Constance Cummings
Birth : 1910-05-15, Seattle, Washington, USA
Death : 2005-11-23
History
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Constance Cummings, CBE (May 15, 1910 – November 23, 2005) was an American-born British actress, known for her work on both screen and stage.
Born Constance Halverstadt in Seattle, Washington to Dallas Halverstadt and Kate Cummings, she began as a stage actress, landing her first role on Broadway by the age of 18. While appearing on Broadway, she was discovered by Sam Goldwyn, who brought her to Hollywood in 1931.
Between 1931 and 1934, Cummings appeared in 21 films, most notably the Harold Lloyd picture Movie Crazy and American Madness, directed by Frank Capra. She was married to the playwright and screenwriter Benn Levy MBE from 1933 until his death in 1973. Levy went on to write and direct films for Cummings, such as The Jealous God (1939); he also served in the United Kingdom Parliament from 1945-50 as the Labour MP for Eton and Slough. They had a son and a daughter.
Cummings was uncomfortable in Hollywood and moved to England, where she continued acting, both in movies and on the stage. Few of these films became popular in America, although included amongst those that did is Blithe Spirit, adapted from a play by Sir Noël Coward.
In 1974, Cummings, who resided in the UK for many decades, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the British entertainment industry.
She played Mary Tyrone in the Royal National Theatre's production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night opposite Sir Laurence Olivier, to great acclaim. She later recreated the role for a television version. In 1979, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the role in the play Wings (written by Arthur Kopit) of Emily Stilson, a former aviator who has suffered a stroke, from which she struggles to recover.
She was a committee member of the Royal Court Theatre and the Arts Council. Despite her truncated career in the U.S., she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6211 Hollywood Blvd.
Constance Cummings Levy died on November 23, 2005 at the age of 95.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Constance Cummings, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Amy Folliatt
During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.
Emily Stilson
An elderly woman, a former aviatrix, is gradually recovering from a stroke.
Mary Tyrone
On a day in the summer of 1912, the family of retired matinee idol James Tyrone grapples with the morphine addiction of Tyrone's wife Mary, the illness of their youngest son Edmund, and the alcoholism and debauchery of the older son Jamie. As day turns into night, guilt, anger, despair, and regret threaten to destroy the family.
Helga
Helga and David travel to a secluded hotel for some alone time. Helga is much older than David and tongues wag among the other guests. The more time they are together the more age difference becomes a rift between them.
Mrs. Nina Gellert
After he mends a marital rift between a vacationing young couple, the bored, fragile wife falls hopelessly in love with the husband's ex-colleague who is married to a long-suffering and emotionally and physically scarred woman. The couple soon runs off to Greece together to pursue the romance.
Gloria van Imhoff
After he is orphaned by an air raid on Port Said during the Suez Crisis, a young boy attempts to go by himself from the Suez Canal to Durban in South Africa where his nearest relative, Aunt Jane, lives. On the way he meets a variety of different people who help or hinder his journey - including an ageing diamond smuggler.
Angela Barrows
Angela Barrows is a man-eating business woman sent by her American employer to investigate their export opportunities in Edinburgh. En route she meets Robert MacPherson, a businessman who asks for her help to bring his company into the 20th Century. The staff, led by Mr Martin, has other ideas—and a battle between the old and new business methods soon breaks out.
Kay Wallace
Film producer Reggie Wilson is worried he may have a dual personality. Fleeing Hollywood, he finds himself in England and married to the studio boss's daughter after which he quickly rises through the studio ranks. Then the letters begin to appear from a lovesick American actress who wants to know why he has thrown her over.
Mrs. Davidson
The adventures of two children who runaway to London to see the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.
Kate Fergusson
Enjoying a holiday in the sun, Mr and Mrs Fergusson are relaxing on board a chartered yacht off the coast of France - their only crew, the skipper-owner and his adopted daughter. On taking a turn around the deck, Mr Fergusson is rather put-out to discover a stowaway helping himself to the comforts of their dinghy. Though very charming, the stranger refuses to give any explanation for his presence - and the Fergussons soon find themselves involved in a rather more eventful sailing trip than they had expected!
Ruth Condomine
An English mystery novelist invites a medium to his home, so she may conduct a séance for a small gathering. The writer hopes to gather enough material for the book he's working on, as well as to expose the medium as a charlatan. However, proceedings take an unexpected turn, resulting in a chain of supernatural events being set into motion that wreak havoc on the man's present marriage.
Anne Stafford
Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment.
Ann
Set in Claverly Village, it follows the fortunes of the Rookebys (Clements) and the ne'r-do-well Appleyards (Williams) from the time of the Normans, 1588, 1804, 1914, and 1940. Made to support morale during the war, its message is basically that you can't suppress the British; they've been there since the beginning; they'll be there to the end.
Harriet Vane
When Lord Peter Wimsey marries Harriet Vane, a crime author, they both promise to give up crime for good. As a wedding present, Peter purchases the old house where Harriet grew up, but when they try to move in the previous owner is nowhere to be found, until they start to clean the house and find his body in the cellar...
Caryl Fenton
Ed Harwood, a wisecracking private investigator from New York, discovers a crime at an hotel in Nice during a carnival. The unraveling of the mystery which lies behind will lead him and Caryl Fenton, a female insurance agent, who will become his companion, first to Paris, then to London, later through the English countryside and finally to Southampton, in search of a criminal train wrecker.
Carlotta Milburn
After a night of wild partying at a friend's house, a couple wake up to discover the party's host has been murdered in his bed.
Francesca Harper
The seemingly happy relationship between Tony and Jim is threatened when his manipulative, drama-queen ex-wife visits.
Linda Fayne
Ethel Greenwood
Joe and Casey trouble-shoot for the phone company. They try to prove that Joes's girl Ethel's boss Dan is a crook but are trapped by criminals and left in a burning building.
Joan Whelan
Racketeer Frank Rocci is smitten with Joan Whelan, a dancer at Texas Guinan's famous Broadway night spot. He uses his influence to help her get a starring role in the show, hoping that it will also get Joan to fall in love with him. After scoring a hit, Joan accepts Frank's marriage proposal, more out of gratitude than love. The situation gets even stickier when she falls for a handsome band leader during a trip to Florida. Can she tell Frank she's in love with someone else?
Marion Slade
Money isn't everything. Tycoon races against time to cross the English Channel in order to save a business deal, but along the way his whole value system is thrown into turmoil.
Betty Smith / Dorothy Kay
A model inherits a great deal of money and pretends to be a movie star.
Sylvia
Chandler, a con-man, and his helper Frank decide to create a clairvoyant act for the carny circuit, as a little research reveals Ameicans spent $125 million on mind-readers and astrology. The carny, renamed Chandra, falls for one of his marks, Sylvia, but their love is tested when he brings tragedy to other peoples' lives and she asks him to go straight.
Doris Masterson
An ex-convict working for a wealthy oil baron uncovers trouble while his brother becomes involved with the boss's daughter.
Miss Jerry Healy
A former boxer purchases a classy speakeasy and falls in love with a wealthy society girl.
Alice Wylie
Button Gwinett Brown is a freshman congressman on a mission to rid Washington of corruption. He quickly runs afoul of the powerful Senator Norton...
Mary Sears
After a mix-up with his application photograph, an aspiring actor is invited to a screen test and goes off to Hollywood.
Helen
Socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair... all in the same day.
Ruth Barry
A lawyer is haunted by a previous case in which he manipulated evidence and convicted an innocent man.
Honey Baldwin
Loud-mouth hamburger flipper, Cooky, thinks he can box. His big chance comes when everyone else quits the gym when it is inherited by a dame.
Julie Arnold
A Secret Service agent nabs a scalpel-happy doctor who runs drugs in caskets.
Maria Palmero
The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.
Ellen Wilson
A salesman gets in trouble with a party girl and a debutante in Detroit.
Molly Pearson
During the war two friends love the same nurse. After the war one becomes a detective, the other a racketeer.
Mary Brady
After young Robert Graham commits a murder while drunk and defending his girlfriend, he is prosecuted by ambitious Mark Brady and sentenced to 10 years. Six years later, Brady becomes the prison warden and offers the beleaguered Robert a job as his chauffeur. Robert cleans up his act, but, on the eve of his pardon, his cellmate drags him back into the world of violence, and he faces a difficult choice that could return him to prison.
