Rosalind Ivan (27 November 1880 – 6 April 1959) was an English stage and film character actress. Ivan appeared in fourteen American films from 1944 to 1954.
Rosalind Muriel Pringle was the daughter of Stamford and Annie Pringle, who married in 1876 and divorced in 1881. In 1883, her mother married Charles Johnson and her daughter took his surname. By age ten, Ivan was performing as a concert pianist in England, but financial problems with her family caused her to cease studying piano when she was sixteen.
[ ]
On the London stage, she had the role of "Retty" in ''Tess'' (1900). She joined Sir Henry Irving's distinguished company and in America appeared as Mme. Thalhouet in ''Madame Sans Gene'' (1902). Ivan's first Broadway appearance was in ''The Master Builder'' (1907); her last was in ''The Corn Is Green'' (1940). One of her triumphs on the stage was as the "vampire" in ''
A Fool There Was A Fool There Was may refer to:
* ''A Fool There Was'' (1914 film) or ''She Wanted a Car'', a comedy directed by Frank Griffin and featuring Oliver Hardy
* ''A Fool There Was'' (1915 film), a melodrama directed by Frank Powell and starring Theda B ...
'' (1913).
Ivan had a memorable role as the nagging wife of a bank teller (
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...
) in
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
's film ''
Scarlet Street'' (1945). That role, along with a similar "nagging wife" role (of
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future ...
) in
Robert Siodmak
Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as '' The Killers'' (19 ...
's ''
The Suspect'' (1944), caused some in Hollywood to dub her "Ivan the Terrible". She also appeared in
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, 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 o ...
's Biblical epic ''
The Robe''. She appeared with Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in
''The Verdict'' (1946), as Mrs. Benson, Lorre's comical landlady. The actress gained most of her fame on the Broadway and London stages.
On April 6, 1959, Ivan was found dead in her hotel room in New York City. She was 78 years old. Police attributed her death to natural causes.
[ ]
Partial filmography
* ''
Arms and the Woman'' (1916)
* ''
It Started With Eve'' (1941)
* ''
The Suspect'' (1944)
* ''
Scarlet Street'' (1945)
* ''
Pursuit to Algiers
''Pursuit to Algiers'' (1945) is the twelfth entry in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film series of fourteen. Elements in the story pay homage to an otherwise unrecorded affair mentioned by Dr. Watson at the beginning of the 190 ...
'' (1945)
* ''
The Corn is Green'' (1945)
* ''
Alias Mr. Twilight'' (1946)
* ''
Johnny Belinda'' (1948)
* ''
The Robe'' (1953)
* ''
Elephant Walk'' (1954)
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
1880 births
1959 deaths
Actresses from London
English film actresses
English stage actresses
British expatriate actresses in the United States
{{England-actor-stub