Paula Trueman
Encyclopedia
Paula Trueman was an American film
, television
, and theater actress.
, and educated at Hunter College
, before gaining admission to the Neighborhood Playhouse
to study dancing.
Her stage
career began with The Grand Street Follies revue
s in 1924, and at the end of that year she made her dramatic debut in The Little Clay Tart. She was also in the 1930 revue Sweet and Low opposite Fannie Brice, George Jessel
, and James Barton, and appeared in Kiss and Tell, For Love or Money and Wake Up, Darling in the 1940s and 1950s.
Her film debut in 1934's Crime Without Passion
starring Claude Raines did not lead to a significant Hollywood career at the time, but she enjoyed an Indian summer
after playing Mrs. Fenty in Paint Your Wagon
opposite Lee Marvin
and Clint Eastwood
in 1969. The latter also cast her in a brief but scene-stealing role as Grandma Sarah in The Outlaw Josey Wales
, and for the next decade she could be seen in a number of significant films of the era, including Annie Hall
and Zelig
by Woody Allen
, Dirty Dancing
, and an uncredited role in Moonstruck
, her final feature film. In 1978, she played Maggie Flannigan in All My Children
and was involved in a story line with Estelle LaTour (Kathleen Dezina) and Billy Clyde Tuggle (Matthew Cowles).
She died of natural causes in New York Hospital
in 1994, leaving behind a stepson, Michael Sterner, by her husband Harold, an architect
whom she married in 1936.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, and theater actress.
Life and career
The daughter of Joseph and Eva Cohn Trueman, she was born and raised in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and educated at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, before gaining admission to the Neighborhood Playhouse
Neighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
to study dancing.
Her stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
career began with The Grand Street Follies revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s in 1924, and at the end of that year she made her dramatic debut in The Little Clay Tart. She was also in the 1930 revue Sweet and Low opposite Fannie Brice, George Jessel
George Jessel (actor)
George Albert Jessel was an American illustrated song "model," actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies...
, and James Barton, and appeared in Kiss and Tell, For Love or Money and Wake Up, Darling in the 1940s and 1950s.
Her film debut in 1934's Crime Without Passion
Crime Without Passion
Crime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures...
starring Claude Raines did not lead to a significant Hollywood career at the time, but she enjoyed an Indian summer
Indian summer
An Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in the autumn. It refers to a period of considerably above normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, usually after there has been a killing frost...
after playing Mrs. Fenty in Paint Your Wagon
Paint Your Wagon (film)
Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 American musical film starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The movie was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 stage musical by Lerner and Loewe, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California.-Plot:...
opposite Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
and Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in 1969. The latter also cast her in a brief but scene-stealing role as Grandma Sarah in The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman...
, and for the next decade she could be seen in a number of significant films of the era, including Annie Hall
Annie Hall
Annie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay co-written with Marshall Brickman and co-starring Diane Keaton. One of Allen's most popular and most honored films, it won four Academy Awards including Best Picture...
and Zelig
Zelig
Zelig is a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.The film was shot almost entirely in...
by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach...
, and an uncredited role in Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
, her final feature film. In 1978, she played Maggie Flannigan in All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
and was involved in a story line with Estelle LaTour (Kathleen Dezina) and Billy Clyde Tuggle (Matthew Cowles).
She died of natural causes in New York Hospital
New York Hospital
New York Hospital or “Old New York Hospital” or “City Hospital” was the oldest hospital in New York City and the second oldest hospital in the United States.-Early History:...
in 1994, leaving behind a stepson, Michael Sterner, by her husband Harold, an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
whom she married in 1936.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Crime Without Passion Crime Without Passion Crime Without Passion is a 1934 American drama film directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, starring Claude Rains. It is the first of four pictures written, produced and directed by Hecht and MacArthur for Paramount Pictures... |
Buster Malloy |
| 1941 | One Foot in Heaven One Foot in Heaven One Foot in Heaven is a 1941 American biographical film starring Fredric March, Martha Scott, Beulah Bondi, Gene Lockhart and Elisabeth Fraser.The movie was adapted by Casey Robinson from the autobiography by Hartzell Spence... |
Miss Peabody (uncredited) |
| 1969 | Paint Your Wagon Paint Your Wagon (film) Paint Your Wagon is a 1969 American musical film starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The movie was adapted by Paddy Chayefsky from the 1951 stage musical by Lerner and Loewe, set in a mining camp in Gold Rush-era California.-Plot:... |
Mrs. Fenty |
| 1971 | The Anderson Tapes The Anderson Tapes The Anderson Tapes is a 1971 crime film. It was directed by Sidney Lumet and stars Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, and comedian Alan King. The screenplay was written by Frank Pierson, based upon a best-selling 1970 novel of the same name by Lawrence Sanders... |
Nurse |
| 1974 | Homebodies | Mattie |
| 1975 | The Stepford Wives The Stepford Wives (1975 film) The Stepford Wives is a 1975 science fiction–thriller film based on the 1972 Ira Levin novel of the same name. It was directed by Bryan Forbes with a screenplay by William Goldman, and stars Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman and Tina Louise... |
Welcome Wagon Lady |
| 1976 | The Outlaw Josey Wales The Outlaw Josey Wales The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the end of the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood , with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman... |
Grandma Sarah |
| 1977 | Annie Hall Annie Hall Annie Hall is a 1977 American romantic comedy directed by Woody Allen from a screenplay co-written with Marshall Brickman and co-starring Diane Keaton. One of Allen's most popular and most honored films, it won four Academy Awards including Best Picture... |
Street Stranger |
| 1980 | Can't Stop the Music Can't Stop the Music Can't Stop the Music is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker. It is a pseudo-biography of disco's Village People which bears only a vague resemblance to the actual story of the group's formation... |
Stick-up Lady |
| 1983 | Zelig Zelig Zelig is a 1983 American mockumentary film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Allen and Mia Farrow. Allen plays Zelig, a curiously nondescript enigma who is discovered for his remarkable ability to transform himself to resemble anyone he's near.The film was shot almost entirely in... |
Woman on Telephone |
| 1984 | Mrs. Soffel Mrs. Soffel Mrs. Soffel is a 1984 American film drama based on the true Buck McGovern and the Biddle Boys case of 1901 Pittsburgh, starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson. It was filmed on location in and around the Serez family Farm in Mulmer Ontario, as well as Wisconsin and establishing shots in Pittsburgh... |
Mrs. Stevenson |
| 1985 | Grace Quigley Grace Quigley Grace Quigley, also titled The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley, is a 1985 film starring Katharine Hepburn and Nick Nolte. The plot centers around an elderly woman who decides not to wait around to die of old age, but hires a hit man to kill her... |
Dorothy Trugert |
| 1987 | Sweet Lorraine | Mrs. Falkman |
| 1987 | Dirty Dancing Dirty Dancing Dirty Dancing is a 1987 American romantic film. Written by Eleanor Bergstein and directed by Emile Ardolino, the film features Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the lead roles, as well as Cynthia Rhodes and Jerry Orbach... |
Mrs. Schumacher |
| 1987 | Moonstruck Moonstruck Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis.... |
Lucy (uncredited) |