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A Girl's Got to Breathe

The Life of Teresa Wright

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1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
The actress Teresa Wright (1918–2005) lived a rich, complex, magnificent life against the backdrop of Golden Age Hollywood, Broadway, and television. There was no indication, from her astonishingly difficult—indeed, horrifying—childhood, of the success that would follow, nor of the universal acclaim and admiration that accompanied her everywhere. Her two marriages—to the writers Niven Busch (The Postman Always Rings Twice; Duel in the Sun) and Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy; I Never Sang for My Father)—provide a good deal of the drama, warmth, poignancy, and heartbreak of her life story.
"I never wanted to be a star," she told the noted biographer Donald Spoto at dinner in 1978. "I wanted only to be an actress." She began acting on the stage in summer stock and repertory at the age of eighteen. When Thornton Wilder and Jed Harris saw her in an ingénue role, she was chosen to understudy the part of Emily in the original production of Our Town (1938), which she then played in touring productions. Samuel Goldwyn saw her first starring role on Broadway—in the historic production of Life with Father—and at once he offered her a long contract.
She was the only actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for her first three pictures (The Little Foxes; The Pride of the Yankees; and Mrs. Miniver), and she won one for the third film. Movie fans and scholars to this day admire her performance in the classics Shadow of a Doubt and The Best Years of Our Lives. The circumstances of her tenure at Goldwyn, and the drama of her breaking that contract, forever changed the treatment of stars.
Wright's family and heirs appointed Spoto as her authorized biographer and offered him exclusive access to her letters and papers. Major supporting players in this story include Robert Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, Karl Malden, Elia Kazan, Jean Simmons, Dorothy McGuire, Bette Davis, George Cukor, Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, the artist Al Hirschfeld, Stella Adler, and more.
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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 7, 2015
      Prolific celebrity biographer Spoto (The Redgraves: A Family Epic) paints an engaging and intimate portrait of Oscar-winning actor Teresa Wright. Her notable film roles included Shadow of a Doubt, The Best Years of Our Lives, and The Pride of the Yankees, in which she improvised her famous line, “A girl’s gotta breathe!”, after receiving a lengthy on-screen kiss from costar Gary Cooper. Spoto developed a friendship with Wright while writing a book about Alfred Hitchcock, one of her directors; following the actress’s death in 2005, he was granted exclusive access to her private papers and letters. Based on his research and personal experience, he depicts Wright as a unique and hardworking talent who shied away from the spotlight. As he describes her, she embodied the buoyant and determined spirit of mid-20th-century America, and her fresh-faced beauty was warmly embraced by contemporary audiences. Despite the author’s evident affection for his subject, few stones are left unturned as Spoto delves into the actor’s difficult childhood and troubled marriages to novelist Niven Busch and playwright Robert Anderson. Fond remembrances from family and friends provide further insight into Wright’s challenging personal and professional life. 43 b&w illus.

    • Kirkus

      Spoto spotlights Wright.Acclaimed Hollywood biographer Spoto (The Redgraves: A Family Epic, 2012, etc.), who has penned books about Joan Crawford, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and others, returns with an affectionate portrait of actress Teresa Wright (1918-2005), best known for her roles in Shadow of a Doubt, The Little Foxes, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Mrs. Miniver, for which Wright won an Academy Award for best supporting actress. Unfortunately for Spoto, after that run of films in the early 1940s, Wright's star faded precipitously as the result of a highly publicized contract dispute with studio head Samuel Goldwyn, and her career afterward consisted of well-regarded--but hardly iconic--work on stage, screen, and lesser parts in lesser films. It's hardly the stuff of high drama, and the author's account of Wright's personal life similarly fails to enthrall, as a relatively civilized divorce from her first husband and a sometimes-prickly relationship with her second, playwright Robert Anderson, mark the dramatic peaks of this material. Wright was a wonderfully bracing actress in her clutch of classic early roles. She was fresh-faced, winsome, emotionally direct and fiercely intelligent, and it's a shame her talent was undervalued by the studio brass. However, her story lacks a compelling arc, and her cultural impact does not justify the in-depth descriptions of her homes, friendships, children's lives, and sundry other personal details diligently recorded here. Spoto writes of his long personal friendship with Wright, and his admiration and respect register clearly in his characteristically literate, engaging, and authoritative prose. She does come across as a wonderful person to know, but as a biographical subject, she leaves readers wanting. A warm and well-researched yet ultimately inessential appreciation of one of Hollywood's largely forgotten stars. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      February 1, 2016

      Actress Teresa Wright (1918-2005) garnered fame for a string of performances in the 1940s films The Little Foxes, The Best Years of Our Lives, Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, and Mrs. Miniver, for which she earned a best supporting Oscar. This authorized biography is the result of noted Hollywood biographer Spoto's decades-long friendship with Wright, begun when he interviewed her about working with Hitchcock. Spoto hails the actress for her "small, illuminating gestures," which allowed her to transcend what could have been saccharine, predictable roles. Her characters often displayed decency, integrity, and steely resolve, traits she also possessed in real life. Under contract to legendary producer Sam Goldwyn, she refused to pose for glamour or cheesecake photos, declined roles if they conflicted with her family life, and rejected competition with other actresses, forming friendships with many of them. Goldwyn released her from her contract, leading to fewer, less lucrative movie roles, and a subsequent move into stage, television, and radio work. The author covers Wright's unhappy childhood, her early commitment to acting, and her disorganized personal habits, which frustrated her two husbands, novelist Niven Busch and playwright Robert Anderson. VERDICT This affectionate tribute to a shamefully neglected talent benefits greatly from the insights of Wright's children and friends. With the performer's views on Marlon Brando, Sterling Hayden, and notable American directors and playwrights, it is recommended for students of American film and theater.--Stephen Rees, formerly with Levittown Lib., PA

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      March 1, 2016
      Though not as well remembered as some of her contemporaries, such as Loretta Young or Lauren Bacall, Teresa Wright (19182005) truly was a star of stage, screen, and television. As a brilliant ingenue, she launched her career with a bang, garnering Academy Awardnominations for her first three films. Although she was able to capitalize on those early successes, Wright's career took an unfortunate turn when she famously ran afoul of legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn over Hollywood's strict contract system. Two tumultuous marriages created even more obstacles as she found herself in the thrall of controlling men who may not have had her best interests at heart. In between the standard celebrity-bio synopsis of every one of Wright's roles, prolificentertainment biographer Spoto (The Redgraves, 2012) creates a respectable study of a woman who may not have realized the happiness she desired in her personal life, but whose professional accomplishments cannot be denied. A worthwhile read for fans of Hollywood's Golden Age.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

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