Dina Merrill (born Nedenia Marjorie Hutton; December 29, 1923 – May 22, 2017) was an American actress. She had more than a hundred film and television credits from the late 1950s until the 2000s.
Early life Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923, but for many years, her date of birth was given as December 9, 1925. She was the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, Wall Street stockbroker Edward Francis Hutton, one of the founders of E. F. Hutton & Co. Merrill had two older half-sisters, Adelaide Brevoort Close (July 26, 1908 – December 31, 1998) and Eleanor Post Hutton (December 3, 1909 – November 27, 2006), by her mother's first marriage to Edward Bennett Close, grandfather of actress Glenn Close. Merrill was also first cousin—and first cousin once removed, respectively—to heiress Barbara Hutton and her son Lance Reventlow.Nelson, Nancy (2003). Evenings With Cary Grant: Recollections in His Own Words by Those Who Knew Him Best. New York: Citadel Press. p. 133. . "Dina Merrill's father (E. F. Hutton) and Barbara Hutton's father were brothers. Dina recalls: 'Cary and Barbara Hutton came to visit us in Washington right after they were married. [...] I was thrilled my cousin had married this eminent movie star.'""Engagement Announced". Lansing State Journal. August 7, 1959. p. 23. Retrieved July 8, 2024. "Actress Jill St. John, shown with Lance Reventlow, dime store heir [...] Reventlow, 23, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton and her former husband, Danish nobleman Count Haugwitz-Reventlow, operates a stable of racing cars."
Merrill graduated from Miss Porter's School, then attended George Washington University in Washington, DC, for one term, but then enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. She studied acting at HB Studio under Uta Hagen.
Acting career On advice from her half-sister's (then) husband, she adopted the stage name Dina Merrill, borrowing from Charles E. Merrill, a famous stockbroker like her father. Merrill made her debut on the stage in the play The Mermaids Singing in 1945.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill was believed to have been marketed as a replacement for Grace Kelly, and in 1959, she was proclaimed "Hollywood's new Grace Kelly".
Merrill's film credits included Desk Set (1957), A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed (1958), Don't Give Up the Ship (1959), Operation Petticoat (1959, with Cary Grant, who had been married to her cousin, Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton), The Sundowners (1960), BUtterfield 8 (1960), The Young Savages (1961), The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), I'll Take Sweden (1965), The Greatest (1977), A Wedding (1978), Just Tell Me What You Want (1980), Anna to the Infinite Power (1983), Twisted (1986), Caddyshack II (1988), Fear (1990), True Colors (1991), The Player (1992), Suture (1993), and Shade (2003). She also appeared in made-for-TV movies, such as Seven in Darkness (1969), The Lonely Profession (1969), Family Flight (1972), and The Tenth Month (1979).
Merrill appeared in numerous television series in the 1960s, such as playing the villain Calamity Jan in two 1968 episodes of Batman with then-husband Cliff Robertson. She also made guest appearances on two Bonanza episodes as Susannah Clauson, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Bonfire" (1962), The Investigators, The Bold Ones, Wagon Train (1964), Mission: Impossible, The Love Boat; Quincy, M.E.; Murder, She Wrote; Roseanne, and The Nanny, as Maxwell Sheffield's disapproving and distant British mother. In 1971, Merrill appeared as Laura Duff in The Men from Shiloh (rebranded name for the TV Western The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Angus Killer".
Her stage credits include the 1983 Broadway revival of the Rodgers and Hart musical On Your Toes, starring Russian prima ballerina Natalia Makarova. In 1991, she appeared in the rotating cast of the off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom.
In 1991, Merrill and her third husband Ted Hartley merged their company Pavilion Communications with RKO to form RKO Pictures, which owns the intellectual property of the RKO Radio Pictures movie studio.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Merrill was a recurring guest on several network television game and panel shows, including Match Game, To Tell the Truth, What's My Line, and Hollywood Squares.
Board memberships Merrill was a presidential appointee to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and a vice president of the New York City Mission Society. In 1980, Merrill joined the board of directors of her father's E. F. Hutton & Co., continuing on the board and the compensation committee of Lehman Brothers when it acquired Hutton, for over 18 years.
Personal life and death
Merrill was married three times. In 1946, she wed Stanley M. Rumbough Jr., an heir to the Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste fortune and entrepreneur. They had three children before divorcing in 1966. Later that year, she wed actor Cliff Robertson, with whom she had a daughter. The couple divorced in 1986.
In 1989, she married producer Ted Hartley, and they remained married until her death.
On May 22, 2017, Merrill died at her home in East Hampton, New York, at age 93. She had been suffering from Lewy body dementia.
Two of Merrill's four children predeceased her. One died in a boating accident and another died from ovarian cancer.
She was a registered Republican, and she headed a pro-choice group called Republican Majority for Choice.
Honors Merrill received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award, in 1994, and a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in April 2005.
Filmography Feature films Year Title Role Notes1957 Desk Set Sylvia Blair1958 A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed Margie Solitaire1959 Don't Give Up the Ship Ensign Rita J. Benson Operation Petticoat Second Lieutenant Barbara Duran, NC, USAR Catch Me If You Can 1960 BUtterfield 8 Emily Liggett The Sundowners Jean Halstead 1961 The Young Savages Karin Bell Twenty Plus Two Nicki Kovacs 1963 The Courtship of Eddie's Father Rita Behrens I'll Take Sweden Karin Granstedt 1970 Aru heishi no kake Kelly Allen 1974 Throw Out the Anchor! Lindy Baker 1975 The Meal Kelly Fielding 1977 The Greatest Velvet Green 1978 A Wedding Antionette Goddard 1980 Just Tell Me What You Want Connie Herschel 1983 Anna to the Infinite Power Sarah Hart 1985 Twisted Neil Kempler 1988 Caddyshack II Cynthia Young 1990 Fear Catherine Tarr 1991 True Colors Joan Styles 1992 The Player Celia 1993 Suture Alice Jameson 1995 Open Season Doris Hays-Britton Point of Betrayal Mother 1996 Milk & Money Ellen - David's MotherExecutive Producer1998 Mighty Joe Young Society Woman 1999 The Other Sister Pucky Uncredited2000 Meeting Genevieve Mother Short movie2003 Shade Dina 2009 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Woman in Courtroom Uncredited
Television films Year Title Role Notes 1961 Westinghouse Presents: The Dispossessed Annette DeGrande 1962 The Expendables Barbara 1968 The Sunshine Patriot Brancie Hagen 1969 Seven in Darkness Emily Garth ABC Movie of the Week The Lonely Profession Beatrice Savarona 1971 Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones Vivian Greher ABC Movie of the Week 1972 Family Flight Florence Carlyle ABC Movie of the Week1973 The Letters Penelope Parkington ABC Movie of the Week Running Wild Whit Colby 1979 The Tenth Month Cele 1983 The Brass Ring Mother 1986 The Alan King Show Nan Cooper 1989 Turn Back the Clock Maureen Dowd 1993 Not in My Family Claire Worth 1997 Something Borrowed, Something Blue Lydia D'Arcy - Monique's Mother 1998 A Chance of Snow Merilee Parker 2002 The Magnificent Ambersons Mrs. Johnson The Glow Phoebe Janusz
Television YearTitleRoleNotes1955Four Star PlayhouseMarciaEpisode: "A Place Full of Strangers"1956Playwrights '56Sarah / Mrs. NevilleEpisode: "The Center of the Maze"Episode: "Return to Cassino"The Phil Silvers Show Lieutenant Roxberry / WAC LieutenantEpisode: "Bilko's Rest Cure"Episode: "Bilko's War Against Culture"1957–1958Matinee TheatreEpisode: "One for All"Episode: "Day of Discoveries"1958Playhouse 90MaryEpisode: "The Time of Your Life"Climax!Iris FarrarEpisode: "Spider Web"1959Sunday Showcase Laurette HarringtonEpisode: "What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 1"Episode: "What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 2"1959–1960The DuPont Show of the MonthLaura Hudson / JulieEpisode: "The Fallen Idol"Episode: "Men in White"1960Westinghouse Desilu PlayhouseAline LincolnEpisode: "Murder Is a Private Affair"1961The InvestigatorsValerie CorbinEpisode: "Style of Living"The United States Steel HourLisa MullerEpisode: "Brandenburg Gate"Hong KongHelen Rowan RandolphEpisode: "Lady Godiva"1962The Alfred Hitchcock HourLauraSeason 1 Episode 13: "Bonfire"The Dick Powell Theatre Mrs. Eve Emerson / Carol MansonEpisode: "The Court Martial of Captain Wycliff"Episode: "Obituary for Mr.X"The New BreedRuth KingmanEpisode: "So Dark the Night"Dr. KildareEvelyn LeFevreEpisode: "Oh, My Daughter"CheckmateLaura HammondEpisode: "A Very Rough Sketch"1963Burke's LawBarrie ColemanEpisode: "Who Killed Mr. X?"The Eleventh HourRita HallEpisode: "Everybody Knows You Love Me"1963–1965Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreMaralise / Joan CowleyEpisode: "The Candidate"Episode: "The Game"1964Kraft Suspense TheatreJo AndrewsEpisode: "The Gun"MickeyAngelaEpisode: "Seaside Westside"RawhideLisa TempleEpisode: "Incident of the Gilded Goddess 1964–1965The RoguesClothilde Bonheur / Kendall FrazierEpisode: "The Personal Touch"Episode: "A Daring Step Backward"1965Daniel BooneMadeline LorneEpisode: "The Tamarack Massacre Affair"1965–1972The F.B.IChristine Minton / Jean DavisEpisode: "The Monsters"Episode: "The Franklin Papers"1966BonanzaSusannah ClausonEpisode: "The Pursued: Part 1"Episode: "The Pursued: Part 2"DaktariJanet LorneEpisode: "Trail of the Cheetah"12 O'Clock HighCapt. Patricia BatesEpisode: "Which Way the Wind Blows"1967Run for Your LifeCaroline WillinsEpisode: "East of the Equator"A.B.C Stage 67Ginny WeldonEpisode: "The Trap of Solid Gold"1968BatmanCalamity JanEpisode: "Penguin's Clean Sweep" (uncredited)Episode: "The Great Escape"Episode: "The Great Train Robbery"1969Mission: ImpossibleMeredythEpisode: "The Controllers Part 1"Episode: "The Controllers Part 2"1969–1970The Name of the GameMaggie Payden / Nancy DevlinEpisode: "The Incomparable Connie Walker"Episode: "The Glory Shouter"1971The Bold Ones: The New DoctorsMadeline CalvertEpisode: "Angry Man"Medical CenterRuth MarloweEpisode: "Perfection of Vices"The VirginianLaura DuffEpisode: "The Angus Killer"1973CannonDoris HawthorneEpisode: "Murder By the Numbers"Marcus Welby, M.D.Dr. Carol BrooksEpisode: "A Cry in the Night"Night GalleryRuth WilsonEpisode: "Hatred Until Death / How to Cure the Common Vampire"Segment: "Hatred Unto Death"1974The Odd CoupleAnitaEpisode: "Oscar in Love"1975Ellery QueenHarriet MannersEpisode: "The Adventure of the 12th Floor Express"SwitchLucianaEpisode: "Kiss of Death"1976Quincy M.E.Claire GarnerEpisode: "Who's Who In Neverland"Hawaii Five-ODr. Barbara DaltonEpisode: "Nine Dragons"Kingston: ConfidentialHelen MartinsonEpisode: "Kingston"1977The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew MysteriesThelma MarchEpisode: "A Haunting We Will Go"1979The Love BoatHelen Ames2 EpisodesRoots: The Next GenerationMrs. HickingerTV Mini-SeriesEpisode: "Part V"1980Matt and JennyAdelaide AlcottEpisode: "The Actress"1982- 1984HotelJessica Cabot / Eleanor BlackwoodEpisode: "Queen's Gambit"Episode: "Opening Moves"Episode: "The Wedding"1984Hot PursuitEstelle Mordian12 Episodes1984"Tales of the Unexpected"Series 7, ep 18, "The Open Window""Marjorie"1990-