1-4803-9719-4.
8. Daniel Eagan (26 November 2009). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 483. ISBN 978-1-4411-1647-5.
9. Ellen R. Baker (12 March 2007). On Strike and on Film: Mexican American Families and Blacklisted Filmmakers in Cold War America. UNC Press Books. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4696-0654-5.
10. "Hester Sodergaard". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
11. "A Theatre Guild Wedding: Gale Sondergaard, Actress, Bride of H. J. Biberman, Executive", The New York Times, May 16, 1930
12. "Faust". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
13. "MajorBarbara". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
14. "Karl and Anna". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
15. "Red Rust". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
16. "Alison's House". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
17. "American Dream". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
18. "Invitation to a Murder". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
19. "Doctor Monica". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
20. "Cue for Passion". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
21. "Goodbye Fidel". IBDB. The Broadway League. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
22. Deirdre Clancy Steer (2009). Colonial America. Infobase Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-1-4381-2728-6.
23. Jeff Lenburg; Joan Howard Maurer; Greg Lenburg (2012). The Three Stooges Scrapbook. Chicago Review Press. p. 353. ISBN 978-1-61374-085-9.
24. Scott Skelton; Jim Benson (1999). Rod Serling's Night Gallery: An After-hours Tour. Syracuse University Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8156-2782-1.
25. Michael McKenna (22 August 2013). The ABC Movie of the Week: Big Movies for the Small Screen. Scarecrow Press. pp. 117–118, 210. ISBN 978-0-8108-9157-9.
26. Jerry Roberts (5 June 2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors. Scarecrow Press. pp. 345, 455. ISBN 978-0-8108-6378-1.

External links

• Gale Sondergaard at the Internet Movie Database
• Gale Sondergaard at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gale Sondergaard at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Gale Sondergaard at Find a Grave