Marcia Van Dyke
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Marcia Van Dyke (March 26, 1922 – November 11, 2002) was an American violinist and actress. She was featured in a cover story in the January 19, 1948, issue of ''
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.


Early years

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Van Dyke, she was born Marcia Evelyn Van Dyke in
Grants Pass, Oregon Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, along the Rogue River. The population was 39,189 at the 2020 census. History Early Hudson's Bay Company hunt ...
and was a cousin of director and writer
W. S. Van Dyke Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke II (Woody) (March 21, 1889 – February 5, 1943) was an American film director and writer who made several successful early sound films, including '' Tarzan the Ape Man'' in 1932, ''The Thin Man'' in 1934, ''San Franc ...
. Her father was an attorney who taught piano as a hobby. In 1936, she and her parents moved to Burlingame, California, to allow her to study under
Naoum Blinder Naoum Blinder (July 19, 1889 – November 21, 1965) was a Russian- American virtuoso violinist and teacher, born in Yevpatoria (then Russian Empire, now Ukraine). Early life and education He graduated from the Imperial Musical College of Odessa ...
, the concert maestro of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Van Dyke was concertmeister for Burlingame High School and for the Southern Oregon Symphony. She graduated from BHS and
San Mateo Junior College College of San Mateo (CSM) is a public community college in San Mateo, California. It is part of the San Mateo County Community College District. College of San Mateo is located at the northern corridor of Silicon Valley and situated on a 1 ...
.


Music

In 1944, Van Dyke joined the first violin section of the
San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...
. Before taking that position, she was first violinist for a theater in San Francisco. Van Dyke was part of a 56-concert tour (in 57 days) that the San Francisco Symphony undertook in the spring of 1947. An article published on the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
's''
SFGate The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The p ...
website on November 13, 2011, reported "After the tour, Life magazine ran a story not on the orchestra itself, but on 'the prettiest first violinist now in the symphony big time.'"


Acting


Film

Film executive
Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successfu ...
offered a contract to Van Dyke after seeing the 1947 article about her in ''Life''. Van Dyke's fledgling film career was briefly endangered on December 25, 1947, when a car in which she was a passenger had a head-on collision with another car near
Taft, California Taft (formerly Moron, Moro, and Siding Number Two) is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of . The popula ...
. A news story distributed by
International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.
noted that Van Dyke was "being groomed by
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
for stardom" at the time. It continued: "An ugly cut encircled her left eye and her lovely features became grotesquely swollen. For a while it looked as if Marcia's film career had been nipped in the bud." On December 30, 1947, however, she said that she was progressing sufficiently to resume film activity within a month. Van Dyke's films included '' Shadow on the Wall'' (1950), ''
A Date with Judy ''A Date with Judy'' is a comedy radio series aimed at a teenage audience which ran from 1941 to 1950. The series was co-created by Jerome Lawrence and Aleen Leslie, and based on Leslie's “One Girl Chorus” column in the Pittsburgh Press. La ...
'' (1948), ''
In the Good Old Summertime ''In the Good Old Summertime'' is a 1949 American Technicolor musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. It stars Judy Garland, Van Johnson, S.Z. Sakall, Spring Byington, Clinton Sundberg, and Buster Keaton in his first featured film role at M ...
'' (1949), and ''Death in a Doll House''.


Stage

On
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 ...
, Van Dyke played Katie in '' A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1951). Her performance in that role brought her a
Theatre World Award The Theatre World Award is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway theatre, Broadway or Off-Broadway. It was first awarded for the 1945 ...
for 1950–1951 and a fourth-place finish for best supporting actress in the 1951
Donaldson Awards The Donaldson Awards were a set of theatre awards established in 1944 by the drama critic Robert Francis (critic), Robert Francis in honor of W. H. Donaldson (1864–1925), the founder of ''The Billboard'' (now ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' ...
competition. After Van Dyke's debut in ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'', an item in the trade publication ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' said, in part, "She has looks along with more than considerable acting ability, and, while her voice is small, it has splendid quality."


Radio

In 1953, Van Dyke and her then-husband, Jack Barry, starred with their son, Jeff, in ''It's the Barrys'', a 15-minute comedy program on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
radio.


Coverage in ''Life'' magazine

''Life'' magazine twice ran articles about Van Dyke. The May 5, 1947, issue contained an article titled "Pretty First Violinist: Young Marcia Van Dyke is a musical ornament in San Francisco Symphony's string section". It noted that Van Dyke had not only played for six years with professional orchestras, but had also sung
torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affecte ...
s in nightclubs. The January 19, 1948, issue of ''Life'' contained a second article about Van Dyke: "Virtuoso Starlet: 'Prettiest first violinist' now is a versatile Hollywood actress'". Accompanied by 11 photographs, it reported that Van Dyke had received a film contract with
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
. It added that she had "considerably more to offer Hollywood than her pretty face", noting her talents in singing, playing tennis, and swimming. On January 10, 2014, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine, the sister publication of the by-then-defunct ''Life'', evaluated ''Lifes coverage of Van Dyke. Liz Ronk wrote:
Van Dyke, as multi-talented as she might have been, only worked in Hollywood for six years, and never in a starring role. Still, no one could possibly consider her a failure; after all, countless young actresses yearn to act in the movies, or on television, and never get a chance to step in front of a camera. So while Marcia Van Dyke might not have had the blockbuster onscreen career that her LIFE cover suggested was in store, at least she had her moment -- in fact, she had several moments -- in the sun.


Later years

In the 1970s, Van Dyke returned her attention to music, playing as a
session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
for recordings by a variety of artists, including
Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
,
Cleo Laine Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth (born Clementine Dinah Bullock; 28 October 1927)George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...
,
The Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, an ...
, and
Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...
.


Personal life

On August 19, 1941, Van Dyke married David Vaughn Colbert, a United States Marine. In July 1952, she married television game show host Jack Barry. They had two sons, Jeffrey and Jonathan. On November 16, 1962, Van Dyke married John H. Mitchell, an executive with
Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
studios.


Death

On November 11, 2002, Van Dyke died at her home in
Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 cen ...
. She was 80 years old.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dyke, Marcia 1922 births 2002 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Grants Pass, Oregon 20th-century American actresses American violinists American women violinists Musicians from Oregon College of San Mateo alumni Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century violinists