Rosemary Murphy (January 13, 1925 – July 5, 2014) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She was nominated for three Tony Awards for her stage work, as well as two Emmy Awards for television work, winning once, for her performance in Eleanor and Franklin (1976).
Biography and career Murphy was born in Munich, Germany in 1925, the elder daughter of American parents Mildred (née Taylor) and Robert Daniel Murphy, a diplomat. The family left Germany in 1939 due to the onset of World War II.
Education Murphy, whose résumé came to include French and German films, attended Manhattanville College and trained as an actress at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio with Sanford Meisner before beginning her career on stage.
Stage She made her stage debut in Germany, in a 1949 production of Peer Gynt. She made her Broadway debut in 1950 in The Tower Beyond Tragedy. She went on to appear in some 15 Broadway productions, most recently in Noël Coward's Waiting in the Wings (1999).
Film and television
Murphy also acted in films and on TV, most notably portraying Sara Delano Roosevelt in the TV miniseries Eleanor and Franklin (1976) and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977). She played Maudie Atkinson in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) as well as Callie Hacker in Walking Tall (1973). The following year, in 1974, she appeared in the television film A Case of Rape, playing a ruthless defense attorney who brutally cross-examines a rape victim (played by Elizabeth Montgomery) and wins an acquittal for the man who attacked her. In 1974–75, she played high-school principal Margaret Blumenthal in the series Lucas Tanner.
Her first soap opera role was Nola Hollister #2 on The Secret Storm (1969–1970). In 1977, she appeared on All My Children as Maureen Teller Dalton, Eric Kane's former mistress, and the mother of his son, Mark Dalton. In 1988, she played Loretta Fowler for several months, the kleptomaniac mother of Mitch Blake and Sam Fowler on Another World. The following year, she appeared on As the World Turns as Gretel Aldin #2 (a role previously played by Joan Copeland) when her character's son, James Stenbeck, was allegedly murdered.
She also appeared in episodes of Columbo (1974) and Murder, She Wrote (1987).
Awards Murphy won an Emmy Award for her role in Eleanor and Franklin. She also won a Clarence Derwent Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for three Tony awards.
Death She died on July 5, 2014, in Manhattan, from esophageal cancer. She never married or had children.
Filmography Year Title Role1947 Der Ruf Mary1957 That Night! Nurse 'Chorny' Chornis1961 The Young Doctors Miss Graves1962 To Kill a Mockingbird Maudie Atkinson1966 Any Wednesday Dorothy Cleves 1972 A Fan's Notes MomsBen Beth GarrisonYou'll Like My Mother Mrs. Kinsolving1973 Walking Tall Callie HackerAce Eli and Rodger of the Skies Hannah 40 Carats Mrs. Latham1974 A Case of Rape Muriel Dyer1977 Julia Dottie 1980 The Attic Mrs. Perkins1981 The Hand Karen Wagner1987 September Mrs. Mason1991 For the Boys Luanna Trott1993 Twenty Bucks Aunt Dotty1995 Mighty Aphrodite Adoption Coordinator1999 Message in a Bottle Helen at the B&B2001 Dust Angela2007 The Savages Doris Metzger2008 Synecdoche, New York Frances2009 After.Life Mrs. Whitehall2010 The Romantics Grandmother Hayes
Television films Year Title Role Notes1968 A Case of Libel Claire 1972 Invitation to a March 1974 The Lady's Not for Burning Margaret Devize 1976 Eleanor and Franklin Sara Roosevelt Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years Sara Roosevelt Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special1978 Before and After Helen, Carole's Mother 1981 Mr. Griffin and Me Jane Barlow 1993 And the Band Played On Blood Bank Executive 1994 Don't Drink the Water Miss Pritchard 1995 The Tuskegee Airmen Eleanor Roosevelt 1999 The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer Bea Einhorn
Partial television credits Year Title Role Notes1951–1953 Lux Video Theatre Various roles 3 episodes1962 The Virginian Pearl Dodd Krause Episode: "Big Day, Great Day"1973 Maude Jane Episode: "Maude's Good Deed"1974 Columbo Margaret Halperin Episode: "A Friend in Deed"1976 Eleanor and Franklin Sara Roosevelt Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Special1984 George Washington Mary Ball Washington 1996–1997 EZ Streets Christina Quinn 4 episodes1997 Cracker Victoria 2 episodes1997–1999 Frasier Carol Larkin 2 episodes1998 The Visitor Tour Guide Episode: "The Trial"
References
External links
Rosemary Murphy at the University of Wisconsin's Actors Studio audio collection