Geraldine Fitzgerald
Promoting media: pictures, videos, wallpapers, quotes, bio, filmography.
| Known for: |
Arthur, The Pawnbroker, Wuthering Heights |
| Birthday: |
24 November 1913,
Dublin, Ireland |
| Height: |
5' 3" (1.60 m) |
Trivia

Mother of director
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and clinical psychologist, Susan Scheftel.

Is a cousin of the famous Australian novelist
Nevil Shute whose novel "On the Beach" was made into a film starring
Gregory Peck and
Ava Gardner. A mechanical engineer by profession, Shute worked on the ill-fated airship, the R101 and on the Great Panjandrum, a wall-busting World War II weapon.

Her Broadway debut in 1938 was in the Mercury Theatre production "Heartbreak House" with fellow ex-Gate Theatre performer,
Orson Welles who had been impressed by her talent back in Dublin.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1982 Tony Award as Best Director (Play) for "Mass Appeal." Her son,
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, had been nominated for the same award in 1979 for "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"

She is the niece of Irish actress
Shelah Richards, who brought her into Dublin's Gate Theatre, where both first worked with
Orson Welles. Fitzgerald, in turn, is the great-aunt of contemporary actress
Tara Fitzgerald (
Sirens), who continues the family tradition, along with Geraldine's son, director
Michael Lindsay-Hogg.

Received the Handel Medallion, New York City's highest cultural award, for her civic work, particularly in finding theater work for ghetto students in her street theater company.

Once
Vivien Leigh's school mate, she became a childhood and lifelong friend of Irish actress
Maureen O'Sullivan.

Due to her combative nature and refusal to appear in several Warner Bros. pictures, Jack Warner would not allow her to take on the
Mary Astor role in the classic
The Maltese Falcon starring
Humphrey Bogart.

Received critical kudos for her role as Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" on Broadway in 1971 opposite
Robert Ryan.

Daughter of William, a solicitor, and Mary Fitzgerald, she spent time in a convent school in London while growing up. W.B. Yeats and James Joyce were clients of her father's law firm and often visited the family home when she was a child.

First husband, Edward Lindsay-Hogg, was an aristocrat who aspired to be a songwriter. The couple moved to New York from England in 1938 to further his ambitions. Second husband, Stuart Scheftel, was the grandson of Isador Straus, the co-owner of the R.H. Macy Co. who went down on the Titanic in 1912 along with Scheftel's grandmother. Scheftel, a baby at the time, was scheduled to sail with them, but caught a cold and was left behind in England with his nurse. He grew to become a prosperous businessman whose accomplishments include co-founding New York's Pan-Am Building. He first got a crush on Fitzgerald when he saw her on screen in the 1944 film "Wilson" and persuaded a mutual friend, actor Martin Gabel, to arrange an introduction.

In the 1960s she founded the Everyman Street Theater, which utilized children from all walks of life as street performers. Known for her liberal sense, she staged several street shows that were all-black productions.

A role in the movie
Rachel, Rachel required her to sing. Displeased with the results, she took voice lessons. She later became a cabaret artist. Her show "Streetsongs" was a nightclub hit and appeared three times on Broadway over the years.

Showed signs of Alzheimer's disease in the early 90s. The death of her husband in 1994 aggravated the severity of her illness afterward.
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