Dunnock, Mildred (1900–1991)

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Dunnock, Mildred (1900–1991)

American character actress of stage, film, and television who originated the part of Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman. Born Mildred Dorothy Dunnock on January 25, 1900 (some sources cite 1904), in Baltimore, Maryland; died in Massachusetts on July 5, 1991; daughter of Walter (president of the Dumari Textile Company), and Florence (Saynook) Dunnock; attended Public School 59 and Western High School, Baltimore; Goucher College, Baltimore, A.B.; attended Johns Hopkins and Columbia University; studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan; married Keith Urmy (a banker); children: daughter, Linda McGuire (actress); granddaughter, Patricia McGuire Dunnock (actress).

Selected plays:

The Corn Is Green (1940); Lute Song (1946); Another Part of the Forest (1946); Death of a Salesman (1949); The Wild Duck (1951); In the Summer House (1953); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955); The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (1962); Trojan Women (1963); A Place without Doors (1970); Days in the Trees (1976). Selected filmography: The Corn Is Green (1945); Kiss of Death (1947); Death of a Salesman (1951); I Want You (1951); Viva Zapata! (1952); The Girl in White (1952); The Jazz Singer (1953); Bad for Each Other (1953); The Trouble with Harry (1955); Love Me Tender (1956); Baby Doll (1956); Peyton Place (1957); The Nun's Story (1959); The Story on Page One (1960); Butterfield 8 (1960); Something Wild (1961); Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); Behold a Pale Horse (1964); Youngblood Hawke (1964); Seven Women (1965); What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969); The Spiral Staircase (UK, 1975); One Summer Love (Dragonfly, 1976); The Pick-Up Artist (1987).

Mildred Dunnock, who for 50 years excelled in supporting character roles (mostly mothers and eccentrics) on stage, screen, and television, thought of herself as more of a schoolteacher than an actress. By her own admission, she was "burned by a footlight fire" in college, but she went into teaching to please her father, who objected to her going to New York to pursue a career in the theater. While teaching school in Baltimore and later in New York, Dunnock remained active in community theater and summer stock, eventually finding her way into a few short-lived Broadway plays. In 1940, she won acclaim for her portrayal of a Welsh schoolteacher in The Corn Is Green, which ran for 477 performances. While performing nightly, Dunnock maintained her teaching schedule, from 8:30 am to 4:35 pm on all but matinee days. "People don't think you can act if you're a schoolteacher," she told Peter Kihss of the New York World-Telegraph, "but teaching is some thing I intend to keep up…. The arrangement is only possible because I have such an understanding headmistress. It's a good thing, too, my husband likes the theater." Dunnock repeated her role in the 1945 film version of The Corn Is Green with Bette Davis .

Once established, Dunnock played a number of memorable roles on Broadway, including the semi-crazed Lavinia in Lillian Hellman 's Another Part of the Forest, and the beleaguered wife Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman (1949), which Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times called "the performance of her career." (She repeated the role in the 1951 film and the 1966 television adaptation.) Her portrayal of Big Mama in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), though different from the pathetic or timorous women she usually played, was equally well received. Walter Kerr of the New York Herald Tribune called her "startlingly fine in an unfamiliar sort of role: the brash, gravel-voiced outspoken matron." Dunnock played both classical and modern roles with the American Shakespeare Festival and, in 1965, directed Graduation on Broadway. Dunnock continued on the stage and films, well into her 70s, and also appeared on television series and specials, including "Studio One," "Kraft Television Theater," and "Philco Playhouse." Playwright Arthur Miller, who authored some of her finest roles, called her "a fiercely dedicated artist." She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the films Death of a Salesman (1951) and Baby Doll (1956).