Job Actress
Years active 1936-1983
Known for Sinister housekeepers, domineering mothers, femme fatales
Top Roles Madame Stephanie Runick, Catherine Vail, Irene, Mrs. Manette, Mrs. Hammond
Top GenresDrama, Romance, Comedy, Adventure, Crime, Horror
Top TopicsBook-Based, Romance (Drama), Ghosts
Top Collaborators (Director), , (Producer), (Producer)
Shares birthday with John Barrymore, Claire Bloom, Cesar Romero  see more..

Gale Sondergaard Overview:

Legendary character actress, Gale Sondergaard, was born Edith Holm Sondergaard on Feb 15, 1899 in Litchfield, MN. Sondergaard died at the age of 86 on Aug 14, 1985 in Woodland Hills, CA and was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

MINI BIO:

Stern-looking Gale Sondergaard was an American actress who, after winning an Academy Award in her first feature, "Anthony Adverse" (she was nominated again for Anna and the King of Siam), went on to corner the market, with Dame Judith Anderson, in sinister housekeepers, domineering mothers and femmes very fatale. Her career was wrecked by the McCarthy witch-hunts, her second husband being writer-director Herbert Biberman who was one of the "Hollywood 10.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Illustrated Dictionary of Film Character Actors).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Gale Sondergaard was nominated for two Academy Awards, winning one for Best Supporting Actress for Anthony Adverse (as Faith Paleologue) in 1936.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1936Best Supporting ActressAnthony Adverse (1936)Faith PaleologueWon
1946Best Supporting ActressAnna and the King of Siam (1946)Lady ThiangNominated
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Gale Sondergaard Quotes:

Inez Quintero: [after Lolita expresses an interest in love] You have the blood of the Hidalgos in your veins! Keep it cool, my girl, or I'll whisk you off into a convent!


Marge Willison: Now remember, I want a lot of costumers around those roulette tables tonight. You girls didn't do so well last time. So keep the wheel spinning and the ivories rolling and remember - all rough stuff is taboo.


Adrea Spedding: I'm so sorry we have nothing in the house for burns. I so seldom get burned.


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Best Supporting Actress Oscar 1936






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Gale Sondergaard Facts
First actress to win an Oscar for "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" (Anthony Adverse (1936))

Joined the Chatauqua theatre circuit in 1920 as an ingenue and a year later became a member of the John Keller Shakespeare Company where she toured Canada and America in productions of "Hamlet," "Julius Caesar," "The Merchant of Venice" and "Macbeth."

In 1936 she became the first actress, tied with Maria Ouspenskaya, of currently 53 actresses to receive an Oscar nomination for their film debut. She was nominated (and won) Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Anthony Adverse (1936).

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