Cathy O'Donnell
Cathy O'Donnell (born Ann Steely, July 6, 1923 in Siluria; died April 11, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) was an actor who appeared in The Best Years of Our Lives and Ben-Hur.
Ann was the daughter of Grady Steely, a school teacher who also owned a cinema in town. They moved to Greensboro when she was 7, and from there to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when she was 12.
She attended Harding Junior High School and Classen High School there, then took a job at a U.S. Army induction center as a stenographer. She left to study acting at Oklahoma City University, starring in a production of "Romeo and Juliet". She saved money and made a two-week trip to Hollywood in hopes of landing a movie career. An agent working for Samuel Goldwyn came across her at a drug store and brought her in for a screen test. Goldwyn offered her a contract, assigning her to a speech tutor to minimize her southern accent and to local theaters to gain experience. She was part of a Pasadena Playhouse production of "Little Women" and was part of the cast of "Life With Father" in Boston, Massachusetts in 1944. At the suggestion of Goldwyn's wife, she changed her name to Cathy O'Donnell.
O'Donnell made her film début as an uncredited extra in the 1945 film Wonder Man. A year later she was picked to star opposite Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives, directed by William Wyler. In 1948 she married Wyler's brother, Robert.
O'Donnell was lent to RKO Pictures for the film noir They Live by Night in 1948. She reunited with Farley Granger in the 1950 film, Side Street.
Later O'Donnell starred in The Miniver Story (also 1950), as Judy Miniver and had a supporting role in Detective Story (1951). She appeared as Barbara Waggoman, the love interest of James Stewart's character in the western The Man from Laramie (1955). Her final film role, and perhaps her most famous part, was in Ben-Hur (1959). She played the part of Tirzah, the sister to Judah Ben-Hur.
In the 1960s, she appeared in TV shows, appearing on shows such as Perry Mason, The Rebel and Man Without a Gun. Her last screen appearance was in 1964 in an episode of Bonanza.
Personal life and death
He also directed her in Detective Story (co-written by Robert Wyler) and Ben-Hur. She died on her 22nd wedding anniversary, April 11, 1970, of a cancer-related cerebral hemorrhage following a long illness. Her husband died nine months later. The couple had no children. She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.
References
- "Cathy O'Donnell" (July 5, 2021) Wikipedia - accessed July 6, 2021
External links
- Cathy O'Donnell at IMDB.com
- Cathy O'Donnell at Findagrave.com