Jo Van Fleet
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Jo Van Fleet | |
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Born | December 30, 1914 Oakland, California, USA |
Died | June 10, 1996 aged 81 Jamaica, Queens, New York City, USA |
Academy Awards | |
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Best Supporting Actress 1955 East of Eden |
Jo Van Fleet (December 30, 1914 – June 10, 1996) was an Academy Award-winning American theater and film actress.
Van Fleet established herself as a notable dramatic actress on Broadway over several years, winning a Tony Award in 1954 for her skill in a difficult role, playing an unsympathetic, even abusive character, in Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful with Lillian Gish and Eva Marie Saint.
Her first film role, as the mother of the James Dean character in East of Eden (1955), brought her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her subsequent film work was very sporadic, and included such films asThe Rose Tattoo, I'll Cry Tomorrow (both 1955), The King and Four Queens (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Wild River (1960),Cool Hand Luke (1967), and I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968).
Van Fleet was married to William Bales from 1946 until his death in 1990, and was the mother of Michael Bales, who survives her. She died in Queens, New York of undisclosed causes at the age of 81.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Awards | ||
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Preceded by Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1955 for East of Eden |
Succeeded by Dorothy Malone for Written on the Wind |