Alice Elizabeth Drummond (née Ruyter, May 21, 1928 – November 30, 2016) was an American actress. A veteran
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
performer, she was nominated in 1970 for the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
for
Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Mrs. Lee in ''The Chinese'' by
Murray Schisgal
Murray Joseph Schisgal (November 25, 1926 – October 1, 2020) was an American playwright and screenwriter.
Life and career
Schisgal was born in Brooklyn, New York City. He was the son of Jewish immigrants, Irene (Sperling), a bank clerk, and Ab ...
. She may be best known as Alice, the librarian, in the opening scenes of the 1984 horror-comedy ''
Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...
''.
Early life
Alice Elizabeth Ruyter was born in
Pawtucket,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
in 1928, the daughter of Sarah Irene (née Alker), a secretary, and Arthur Ruyter, an auto mechanic.
She graduated from
Pembroke College (the
women's college
Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...
of
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
) in 1950.
Career
Drummond played Nurse Jackson on the TV series ''
Dark Shadows
''Dark Shadows'' is an American gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulations of the wealthy Collins family of Collinsport ...
'' in 1967
and was a regular on the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
soap opera, ''
Where the Heart Is'', on which she originated the role of Loretta Jardin, which she played until the series ended in 1973. She also appeared in a short-term role on another CBS
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
, ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
''.
She appeared in guest roles on television series including ''
Kate & Allie
''Kate & Allie'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989, starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced women, both with children, who decide to live together in the same house. ...
'', ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'', ''
Boston Legal
''Boston Legal'' is an American legal drama and comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, t ...
'' and ''
Yes, Dear
''Yes, Dear'' is an American television sitcom created by Alan Kirschenbaum and Gregory Garcia, that aired on CBS from October 2, 2000, to February 15, 2006, with the total of six seasons and 122 episodes. It starred Anthony Clark, Jean Louis ...
''.
One of Drummond's notable movie roles is a librarian haunted and frightened by a
poltergeist
In ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descr ...
at the beginning of the feature film ''
Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...
''.
She portrayed a temporarily animated catatonic patient in 1990's ''
Awakenings
''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Penny Marshall. It is written by Steven Zaillian, who based his screenplay on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir ''Awakenings''. It tells the story of neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams ...
''. She also played a
senior citizen
Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...
in the movie ''
Furry Vengeance
''Furry Vengeance'' is a 2010 American family black comedy film directed by Roger Kumble, produced by Robert Simonds and Keith Goldberg, written by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert, co-produced by Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Ro ...
''. Other notable appearances include ''
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', ''
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar'' and ''
Pieces of April
''Pieces of April'' is a 2003 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Hedges. Marking Hedges' directorial debut, the film stars Katie Holmes, Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, Oliver Platt and Patricia Clarkson. The film f ...
''.
Personal life and death
Alice Ruyter married Paul Drummond in 1951. They resided in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. They separated in 1975
and divorced in 1976.
She died on November 30, 2016, from complications of a fall at her home in
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York City, at age 88.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, Alice
1928 births
2016 deaths
Actresses from Rhode Island
Pembroke College in Brown University alumni
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Accidental deaths from falls
Accidental deaths in New York (state)