Fay Bainter

Fay Bainter
in Jezebel (1938)
Born	Fay Okell Bainter December 7, 1893 Los Angeles, California, U.S.[1]
Died	April 16, 1968 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Occupation	Actress, Singer
Years active	1910–1961
Spouse(s)	Reginald Venable (m. 1921–1964; his death; 1 son)

Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress.^[2] She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one of fewer than a hundred female actors in Hollywood history to receive both acclaims.

Early life

Portrait of Fay Bainter by Robert Henri (1918)

She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress. She made her first appearance on stage in 1908 in The County Chairman at Morosco's Theater in Burbank, California and her Broadway debut was in the role as Celine Marinter in The Rose of Panama (1912). She appeared in a number of successful plays in New York like East is West, The Willow Tree, and Dodsworth. In 1926 she appeared with Walter Abel in a Broadway production of Channing Pollock's The Enemy.

Career

MGM persuaded her to try films and her movie debut was in This Side of Heaven (February 1934), the same year she appeared in Dodsworth on Broadway and in the film It Happened One Day (July 1934). Bainter quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the first performer nominated in the same year for both the Academy Award for Best Actress, for White Banners (1938), and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel (1938), winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year. In 1940 she played Mrs. Gibbs in the film production of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. In 1945 she played Melissa Frake in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children's Hour (1961). Finally, in 1962, Fay appeared as a guest star on The Donna Reed Show.

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood

Personal life

Fay Bainter and Reginald Venable married on June 8, 1921, in Riverside, California.^[3] The couple had one son, Reginald Venable Jr. (1926–1974), who became an actor. Bainter was the aunt of actress Dorothy Burgess.

As her husband, Reginald Venable, was a United States Navy Officer, the couple are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.^[4]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1934	This Side of Heaven	Francene Turner
1937	Quality Street	Susan Throssel
1937	The Soldier and the Lady	Strogoff's Mother
1937	Make Way for Tomorrow	Anita Cooper
1938	White Banners	Hannah Parmalee	Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
1938	Jezebel	Aunt Belle	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1938	Mother Carey's Chickens	Mrs. Margaret Carey
1938	The Arkansas Traveler	Mrs. Martha Allen
1938	Shining Hour, TheThe Shining Hour	Hannah Linden
1939	Yes, My Darling Daughter	Ann "Annie" Murray
1939	Lady and the Mob, TheThe Lady and the Mob	Hattie Leonard
1939	Daughters Courageous	Nancy "Nan" Masters
1939	Our Neighbors – The Carters	Ellen Carter
1940	Young Tom Edison	Mrs. Samuel (Nancy) Edison
1940	Our Town	Mrs. Julia Hersey Gibbs
1940	Bill of Divorcement, AA Bill of Divorcement	Margaret "Meg" Fairfield
1940	Maryland	Charlotte Danfield
1941	Babes on Broadway	Miss "Jonesy" Jones
1942	Woman of the Year	Ellen Whitcomb
1942	War Against Mrs. Hadley, TheThe War Against Mrs. Hadley	Stella Hadley
1942	Journey for Margaret	Trudy Strauss
1942	Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch	Mrs. Elvira Wiggs
1943	Human Comedy, TheThe Human Comedy	Mrs. Macauley
1943	Presenting Lily Mars	Mrs. Thornway
1943	Salute to the Marines	Jennie Bailey
1943	Cry 'Havoc'	Captain Alice Marsh
1944	Heavenly Body, TheThe Heavenly Body	Margaret Sibyll
1944	Dark Waters	Aunt Emily
1944	Three Is a Family	Frances Whittaker
1945	State Fair	Melissa Frake
1946	Kid from Brooklyn, TheThe Kid from Brooklyn	Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyne
1946	Virginian, TheThe Virginian	Mrs. Taylor
1947	Deep Valley	Ellie Saul
1947	Secret Life of Walter Mitty, TheThe Secret Life of Walter Mitty	Mrs. Eunice Mitty
1948	Give My Regards to Broadway	Fay Norwick
1948	June Bride	Paula Winthrop
1951	Close to My Heart	Mrs. Morrow
1953	President's Lady, TheThe President's Lady	Mrs. Donaldson
1961	Children's Hour, TheThe Children's Hour	Mrs. Amelia Tilford	Laurel Award for Top Female Supporting Performance (2nd place) Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1952	Theatre Guild on the Air	The Search[5]

References

1. "Fay Bainter". The Montreal Gazette. Apr 18, 1968. p. 35.
2. Obituary Variety, April 24, 1968.
3. Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1921, "Marriage Of Star Is Declared – Wedding of Fay Bainter and Navy Man Revealed by Mother of Actress", p. 17.
4. Fay Okell Bainter at Find a Grave; LCDR Reginald Sidney Hugh Venable at Find a Grave
5. Kirby, Walter (March 16, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 44. Retrieved May 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Fay Bainter at the Internet Movie Database
• Fay Bainter at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Fay Bainter at AllMovie
• Fay Bainter and son Reggie Jr.
• Fay Bainter at Virtual History