Nancy Joan Guild (October 11, 1925 – August 16, 1999) was an American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in '' Somewhere in the Night'' (1946), ''

The Brasher Doubloon ''The Brasher Doubloon'' (known in the UK as ''The High Window'') is a 1947 American crime film noir directed by John Brahm and starring George Montgomery and Nancy Guild. It is based on the 1942 novel ''The High Window'' by Raymond Chandler. F ...

'' (1947), and the comedy '' Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man'' (1951). Although appearing in major films, Guild never achieved as much fame at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

, the studio that had signed her to a seven-year contract, as she had hoped, and eventually stopped acting.

Career

Guild was a freshman at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

when a photographer at ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine noticed her. After her picture was published in a spread on campus fashions, Guild received screen tests at five Hollywood studios, and she was signed by

. The studio's publicity writers declared "Guild rhymes with wild!" when hyping her in ''Somewhere in the Night'', her first film, directed by

Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best ...

. On the rebound from an engagement with producer

Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author of ...

, Guild married fellow Fox contract player Charles Russell in 1947. The following year, they appeared together in the musical ''

Give My Regards to Broadway "Give My Regards to Broadway" is a song written by George M. Cohan for his musical play ''Little Johnny Jones'' which debuted in 1904 in New York. Cohan, playing the title character, sings this song as his friend is about to sail to Ameri ...

'' (1948). They had a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1949. Hodiak Guild MS346

She left Fox and appeared in movies as a freelance and as a contract star at

Universal-International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, where she appeared in '' Little Egypt'', Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man picture and the

Francis the Talking Mule Francis the Talking Mule was a mule character who gained popularity during the 1950s as the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. The character originated in the 1946 novel ''Francis'' by former U.S. Army Captain David S ...

movie ''

Francis Covers the Big Town ''Francis Covers the Big Town'' is a 1953 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Yvette Duguay, and Gene Lockhart. The distinctive voi ...

'' (1953), her last picture. Guild was a panelist on the DuMont network's ''Where Was I?'', a game show, in 1952-1953. She appeared occasionally on television and briefly returned to the movies in

Otto Preminger Otto Ludwig Preminger ( , ; 5 December 1905 – 23 April 1986) was an Austrian-American theatre and film director, film producer, and actor. He directed more than 35 feature films in a five-decade career after leaving the theatre. He first gai ...

's ''

Such Good Friends ''Such Good Friends'' is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Dyan Cannon, Ken Howard, James Coco, Jennifer O'Neill and Laurence Luckinbill. The screenplay by Esther Dale (a pseudonym for Elaine May) is based ...

'' (1971).

Personal life

On August 16, 1951, Guild married Broadway impresario Ernest H. Martin. In 1975, she divorced Martin and married photojournalist John Bryson in 1978. She divorced Bryson in 1995.

Death

On August 16, 1999, Guild died of emphysema in East Hampton, New York at the age of 73.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guild, Nancy American film actresses University of Arizona alumni 1925 births 1999 deaths 20th Century Studios contract players 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles