Janice Rule

Mary Janice Rule (August 15, 1931 – October 17, 2003) was an American actress and psychotherapist, earning her PhD while still acting, then acting occasionally while working in her new profession.

Early life

Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, to parents of Irish origin. Her father was a dealer in industrial diamonds.Kenneth Jone
"Janice Rule, of Broadway's Picnic, Dead at 72"
''Playbill'', October 22, 2003 She began dancing at the Chez Paree nightclub in Chicago at age 15, which paid for ballet lessons, and was a dancer in the 1949 Broadway production of ''Miss Liberty''.Obituary: Janice Rule
''Daily Telegraph'' (London), October 24, 2003 Rule also studied acting at the Chicago Professional School.

Career

She was pictured on the cover of ''Life'' magazine on January 8, 1951, as being someone to watch in the entertainment industry.Ben Sisari
"Janice Rule, 72, Film Actress Who Became a Psychoanalyst"
''New York Times'', October 22, 2003 Gaining a contract by Warner Bros., her first credited screen role was as Virginia in ''Goodbye, My Fancy'' (1951), which featured Joan Crawford in the lead. The established star belittled the younger woman, making Rule's work on the film difficult, although Crawford years later wrote a letter of apology to Rule for treating her badly on this film. Rule's Warner contract was allowed to lapse after only two films. She was troubled by the attitude toward women's beauty at the studios in the early 1950s: "Because I was afraid of being robbed of my individuality, I fought with the makeup people, the hairdressers, and I didn't understand problems of the publicity department," she was reported as saying in 1957.Mary Rourk
"Janice Rule, 72; Broadway Dancer, 'Picnic' Actress Also Was in Films"
''Los Angeles Times'', October 24, 2003

Rule was in the original 1953 Broadway cast of William Inge's ''Picnic'' (in the role of Madge Owens, the innocent beauty, played by Kim Novak in the film version), whose company also included Paul Newman in his Broadway debut. This commitment led her to turn down the role ultimately played by Eva Marie Saint in ''On the Waterfront'' (1954). "I knew I couldn't shoot in a movie all day and work on a stage at night and do my best in both," she was quoted as saying by Hedda Hopper of the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1966. Among her other Broadway shows were ''The Flowering Peach'', ''The Happiest Girl in the World'', and Michael V. Gazzo's ''Night Circus'', a 1958 production which lasted for only a week, but introduced Rule to Ben Gazzara, who became her third husband.

Her other films in the 1950s included ''A Woman's Devotion'' (1956), the Western ''Gun for a Coward'' (1957) and ''Bell, Book and Candle'' (1958), in which she played the fiancée who loses publisher 'Shep' Henderson (James Stewart) to the spell-casting witch Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak). On television, she appeared in an episode of ''Checkmate'' ("The Mask of Vengeance", 1960), where she played Elena Nardos, the roommate of Cloris Leachman's character, Marilyn Parker. She was also in ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "Nightmare as a Child." She appeared as different characters in three episodes of ''Route 66''. She acted as both Barbara Webb and Barbara Wells with David Janssen in two episodes of '' The Fugitive'' entitled "Wife Killer" and "The Walls of Night". She also had a major role as Nancy Reade in "Three Bells to Perdido", the debut episode of the Richard Boone western ''Have Gun – Will Travel''. Rule also starred, second billing to Yul Brynner, in the western film ''Invitation to a Gunfighter'' (1964).

Among her later film roles were Emily Stewart in '' The Chase'' (1966), Sheila Sommers in ''The Ambushers'' (1967), Burt Lancaster's bitter ex-lover in '' The Swimmer'' (1968), Willie in Robert Altman's ''3 Women'' (1977), journalist Kate Newman in Costa Gavras' political thriller ''Missing'' (1982), and Kevin Costner's mother in '' American Flyers'' (1985).

Personal life

Rule had a brief engagement to Farley Granger in 1956.Associated Press (November 19, 1955)
"Will Wed Actor"
''Chicago Tribune''. p. 4. Retrieved October 23, 2021. They had appeared in the Broadway play ''The Carefree Tree'' in 1955. Next followed a relationship with Ralph Meeker; Meeker had played Hal in ''Picnic''.

Rule was briefly married, during 1955, to television and film writer N. Richard Nash. Her second marriage was to television and film writer Robert Thom in 1956; they had one daughter, Kate, before divorcing in 1961. Her last marriage was to actor Ben Gazzara in 1961, having one daughter together before their divorce in 1982.

During the 1960s, she became interested in psychoanalysis. She began her formal studies in 1973, specializing in treating her fellow actors, and received her PhD 10 years later from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in Los Angeles. She practiced in New York and Los Angeles, and continued to act occasionally until her death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 2003. She was cremated after her death.

Partial filmography

* ''Fourteen Hours'' (1951) - Bit Part (uncredited)
* ''Goodbye, My Fancy'' (1951) - Virginia Merrill
* ''Starlift'' (1951) - Nell Wayne
* ''Holiday for Sinners'' (1952) - Susan Corvier
* '' Rogue's March'' (1953) - Jane Wensley
* ''A Woman's Devotion'' (1956) - Stella Stevenson
* ''Gun for a Coward'' (1957) - Aud Niven
* ''Wagon Train'' ('The Zeke Thomas Story') (1957) - Maggie Thomas
* ''Bell, Book and Candle'' (1958) - Merle Kittridge
* ''The Subterraneans'' (1960) - Roxanne
* ''Invitation to a Gunfighter'' (1964) - Ruth Adams
* '' The Chase'' (1966) - Emily Stewart
* ''Alvarez Kelly'' (1966) - Liz Pickering
* '' Welcome to Hard Times'' (1967) - Molly Riordan
* ''The Ambushers'' (1967) - Sheila Sommers
* '' The Swimmer'' (1968) - Shirley Abbott
* '' Doctors' Wives'' (1971) - Amy Brennan
* '' Gumshoe'' (1971) - Mrs. Blankerscoon
* '' Kid Blue'' (1973) - Janet Conforto
* ''3 Women'' (1977) - Willie Hart
* ''Missing'' (1982) - Kate Newman
* '' American Flyers'' (1985) - Mrs. Sommers
* ''Rainy Day Friends'' (1985) - Elaine

Television roles

* '' General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein'' (1954)
* ''Appointment with Adventure'' (1955)
* ''Wagon Train'', episode " The Zeke Thomas Story" (1957)
* ''Have Gun – Will Travel'', pilot episode " Three Bells to Perdido" (1957)
* ''The Twilight Zone'', episode "Nightmare as a Child" (1960)
* ''Dr. Kildare'', episode "Whoever Heard of a Two-Headed Doll?" (1963)
* ''Route 66'', episodes " A Lance of Straw" (1960), "Once to Every Man" (1961), and
" But What Do You Do in March?" (1963)
* '' The Fugitive'', episodes " Wife Killer" (1966) and " The Walls of Night" (1967)
* ''Journey to the Unknown

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