Cathy O'Donnell

Acting

Cathy O'Donnell

Born 1923-07-06 · Siluria, Alabama, USA

Cathy O'Donnell (July 6, 1923 – April 11, 1970) was an American actress, best known for her many roles in film-noir movies. While under contract with Samuel Goldwyn, O'Donnell made her debut in an uncredited role as a nightclub extra in Wonder Man (1945). Her first major role in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), playing Wilma Cameron, the high-school sweetheart of double amputatee Homer Parrish, played by real-life World War II veteran/amputee Harold Russell. She was loaned out to RKO for one of her most memorable films, They Live by Night (1949) starring with Farley Granger, widely considered a classic of the noir genre and on the Guardian's list of the top ten noir films. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray. The two actors later re-teamed for another movie, Side Street (1950). Later O'Donnell starred in The Miniver Story (also 1950), as Judy Miniver and also had a supporting role in Detective Story (1951). She appeared as Barbara Waggoman, the love interest of James Stewart's character in the western The Man from Laramie (1955). Her final film role was the title character's sister Tirzah in William Wyler's 1959 Academy Award winning Best Picture Ben-Hur (1959). In the 1960s, she appeared in TV shows, playing mostly bit parts on shows such as Perry Mason, The Rebel and Man Without a Gun. Her last screen appearance was in 1964, in an episode of Bonanza. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cathy O'Donnell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Ben-Hur poster
7.9

In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.

Ben-Hur

1959

The Best Years of Our Lives poster
7.7

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

The Best Years of Our Lives

1946

The Man from Laramie poster
7.2

Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who sells rifles to the Apache tribe, finding himself unwillingly drawn into the convoluted life of a local ranching family whose members seem to have a lot to hide.

The Man from Laramie

1955

Mad at the World poster
5.9

A neighborhood is terrorized by group of young juvenile delinquents called The WolfPack. When a young father's infant child is seriously injured because of the WolfPack, he decides that the police aren't working fast enough to catch the ones who hurt his baby and sets out to infiltrate the gang himself and mete out the punishment they deserve.

Mad at the World

1955

Detective Story poster
7.0

Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.

Detective Story

1951

They Live by Night poster
6.8

An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back to health, but their relationship seems doomed from the beginning.

They Live by Night

1949

The Amazing Mr. X poster
6.2

On the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf...then meets a tall dark man, Alexis, who seems to know all about such things. After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and younger sister Janet become enmeshed in the eerie artifices of Alexis; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper deviltry than he had in mind...

The Amazing Mr. X

1948

Side Street poster
6.5

A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of money from the office of a corrupt attorney. Instead of a few hundred dollars, it contains $30,000. When he decides to return the money, things go wrong - and that is only the beginning of his troubles.

Side Street

1950

The Story of Mankind poster
4.4

The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.

The Story of Mankind

1957

The Deerslayer poster
6.1

After The Deerslayer, a white man reared by the Mohicans, and his blood brother Chingachgook, a Mohican chief, save trader Harry Marsh from the hostile Huron Indians, they learn that the Hurons will attack Old Tom Hutter and his two daughters, Hetty and Judith, who live on a floating raft fort on the river.

The Deerslayer

1957

Never Trust a Gambler poster
5.6

A small-time gambler on the run from the law hides in his ex-wife's house.

Never Trust a Gambler

1951

Bury Me Dead poster
4.7

A woman watches her own funeral, then sets out with her lawyer to learn who was in the casket.

Bury Me Dead

1947

Loves of Three Queens poster
9.0

At a wedding party involving three beautiful women, a young man should choose the most charming. But a professor intervenes to prevent the verdict, remembering the troubles caused by Paris in a similar situation.

Loves of Three Queens

1954

The Miniver Story poster
6.2

The Second World War is over, and the Miniver family is trying to keep themselves together in post-War Britain, among continuing shortages and growing tensions within the family.

The Miniver Story

1950

Eight O'Clock Walk poster
6.9

Only a British cabdriver's (Richard Attenborough) wife (Cathy O'Donnell) and lawyer (Derek Farr) believe him innocent of killing a little girl.

Eight O'Clock Walk

1954

The Woman's Angle poster
8.0

The organising force of a family of musical prodigies, Robert Mansell is a frustrated composer in seach of one thing personal happiness. This search, however, has landed him in the divorce courts and the judge's summary does not paint him in a favourable light.

The Woman's Angle

1952

My World Dies Screaming poster
6.2

A newlywed is terrified when her husband brings her to live in the old house that figures in her recurring nightmare.

My World Dies Screaming

1958