Mary Janice Rule (August 15, 1931 – October 17, 2003) was an American actress and psychotherapist. Beginning her career as a dancer, she gained early recognition in the original 1953 Broadway production of William Inge's Picnic.

Rule appeared in over 20 films, including Bell, Book and Candle (1958) with James Stewart, The Swimmer (1968) with Burt Lancaster, and Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977) with Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. Her television work included appearances in The Twilight Zone, Route 66, and The Fugitive.

Rule began studying psychoanalysis in 1973 and received her PhD in 1983, specializing in treating fellow actors. She practiced psychotherapy in New York and Los Angeles and continued to act occasionally until her death in 2003.

Early life Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, to parents of Irish origin. Her father was a dealer in industrial diamonds. She began dancing at the Chez Paree nightclub in Chicago at age 15, which paid for ballet lessons, and was a dancer in the 1949 Broadway production of Miss Liberty. Rule also studied acting at the Chicago Professional School.

Career She was pictured on the cover of Life magazine on January 8, 1951, as being someone to watch in the entertainment industry. Gaining a contract by Warner Bros., her first credited screen role was as Virginia in Goodbye, My Fancy (1951), which featured Joan Crawford in the lead. The established star belittled the younger woman, making Rule's work on the film difficult, although Crawford years later wrote a letter of apology to Rule for treating her badly on this film. Rule's Warner contract was allowed to lapse after only two films. She was troubled by the attitude toward women's beauty at the studios in the early 1950s: "Because I was afraid of being robbed of my individuality, I fought with the makeup people, the hairdressers, and I didn't understand problems of the publicity department," she was reported as saying in 1957.

Rule was in the original 1953 Broadway cast of William Inge's Picnic (in the role of Madge Owens, the innocent beauty, played by Kim Novak in the film version), whose company also included Paul Newman in his Broadway debut. This commitment led her to turn down the role ultimately played by Eva Marie Saint in On the Waterfront (1954). "I knew I couldn't shoot in a movie all day and work on a stage at night and do my best in both," she was quoted as saying by Hedda Hopper of the Los Angeles Times in 1966. Among her other Broadway shows were The Flowering Peach, The Happiest Girl in the World, and Michael V. Gazzo's Night Circus, a 1958 production which lasted for only a week, but introduced Rule to Ben Gazzara, who became her third husband.

Her other films in the 1950s included A Woman's Devotion (1956), the Western Gun for a Coward (1957) and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), in which she played the fiancée who loses publisher 'Shep' Henderson (James Stewart) to the spell-casting witch Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak). On television, she appeared in an episode of Checkmate ("The Mask of Vengeance", 1960), where she played Elena Nardos, the roommate of Cloris Leachman's character, Marilyn Parker. She played Helen Foley in The Twilight Zone S1 E29 "Nightmare as a Child" which aired on April 29, 1960. She appeared as different characters in three episodes of Route 66. She acted as both Barbara Webb and Barbara Wells with David Janssen in two episodes of The Fugitive entitled "Wife Killer" and "The Walls of Night". She also had a major role as Nancy Reade in "Three Bells to Perdido", the debut episode of the Richard Boone western Have Gun – Will Travel. Rule also starred, second billing to Yul Brynner, in the western film Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964).

Among her later film roles were Emily Stewart in The Chase (1966), Sheila Sommers in The Ambushers (1967), Burt Lancaster's bitter ex-lover in The Swimmer (1968), Willie in Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977), journalist Kate Newman in Costa Gavras' political thriller Missing (1982), and Kevin Costner's mother in American Flyers (1985).

Personal life and death Rule had a brief engagement to Farley Granger in 1955. They had appeared in the Broadway play The Carefree Tree in 1955. Next followed a relationship with Ralph Meeker; Meeker had played Hal in Picnic.

Rule was briefly married, during 1955, to television and film writer N. Richard Nash. Her second marriage was to television and film writer Robert Thom in 1956; they had one daughter before divorcing in 1961. Her last marriage was to actor Ben Gazzara in 1961, having one daughter together before their divorce in 1979.

In the 1960s, she became interested in psychoanalysis. She began her formal studies in 1973, specialising in treating her fellow actors, and received her PhD 10 years later from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in Los Angeles. She practiced in New York and Los Angeles, and continued to act occasionally until her death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 2003. She was cremated after her death.

Partial filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1951 Fourteen Hours Bit part Uncredited 1951 Goodbye, My Fancy Virginia Merrill 1951 Starlift Nell Wayne 1952 Holiday for Sinners Susan Corvier 1953 Rogue's March Jane Wensley 1956 A Woman's Devotion Stella Stevenson 1957 Gun for a Coward Aud Niven 1958 Bell, Book and Candle Merle Kittridge 1960 Roxanne 1964 Invitation to a Gunfighter Ruth Adams 1966 Emily Stewart 1966 Alvarez Kelly Liz Pickering 1967 Welcome to Hard Times Molly Riordan 1967 Sheila Sommers 1968 Shirley Abbott 1971 Doctors' Wives Amy Brennan 1971 Gumshoe Mrs. Blankerscoon 1973 Kid Blue Janet Conforto 1977 3 Women Willie Hart 1982 Missing Kate Newman 1985 American Flyers Mrs. Sommers 1985 Rainy Day Friends Elaine

Television Year Title Episode Role Notes 1954 General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein Jenny Brinker In "You Are Never Away" from Allegro 1955 Appointment with Adventure "Design for Trouble" "Masquerade" "Girl who helps French dress designer trap men who pirate his designs" 1957 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars "The Life You Save" Lucy Nell Crater 1957 Playhouse 90 "Four Women in Black" Sister Martha 1957 Wagon Train "The Zeke Thomas Story" Maggie 1957 Have Gun – Will Travel "Three Bells to Perdido" Nancy Pilot episode 1960 Playhouse 90 "Journey to the Day" Karen Andrews 1960 "Nightmare as a Child" Helen Foley 1960 Route 66 "A Lance of Straw" Charlotte Duval 1961 Route 66 "Once to Every Man" Prudie Adams 1963 Dr. Kildare "Whoever Heard of a Two-Headed Doll?" Lila Gregg 1963 Route 66 "But What Do You Do in March?" Sidney Brookes 1966 "Wife Killer" Barbara Wells 1967 "The Walls of Night" Barbara Webb 1968 Journey to the Unknown "Stranger in the Family" Paula Wilde 1968 Shadow on the Land Captain Everett TV movie 1969 Trial Run Lucille Harkness TV movie 1971 Sarah Turner ABC Movie of the Week 1972 "The First Day of Forever" Beverly Landau 1973 Barnaby Jones "To Catch a Dead Man" Diane Stewart 1978 Barbara Randall Miniseries 1986 Spenser: For Hire "Rockabye Baby" Mrs. Bennett 1989 Murder, She Wrote "Alma Murder" Margaret Stone 1992 "Some Live Like Lazarus" Anna (age 60) Final appearance

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