Ruth Elizabeth Warrick (June 29, 1916 – January 15, 2005) was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as
Phoebe Tyler Wallingford
This is a list of characters appearing (or who have appeared) on the ABC Daytime and TOLN soap opera '' All My Children''.
A
Carter Anders
*Jason Pendergraft (2013)
Pine Valley Hospital doctor with an unknown past.
Bill Anderson
* James Pri ...
on ''
All My Children'', which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005. She made her film debut in ''
Citizen Kane'', and years later celebrated her 80th birthday by attending a special screening of the film.
Early life and career
![Citizen-Kane-Wedding-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Citizen-Kane-Wedding-1.jpg)
Ruth Warrick was born June 29, 1916, in
Saint Joseph, Missouri,
to Frederick Roswell Warrick and Annie Louise Warrick, nee Scott. By writing an essay in high school called "Prevention and Cure of Tuberculosis", Warrick won a contest to be Miss Jubilesta,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
's paid ambassador to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. There she began her career as a radio singer, and met her first husband Erik Rolf.
Warrick's first big break was being hired by a young
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
for ''
Citizen Kane'' (1941), in which she played Emily Monroe Norton, niece of the President of the United States and Kane's first wife. Welles pulled her photograph from the hundreds he had been sent by agents; he recognized her from a radio show they had worked on together in 1938. He spoke with her in New York: "I'm not looking for an actress that can ''play'' a lady," he said, "I want an actress who ''is'' a lady." She was in California within days, making several screen tests including one with Welles, and was regarded as perfect for the role.
Warrick was expecting her first child during the filming of ''Kane'', which prevented her being cast in ''The Magnificent Ambersons'';
but she worked on a 1942 episode ("My Little Boy") of
Welles's radio series, and Welles hired her again for ''
Journey into Fear'' (1943).
She appeared in ''
The Corsican Brothers
''The Corsican Brothers'' (french: Les Frères corses) is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. It is the story of two conjoined brothers who, though separated at birth, can still feel each other's physical distress. It h ...
'', ''
The Iron Major
''The Iron Major'' is a 1943 American biographical film about the famed college football coach and World War I hero, Frank Cavanaugh. Directed by Ray Enright, the screenplay was written by Aben Kandel and Warren Duff, based on Florence E. Cava ...
'', ''
Mr. Winkle Goes to War
''Mr. Winkle Goes to War'' is a 1944 war comedy film starring Edward G. Robinson and Ruth Warrick, based on a novel by Theodore Pratt.
Plot
On June 1, 1942, after fourteen years working in a bank, mild-mannered 44-year-old Wilbert G. Winkle s ...
'', and ''
Guest in the House
''Guest in the House'' (re-release title ''Satan in Skirts'') is a 1944 American film noir directed by John Brahm starring Anne Baxter and Ralph Bellamy.
Lewis Milestone began directing the film in April 1944, but was stricken with appendici ...
''.
Following World War II, she had a role in the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
film ''
Song of the South''; she also appeared in ''
Daisy Kenyon
''Daisy Kenyon'' is a 1947 American romantic-drama film by 20th Century Fox starring Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda, and Dana Andrews in a story about a post-World War II romantic triangle. The screenplay by David Hertz was based upon a 1945 novel o ...
'', which starred
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was si ...
and
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and ra ...
, but by the late 1940s her film roles were becoming infrequent and less notable. After playing
Betty Hutton
Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 11, 2007)
was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer.
Early life and education
Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg on February 2 ...
's sister-in-law in ''
Let's Dance'', she starred as a troubled wife looking back at her life in the religious drama ''
Second Chance'' and an alcoholic wife and mother in ''
One Too Many'' (all 1950).
In the 1950s, she befriended soap opera executives
Irna Phillips
Irna Phillips (July 1, 1901 – December 23, 1973) was an American scriptwriter, screenwriter, casting agent and actress. She is best remembered for pioneering a format of the daytime soap opera in the United States geared specifically toward wo ...
and
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon ( Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas ''One Life to Live'', ''All My Children'', as well as ''Loving'' and its spin-off '' The Ci ...
. Warrick became a cast member on the soap opera ''
The Guiding Light
''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...
'', playing Janet Johnson, R.N. from 1953 to 1954. Phillips was impressed by Warrick's performance and hired her for her new soap opera, ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other s ...
'' when the show debuted in 1956. Her character, Edith Hughes, was madly in love with a married man, Jim Lowell. Phillips wanted the characters to live happily ever after, but
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...
, which owned the show, demanded that the characters not endorse adultery, so Jim "died". She stayed on the show until 1960.
From 1959 to 1960, she understudied for
Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film ...
and (future ''All My Children'' co-star)
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie (March 8, 1918 – October 8, 2008) was a Scottish-American actress.
Personal life
Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to an Irish Catholic father, Patrick Herlihy, and a Scottish Protestant mother, Isobel Cowden, ...
in the
Broadway musical
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
, ''
Take Me Along
''Take Me Along'' is a 1959 musical based on the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play '' Ah, Wilderness'', with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.Mandelbaum, Ke"Ken Mandelbaum's Musicals On Disc: Remembering Bob Me ...
''. During the 1961-62 television season, she starred in ''
Father of the Bride The Father of the Bride is commonly one of the wedding ceremony participants.
Father of the Bride may also refer to:
* ''Father of the Bride'' (novel), 1949, by Edward Streeter
** ''Father of the Bride'' (franchise), media franchise based on the 1 ...
'' television series. Then, in 1965, she joined the cast of the
primetime serial, ''
Peyton Place'', playing Hannah Cord. While there had been primetime serials before (such as ''
One Man's Family
''One Man's Family'' is an American radio soap opera, heard for almost three decades, from 1932 to 1959. Created by Carlton E. Morse, it was the longest-running uninterrupted dramatic serial in the history of American radio. Television versions ...
''), none previously had enjoyed the phenomenal success of ''Peyton Place''. Warrick received an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nomination for her work on this show in 1967, the same year she left the show. In 1969, she made her last major film, ''
The Great Bank Robbery''. During this time, Agnes Nixon had been moving up the daytime television ranks. She had created her own show, ''
One Life to Live'', in 1968. ABC approved her new show, ''
All My Children'', in 1969.
''All My Children''
![Ruth Warwick in musical Irene 1973](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Ruth_Warwick_in_musical_Irene_1973.jpg)
When ''All My Children'' debuted on January 5, 1970, Warrick was among the contracted cast, playing Pine Valley's imperious matriarch
Phoebe Tyler (the character's full name via her marriages would eventually be Phoebe English Tyler Wallingford Matthews Wallingford). The show was an instant hit and Phoebe became a popular character. While her role was originally that of a serious society snob concerned mainly with keeping her family's name at the top of the town's social register, she later began to add much humor into the role, especially when her character, separated from her husband of many years, began having an affair with a phony professor
Langley Wallingford, and eventually married him. Warrick received
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
nominations in 1975 and 1977.
Due to health problems, actor
Louis Edmonds
Louis Stirling Edmonds (September 24, 1923 – March 3, 2001) was an American actor from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was best known for his roles in ''Dark Shadows'' and ''All My Children''.
Edmonds appeared in the musical ''Ernest in Love'' in ...
, who portrayed Warrick's ''All My Children'' husband, left the show in 1995. Combined with Warrick's own health problems, that signaled a reduction in her screen time in the 1990s. Warrick broke her hip while on vacation in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
in 2001 and thenceforth used a wheelchair. She had a brief re-emergence in 2002 when Phoebe made a return appearance at a hospital board meeting and later attended a society function with niece Brooke. Warrick was seldom on screen, but did appear on ''All My Childrens 35th anniversary show on January 5, 2005. This would be Warrick's final screen appearance.
Singing, writing and politics
In 1971, she published a single with the song ''41,000 Plus 4 The Ballad of the Kent State Massacre'' as a tribute to
Sandra Lee Scheuer,
William Knox Schroeder
William Knox Schroeder (; July 20, 1950 – May 4, 1970) was a student at Kent State University, Ohio, when he was killed by Ohio National Guardsmen in the Kent State shootings.
Background
Schroeder was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Fl ...
,
Jeffrey Glenn Miller and
Allison Beth Krause, the four students killed at
Kent State University
Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...
during a demonstration against the
Vietnam war
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. She published her
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
, ''The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler'' (co-written by
Don Preston
Donald Ward Preston (born September 21, 1932) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is known for working with Frank Zappa from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s.
Biography
Preston was born into a family of musicians in Detroit and began st ...
) in 1980, the same year she won a
Soapy Award (a prelude to the
Soap Opera Digest Awards
''The Soap Opera Digest Awards'', originally known as ''The Soapy Awards'' when introduced in 1977, is an awards show held by the daytime television magazine ''Soap Opera Digest''.
History
1977 until 1983
The Soapy Awards were an award presen ...
). She received a Star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame and was on hand to receive her
Daytime Emmy Award
The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...
for Lifetime Achievement in 2004.
Warrick was a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, working with the administrations of
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
,
Lyndon Johnson and
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
on
labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
and education issues. Upon Carter's
1980 defeat, she sent him a long letter thanking him for his efforts. He replied, telling her that if he had hired her as a speechwriter, he would have been reelected. Warrick had generally
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
political views. In her first years at ''All My Children'', Warrick was flustered by her character's conservative politics and support of U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, which Warrick strongly opposed.
In July 2000, she refused to accept a lifetime achievement award from the South Carolina Arts Commission because she was offended by legislators' decision to move the
Confederate flag
The flags of the Confederate States of America have a history of three successive designs during the American Civil War. The flags were known as the "Stars and Bars", used from 1861 to 1863; the "Stainless Banner", used from 1863 to 1865; and ...
from the state Capitol dome to another spot on the grounds in response to a boycott of the state by flag opponents. A lifelong supporter of
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
rights, she felt the flag should be removed completely, and commented, "In my view, this was no compromise. It was a deliberate affront to the African-Americans, who see it as a sign of oppression and hate".
In 1991, Warrick received a certification as a licensed metaphysical teacher from a
Unity
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
* Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; ...
school in
Lee's Summit, Missouri
Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in bo ...
.
Death
Warrick died of complications related to
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
on January 15, 2005, aged 88, at her home in Manhattan.
Legacy
The January 24, 2005 episode of ''All My Children'' was dedicated "In Loving Memory of Ruth Warrick". Phoebe died offscreen on May 4. Phoebe's funeral was aired May 12, 2005. The episode featured many of Warrick's most notable performances as flashbacks, and included the return of many of the characters who had been heavily involved in her storylines over the years. Warrick was included in the memorial tribute at the
11th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Film historian Scott Feinberg conducted the final interview with Warrick on August 14, 2004, at her apartment in New York City. After her death, her family put much of her estate in an auction.
Profile
dawsonandnye.com; accessed March 29, 2015.
The auction included her extensive collection of art and photographs, as well as books signed by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Signed scripts from ''Peyton Place'' and ''All My Children'', as well as her Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
appearances were also in the catalog. The centerpiece of the catalog was the 25th anniversary reprint script of ''Citizen Kane'', signed by Warrick, Cotten and Welles, one of only 100 printed. Her family donated her 2004 Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award to a museum in her hometown of Saint Joseph, Missouri.
Film credits
See also
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Ruth Warrick profile at Soapcentral.com
(July 1997) at Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warrick, Ruth
1916 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
Actors from St. Joseph, Missouri
Actresses from Missouri
American autobiographers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American soap opera actresses
American television actresses
Baptists from Missouri
California Democrats
Daytime Emmy Award winners
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Missouri Democrats
New York (state) Democrats
Women autobiographers
Baptists from California
Baptists from New York (state)
20th-century Baptists
Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
21st-century American women