Grimes was born in
Lynn, MassachusettsLynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An older industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park. Currently, Edward "Chip" Clancy, Jr. is serving his second term as Mayor.-History:The area known as Lynn...
, the daughter of Eola Willard (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Niles), a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
at the then-all girls school,
Beaver Country Day SchoolBeaver Country Day School is an independent, college preparatory day school for students in grades 6 through 12 founded in 1920 and located on a campus in the village of Chestnut Hill, in Brookline, Massachusetts, near Boston. Recently the school has been moving toward calling itself only by its...
, in
Chestnut Hill, MassachusettsChestnut Hill is a suburban village located six miles west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity, but unlike most of them, it encompasses parts of three separate municipalities, each of which is in...
. She attended
Stephens CollegeStephens College is a liberal arts women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second oldest female educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman turned it...
in
Columbia, MissouriColumbia is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With an estimated population of 100,733 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone...
, and then studied acting at
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse.
Known for a self-created persona described as "a daffy but endearing pseudo-English eccentric" with a "slightly askew accent that is two parts Grimesian British to one part British British" and a distinctive singing voice one critic called "a low, throaty quiver, a hum that takes wings", Grimes made her debut on the New York stage at the
Neighborhood PlayhouseThe Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
in May 1955 in
Jonah and the Whale.
Early life
Grimes was born in
Lynn, MassachusettsLynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An older industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park. Currently, Edward "Chip" Clancy, Jr. is serving his second term as Mayor.-History:The area known as Lynn...
, the daughter of Eola Willard (
néeA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage, and in speaking of the many cultures where the practice is traditional for women, the maiden name is the family name that the married name replaces....
Niles), a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
at the then-all girls school,
Beaver Country Day SchoolBeaver Country Day School is an independent, college preparatory day school for students in grades 6 through 12 founded in 1920 and located on a campus in the village of Chestnut Hill, in Brookline, Massachusetts, near Boston. Recently the school has been moving toward calling itself only by its...
, in
Chestnut Hill, MassachusettsChestnut Hill is a suburban village located six miles west of downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Like all Massachusetts villages, Chestnut Hill is not an incorporated municipal entity, but unlike most of them, it encompasses parts of three separate municipalities, each of which is in...
. She attended
Stephens CollegeStephens College is a liberal arts women's college located in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second oldest female educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833 as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman turned it...
in
Columbia, MissouriColumbia is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With an estimated population of 100,733 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone...
, and then studied acting at
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse.
Career
Known for a self-created persona described as "a daffy but endearing pseudo-English eccentric" with a "slightly askew accent that is two parts Grimesian British to one part British British" and a distinctive singing voice one critic called "a low, throaty quiver, a hum that takes wings", Grimes made her debut on the New York stage at the
Neighborhood PlayhouseThe Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
in May 1955 in
Jonah and the Whale. She made her
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
stage debut as an understudy for
Kim StanleyKim Stanley was an American actress, primarily in theatre but with occasional film performances.Stanley began her acting career in theatre, and subsequently attended the The Actors Studio...
in the starring role in
Bus StopA bus stop is a designated place where a public transport bus stops for the purpose of allowing passengers to board or leave a bus.- Type :There are three main kinds of stops:* Scheduled stop: The bus uses the stop irrespective of demand...
in June 1955. In 1956, she appeared in the
off-BroadwayOff Broadway theater is an umbrella term for a defined set of plays, musicals or revues performed in New York City. Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theatre District, the hub of the theater industry in the United...
production,
The Littlest Revue, and in 1959 had the lead role in the Broadway production of
Noel CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of Richmond upon Thames, London, Coward...
's play
Look After Lulu!Look After Lulu! is a play by British actor and playwright Noël Coward, based on "Occupe-toi d'Amelie" by Georges Feydeau. It is set in Paris in 1908. The farcical story concerns an attractive prostitute who is entrusted to a friend by her lover, when he goes into the army...
, after she was discovered in a nightclub by the playwright.
She starred in the 1960 musical comedy
The Unsinkable Molly Brown The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and book by Richard Morris. The plot is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and her wealthy miner-husband....
for which she won a
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
(Best Featured Actress in a Musical) for what The New York Times called her "bouyant" performance as a rough-hewn Colorado social climber. She portrayed the title character, a Western mining millionairess who survived the sinking of the
TitanicThe RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by British shipping company White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom...
. In 1964, she appeared in the episode "The He-She Chemistry" of
Craig StevensCraig Stevens was an American motion picture and television actor.-Biography:Born Gail Shikles, Jr. in Liberty, Missouri, he studied dentistry at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1936...
's CBS drama
Mr. BroadwayMr. Broadway was a 13-episode CBS adventure and drama television series starring Craig Stevens , formerly of Peter Gunn, as New York City public relations specialist Mike Bell. The program aired at 9 p.m. Eastern time Saturdays from September 26 to December 26, 1964...
.
In 1966, Grimes starred in her own
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
television series,
The Tammy Grimes Show, in which she played a modern-day heiress who loved to spend money. Receiving "unfavorable critical reaction and poor ratings", it ran for only a month, although an additional six episodes had already been made. Earlier, she had turned down the role of Samantha Stephens on
BewitchedBewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York , Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead and David White. It is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife...
for which she had the right of first refusal.
Returning to the Broadway stage in 1969 after almost a decade of performing in what The New York Times called "dubious delights", Grimes appeared in a revival of
Noel CowardSir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of Richmond upon Thames, London, Coward...
's
Private LivesPrivate Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in the same hotel....
as "Amanda", winning the
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
for Best Actress. Th New York Times called her performance "outrageously appealing. She plays every cheap trick in the histrionic book with supreme aplomb and adorable confidence. Her voice moans, purrs, splutters; she gesticulates with her eyes, almost shouts with her hair. She is all campy, impossible woman, a lovable phony with the hint of tigress about her, so ridiculously artificial that she just has to be for real".
During her career, she spent several seasons at the
Stratford Festival of CanadaThe Stratford Shakespeare Festival is an annual celebration of theatre running from April to November in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario. Theatre-goers, actors, and playwrights flock to Stratford to take part — many of the greatest Canadian, British and American actors play roles at...
in
Stratford, OntarioStratford is a city on the Avon River in Perth County in Southern Ontario, Canada with a population of 30,461, according to the 2006 census....
and has appeared in a number of television series and motion pictures. Grimes has also entertained at various New York city night clubs and recorded several albums of songs; she also recited poetry as part of a 1968 solo act in the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel. Her voice can be heard in romantic duets on some of Ben Bagley's anthology albums of Broadway songs under his
Painted SmilesPainted Smiles is the name of a small record label run by Ben Bagley and based in New York City. The first of this set of stereo albums were of the songs of his often satirical Shoestring Revues which were performed off-Broadway starting in the late 1950s...
record label. In 1982, she hosted the final season of
CBS Radio Mystery TheaterCBS Radio Mystery Theater was an ambitious and sustained attempt during the 1970s to revive the type of audio drama familiar to listeners of old-time radio...
. In 1983 Grimes was dismissed from her co-starring role in the
Neil SimonMarvin Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway succcesses have led to his work being among the most regularly performed in the world...
play
Actors and Actresses, reportedly due to an inability to learn her lines.
In 2003, Grimes was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
She remains active on stage. In 2004 she joined the company of "Tasting Memories", a "compilation of delicious reveries in poetry, song and prose," with a starry rotating cast including Kitty Carlisle Hart, Rosemary Harris, Philip Bosco, Alvin Epstein, Joy Franz and Kathleen Noone.
In 2005 Grimes worked with director Brandon Jameson to voice UNICEF's multi-award winning tribute to Sesame Workshop.
In recent years, Grimes has showcased her talents in a critically acclaimed one-woman show.
Personal life
Grimes married Canadian actor
Christopher PlummerChristopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
in August 1956, with whom she had a daughter, actress
Amanda Plummer-Life and career:Plummer was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of actors Tammy Grimes and Christopher Plummer. Plummer attended Middlebury College in Vermont and acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York...
. They were divorced in 1960.
Her second husband was actor
Jeremy SlateJeremy Slate was an American film and television actor.-Career:From 1979-1987, Slate portrayed Chuck Wilson on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live. Slate costarred with Ron Ely in the 1960-1961 Ivan Tors series The Aquanauts, which was renamed Malibu Run half-way during its brief run on CBS...
, whom she married in 1966 and divorced a year later.
Her third husband was composer Richard Bell (died 2005), whom she married in 1971.
In 1965 Grimes made headlines after she had been beaten and injured twice in four days by what were described as "white racists". According to a report, "Miss Grimes said she believed the attacks were related to her association with several Negro entertainers and recent appearances in public with Sammy Davis Jr., the Negro actor, who was said to be staging a night club act for her".
Awards
- Theatre World Award
The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
- Look After Lulu (1959)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical - The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1961)
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Private Lives (1970)
Filmography
- High Art
High Art is an independent film directed by Lisa Cholodenko and starring Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell.-Synopsis:Sydney , age 24, is a woman who has her whole life mapped out in front of her...
(1998)
- Trouble on the Corner (1997)
- A Modern Affair (1995)
- Backstreet Justice (1994)
- Slaves of New York
Slaves of New York is a 1989 comedy-drama Merchant Ivory Productions film. It was directed byJames Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and starred Bernadette Peters, Adam Coleman Howard, Chris Sarandon, Mary Beth Hurt, Mercedes Ruehl, Madeleine Potter, and Steve Buscemi.Based on the stories Slaves...
(1989)
- Mr. North (1988)
- America (film)America (1986)
- The Stuff
The Stuff is a 1985 satirical comedy horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, and Paul Sorvino.- Synopsis :...
(1985)
- The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn is a 1982 fantasy film produced by Rankin/Bass for ITC Entertainment and animated by Topcraft. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Peter S. Beagle, who also wrote the film's screenplay...
(Voice) (1982)
- Can't Stop the Music
Can't Stop the Music is a musical comedy film directed by Nancy Walker in 1980. 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...
(1980)
- The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt
Milan Stitt was an American playwright and educator.Milan Stitt was born in Detroit, Michigan; he graduated from Cooley High School in 1959. Stitt then studied at Albion College to become a priest before receiving his BA from the University of Michigan and MFA from the Yale School of Drama...
(1979)
- Somebody Killed Her Husband
Somebody Killed Her Husband is a 1978 comedy/mystery film directed by Lamont Johnson and written by Reginald Rose. It starred Farrah Fawcett and Jeff Bridges. Also in the cast were John Wood, Tammy Grimes and John Glover. The plot concerns the efforts of a woman and her lover to find the...
(1978)
- Play It As It Lays
Play It as It Lays is a 1970 novel by the American writer Joan Didion.Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.-Plot summary:...
(1972)
- Arthur! Arthur! (1969)
Stage
- The Unsinkable Molly Brown
The Unsinkable Molly Brown is a musical with music and lyrics by Meredith Willson and book by Richard Morris. The plot is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Brown, who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and her wealthy miner-husband....
(1960)
- Rattle of a Simple Man (1963)
- High Spirits
High Spirits is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, about a man's problems caused by the spirit of his dead wife....
(1964)
- The Only Game in Town (1968)
- Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in the same hotel....
(revival) (1969)
- A Musical Jubilee (1975)
- California Suite
California Suite is a 1976 play by Neil Simon. Similar in structure to his earlier Plaza Suite, the comedy is composed of four playlets set in Suite 203-04, which consists of a living room and an adjoining bedroom with an ensuite bath, in The Beverly Hills Hotel.-Plot:In Visitor from New York,...
(1976)
- Tartuffe
Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is his most famous play.As the play begins, the well-off Orgon is convinced that Tartuffe is a man of great religious zeal and fervor. In fact, Tartuffe is a scheming hypocrite...
(revival)(1977)
- Trick (1979)
- 42nd Street
42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
(1980)
- Orpheus Descending
Orpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success...
(revival) (1989)
Discography
Grimes released three known one-off singles during the 1960s, none of which charted:
- "Home Sweet Heaven"/"You'd Better Love Me" (ABC 10551) 1964, from High Spirits
High Spirits is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward, about a man's problems caused by the spirit of his dead wife....
- "The Big Hurt"/"Nobody Needs Your Love More Than I Do" (Reprise 0487) 1966
- "I Really Loved Harold"/"Father O'Conner" (Buddah 99) 1969
She recorded two albums in the early 1960s, which were re-released in one album in 2004,
The Unmistakable Tammy Grimes.
Tammy Grimes also did the introductory narration on the BBC's 1981 radio production of The Lord of the Rings.
She recorded an album of children's stories, read out loud, called "Hooray for Captain Jane" in the early 70's
External links