"THELMA RITTER: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH" (060)

From Beneath the Hollywood Sign

EPISODE 60 - "THELMA RITTER: CLASSIC CINEMA STAR OF THE MONTH" - 11/04/2024

There's a scene in the classic 1950 film All About Eve where Eve Harrington (ANNE BAXTER), a star-struck fan who has infiltrated the life of Broadway star Margo Channing (BETTE DAVIS), is telling the tragic story of her past to Margo and her friends. While Margo and company are drawn into the sad circumstances of Eve's life, Margo's acerbic dresser Birdie, played to perfection by the great THELMA RITTER, is not buying her sob story. After Eve finishes, Birdie mutters, "What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." This is probably the moment I fell in love with Ritter. With her heavy New York accent, diminutive size, working-class charm, and sarcastic zingers, she made a career of stealing scenes from big stars and making the most of her time on screen. She played characters wiser than most, and her characters certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly. She is a cinematic treasure, and we celebrate her as our Star of the Month.

SHOW NOTES:

Sources:

All About Eve: The Complete Behind-The-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made (2001), by Sam Staggs;

All About Thelma and Eve: Sidekicks and Third Wheels (2002), by Judith Roof;

Actresses of a Certain Character (2007) by Axel Nissen;

“Thelma Ritter, Versatile Actress with Raspy Voice Dies at 63,” February 5, 1969, New York Times;

“Ten Women that Changed the Face of Film Forever,” March 8, 2019, by Harry Fletcher, The Standard;

TCM.com;

IMDBPro.com;

IBDB.com;

Wikipedia.com;

Movies Mentioned:

Miracle on 34th Street (1947), starring Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, John Payne, and Natalie Wood;

Call Northside 777 (1948), starring James Stewart, Richard Conte, and Helen Walker;

A Letter To Three Wives (1949), starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn, Connie Gilchrist, and Barbara Lawrence;

Father Was a Fullback (1949), starring Fred MacMurray and Maureen O’Hara;

All About Eve (1950), starring Bette Davis, Ann Baxter, Gary Merrill, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, George Sanders, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Ratoff, and Barbara Bates;

The Mating Season (1951), starring John Lund and Gene Tierney;

The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951), starring Jean Peters and Scott Brady;

With a Song in My Heart (1952), starring Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Robert Wagner, and Helen Westcott;

Titanic (1953), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, Robert Wagner, and Brian Aherne;

Pick Up On South Street (1953), starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, and Richard Kiley;

As Young As You Feel (1951), starring Monty Woolley, David Wayne, Jean Peters, Constance Bennett, Marilyn Monroe, Allen Joslyn, and Albert Dekker;

Rear Window (1954), starring James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendel Corey, and Raymond Burr;

Daddy Long Legs (1955), starring Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron;

The Proud and Profane (1956), starring William Holden and Deborah Kerr;

A Hole In The Head (1959), starring Frank Sinatra, Edward G. Robinson, and Eleanor Parker;

Pillow Talk (1959), starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson

The Misfits (1961), starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach;

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), starring Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden, Neville Brand, Betty Field, Telly Savalas, Edmond O’Brien, and Hugh Marlowe;

How The West Was Won (1962), starring James Stewart, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Debbie Reynolds, Henry Fonda, Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Richard Widmark;

Move Over Darling (1963), starring Doris Day, James Garner, and Polly Bergen;

Boeing, Boeing (1965), starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis;

What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968), starring George Peppard and Mary Tyler Moore;

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