Carol Grace
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Carol Grace (September 11, 1924 – July 20, 2003) was an American actress and author. She is often referred to as Carol Marcus Saroyan or Carol Matthau.
Biography
Carol Grace was born in New York City's Lower East Side; her mother, who was sixteen when she gave birth, was a Russian Jewish immigrant who arrived in New York on August 20, 1913. Her parents arrived later. Grace never knew her biological father. Her mother, Rosheen "Ray" Marcus (Template:Nee Brofman, formerly Shapiro), reportedly claimed it was actor Leslie Howard, who was killed during WWII.[1] Young Carol was placed in foster care until the age of eight. In 1933, her mother married her second husband, Charles Marcus, who was some two decades Rosheen's senior. He was the wealthy co-founder of the Bendix Corporation. Grace took his last name as her own. They lived on Park Avenue in luxury, with servants. Two years after their wedding he learned that Rosheen was hiding the existence of another daughter, Elinor, who had been left in a foster home when they married.[2][3]
Grace claimed to be the inspiration for the Holly Golightly character in Truman Capote's novella Breakfast at Tiffany's.[4] She had a wide social circle and was known for her wit and good company.[3][2]
Her Broadway credits include Once There Was a Russian (1961), The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958), The Square Root of Wonderful (1957), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955), The Time of Your Life (1955), and Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning and Talking to You (1942).[5]
She was twice married to Pulitzer Prize–winning writer William Saroyan over an eight-year period.(1943–1949 and 1951–1952).[5] She later stated that he was abusive. The couple had two children: Aram Saroyan, an internationally known writer, and actress Lucy Saroyan (who died in 2003, pre-deceasing her mother by three months).[3][2][6]
She married recently-divorced actor Walter Matthau on August 21, 1959. The couple remained married until his death on July 1, 2000; they had one son, Charles.[3][2][6]
In 1955, Random House published[7] her novella based on her experiences as a foster child, The Secret in the Daisy.[8] In 1992, she published a memoir, Among the Porcupines.[9] Walter Matthau later said that he loved the book so much that he searched for the author and then married her.[10]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Gangster Story | Carol | |
| 1961 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Woman | Season 7 Episode 4: "Cop for a Day" |
| 1976 | Mikey and Nicky | Nellie | |
| 1978 | The Barbara Walters Special | Self |
References
External links
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- Template:Trim/ Carol Grace at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- ↑ "Matthau family official website", matthau.com; accessed April 17, 2021.
- ↑ a b c d Obituary, guardian.co.uk, August 11, 2004; accessed August 17, 2015.
- ↑ a b c d Obituary in The Independent, July 27, 2003; accessed June 8, 2017.
- ↑ "Holly Golightly inspiration", nytimes.com, August 2, 1992; accessed August 17, 2015.
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Obituary, The New York Times, July 24, 2003; accessed August 17, 2015.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Notice in re forthcoming publication of The Secret of the Daisy
- ↑ Review of Among the Porcupines, nytimes.com; accessed August 17, 2015.
- ↑ Gordon and Patricia Sabine, Books that Made a Difference (1983), p. 4-5
- Pages with script errors
- 1924 births
- 2003 deaths
- Actresses from Manhattan
- Jewish American actresses
- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- American film actresses
- 20th-century American novelists
- Deaths from intracranial aneurysm
- Writers from New York City
- Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
- 20th-century American memoirists
- American women novelists
- American women memoirists
- 20th-century American women writers
- Novelists from New York (state)
- 20th-century American actresses
- 20th-century American Jews
- 21st-century American Jews
- 21st-century American women