Gwen Welles (born Gwen Goldberg, March 4, 1951 – October 13, 1993)
was an American actress.
Early years
Gwen Welles was born in
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
, as Gwen Goldberg.
She was the daughter of clothing designer
Rebecca Welles
Rebecca Welles (born Reba Tassell; February 5, 1928 – February 13, 2017) was an American television and film actress.
Early years
Welles was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lena (née Schiller and Samuel Tassell. Her only sibling was fas ...
and Barton Goldberg; her sisters were Elizabeth (Betsy) Goldberg Welles and Lori Yarom.
Gwen graduated from University High School in Los Angeles, California and attended
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
.
When she was 17, she worked as a dress salesperson.
Career
Welles's film debut was in ''A Safe Place'' (1971). In the early 1970s, she acted in two films for Roger Vadim during three years that she spent in France. She may be best remembered for her portrayal of untalented singer Sueleen Gay in
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...
's 1975 film ''
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
'', for which she was nominated for a
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
, for Best Supporting Actress. Welles also appeared in Altman's ''
California Split
''California Split'' is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould and George Segal as a pair of gamblers and was the first non-Cinerama film to use eight-track stereo sound.
Plot
In Los Angeles, ...
'' (1974), as well as several films directed by
Henry Jaglom
Henry David Jaglom (born January 26, 1938) is an English-born American actor, film director and playwright.
Life and career
Jaglom was born to a Jewish family in London, England, the son of Marie (née Stadthagen) and Simon M. Jaglom, who wor ...
, including ''New Year's Day'' (1989) and ''Eating'' (1990).
Personal life
Welles was an advocate of yoga, usually meditating 20-30 minutes twice a day.
During her three years in France, she lived with
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, su ...
. She told newspaper columnist Earl Wilson, "I was very naive. I was about 20. I was so in love with him. I would sulk for two hours, I would go to pieces, if he gave me a wrong look."
During her time in Paris, she posed for a set of nude photographs for a magazine to earn money to remain there another year. She also was injured in an automobile accident.
[ She married ]Harris Yulin
Harris Yulin (born November 5, 1937) is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as '' Scarface'' (1983), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), '' Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), '' Looking for Richard' ...
in 1975.
Death
Welles died from cancer of the bowel in 1993 at age 42. Donna Deitch
Donna Deitch (born June 8, 1945, San Francisco, California) is an American film and television director, producer, and writer best known for her 1985 film ''Desert Hearts''. The movie was the first feature film to depict a lesbian love story in ...
directed ''An Angel On My Shoulder'', a documentary about Welles' illness in 1992, which appeared at the IFC's Lesbian and Gay film festival in August 1998.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Welles, Gwen
1951 births
1993 deaths
Actresses from Tennessee
American film actresses
Deaths from cancer in California
People from Chattanooga, Tennessee
20th-century American actresses