Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress, heiress, socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist.
Early life
Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, but for many years, her date of birth was given as December 9, 1925. She was the only child of
Post Cereals heiress
Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband,
Wall Street stockbroker
Edward Francis Hutton, founder of
E. F. Hutton & Co. Merrill had two older half-sisters, Adelaide Brevoort Close (July 26, 1908 – December 31, 1998) and
Eleanor Post Hutton (December 3, 1909 – November 27, 2006), by her mother's first marriage to Edward Bennett Close, grandfather of actress
Glenn Close.
Merrill graduated from
Miss Porter's School, then attended George Washington University in Washington, DC for one term, but then enrolled at the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She studied acting at
HB Studio under
Uta Hagen.
Acting career
On advice from her half-sister's (then) husband, she adopted the stage name Dina Merrill, borrowing from
Charles E. Merrill, a famous stockbroker like her father.
Merrill made her debut on the stage in the play ''The Mermaid Singing'' in 1945.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill was believed to have been marketed as a replacement for
Grace Kelly,
and in 1959, she was proclaimed "Hollywood's new Grace Kelly".
Merrill's film credits included ''
Desk Set'' (1957), ''
A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed
''A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed'' is a 1958 American comedy film directed by Henry Levin and written by Sydney Boehm. The film stars Tom Ewell, Mickey Rooney, Mickey Shaughnessy, Dina Merrill, Madge Kennedy and Frances Bavier. The f ...
'' (1958), ''
Don't Give Up the Ship'' (1959), ''
Operation Petticoat'' (1959, with
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...
, who had been married to her cousin,
Woolworth heiress
Barbara Hutton), ''
The Sundowners'' (1960), ''
Butterfield 8'' (1960), ''
The Young Savages'' (1961), ''
The Courtship of Eddie's Father'' (1963), ''
I'll Take Sweden
''I'll Take Sweden'' is a 1965 American comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova, and starring Bob Hope, Frankie Avalon, and Tuesday Weld.
Plot
Single father Bob Holcomb, a widower, is unhappy with the guitar-playing boy Kenny his daughte ...
'' (1965), ''
The Greatest'' (1977), ''
A Wedding'' (1978), ''
Just Tell Me What You Want
''Just Tell Me What You Want'' is a 1980 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lumet. It stars Ali MacGraw, Peter Weller and Alan King, and was also Myrna Loy's final film.
The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen, adapted from her novel, won he ...
'' (1980), ''
Anna to the Infinite Power
''Anna to the Infinite Power'' is a 1982 science-fiction thriller film about a young teenager who learns that she was the product of a cloning experiment. The film was based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Mildred Ames. It was produced by ...
'' (1983), ''
Twisted'' (1986), ''
Caddyshack II'' (1988), ''
Fear
Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...
'' (1990), ''
True Colors'' (1991), ''
The Player'' (1992), ''
Suture
Suture, literally meaning "seam", may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Suture'' (album), a 2000 album by American Industrial rock band Chemlab
* ''Suture'' (film), a 1993 film directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel
* Suture (ban ...
'' (1993), and ''
Shade'' (2003). She also appeared in made-for-TV movies, such as ''
Seven in Darkness'' (1969), ''
The Lonely Profession'' (1969), ''
Family Flight'' (1972), and ''
The Tenth Month'' (1979).
Merrill appeared in numerous television series in the 1960s, such as playing the villain Calamity Jan in two 1968 episodes of ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...
'' with then-husband
Cliff Robertson. She also made guest appearances on two ''
Bonanza'' episodes as Susannah Clauson, ''
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'' episode "Bonfire" (1962), ''
The Investigators'', ''
The Bold Ones
''The Bold Ones'' is the umbrella title for several television series. It was produced by Universal Television and broadcast on NBC from 1969 to 1973. It was a wheel format series, an NBC programming approach also used by that network in serie ...
'', ''
Wagon Train
''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...
'' (1964), ''
Mission: Impossible'', ''
The Love Boat''; ''
Quincy, M.E.''; ''
Murder, She Wrote''; ''
Roseanne
''Roseanne'' is an American sitcom television series created by Matt Williams and Roseanne Barr which aired on ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May 22, 2018. The show stars Barr as Rosea ...
'', and ''
The Nanny'', as Maxwell Sheffield's disapproving and distant British mother. In 1971, Merrill appeared as Laura Duff in ''The Men from Shiloh'' (rebranded name for the TV Western ''
The Virginian'') in the episode titled "The Angus Killer".
Her stage credits include the 1983 Broadway revival of the
Rodgers and Hart musical ''
On Your Toes'', starring Russian prima ballerina
Natalia Makarova. In 1991, she appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading of ''
Wit & Wisdom''.
In 1991, Merrill and her third husband Ted Hartley merged their company Pavilion Communications with RKO to form
RKO Pictures, which owns the intellectual property of the RKO Radio Pictures movie studio.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Merrill was a recurring guest on several network television game and panel shows, including ''
Match Game'', ''
To Tell the Truth'', ''
What's My Line'', and ''
Hollywood Squares''.
Board memberships
Merrill was a presidential appointee to the board of trustees of the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...
, a trustee of the
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. It is commonly referred to as The O'Neill. The center has received two Tony Awards, the 1979 Special A ...
, and a vice president of the New York City Mission Society. In 1980, Merrill joined the board of directors of her father's E. F. Hutton & Co., continuing on the board and the compensation committee of
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ...
when it acquired Hutton, for over 18 years.
Personal life
Merrill was married three times. In 1946, she wed
Stanley M. Rumbough Jr., an heir to the
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...
toothpaste fortune and entrepreneur.
They had three children, Nedenia Colgate Rumbough; David Post Rumbough; and Stanley Rumbough, III,
before divorcing in 1966.
Later that year, she wed actor
Cliff Robertson, with whom she had a daughter, Heather Robertson.
[ The couple divorced in 1986.]
In 1989, she married producer Ted Hartley.
On May 22, 2017, Merrill died at her home in East Hampton, New York at age 93. She had been suffering from dementia with Lewy bodies.
Two of Merrill's four children predeceased her.
Honors
Merrill received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award, in 1994, and a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in April 2005.
Filmography
Feature films
Television films
Television
References
External links
*
In Step with: Dina Merrill
news.google.com; accessed 2014-07-09.
People Magazine 1981-07-31
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Dina
1923 births
2017 deaths
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from New York City
American billionaires
American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Philanthropists from New York (state)
American socialites
American debutantes
California Republicans
Deaths from dementia in New York (state)
Deaths from Lewy body dementia
Florida Republicans
George Washington University alumni
Hutton family
Miss Porter's School alumni
New York (state) Republicans
People from Palm Beach, Florida