Rosalind Russell

Acting

Rosalind Russell

Born 1907-06-04 · Waterbury, Connecticut, USA

Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907 – November 28, 1976) was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with Meryl Streep for wins until 2007 when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town (a musical based the film My Sister Eileen, in which she also starred). Russell was known for playing character roles, exceptionally wealthy, dignified ladylike women. She had a wide career span from the 1930s to the 1970s and attributed her long career to the fact that, although usually playing classy and glamorous roles, she never became a sex symbol, not being famous for her looks.

Acting credits

His Girl Friday poster
7.4

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

His Girl Friday

1940

No Time for Comedy poster
5.3

An aspiring playwright finds himself an overnight Broadway success.

No Time for Comedy

1940

The Women poster
7.2

A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.

The Women

1939

Auntie Mame poster
7.0

Mame Dennis, a progressive and independent woman of the 1920s, is left to care for her nephew Patrick after his wealthy father dies. Conflict ensues when the executor of the father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle and tries to force her to send Patrick to prep school.

Auntie Mame

1958

Picnic poster
6.4

Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.

Picnic

1955

The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics poster
6.8

James Earl Jones hosts this film based on two stories by the late Rod Serling, who wrote the stories of the original 'The Twilight Zone' (1959) series. In "The Theatre," a young woman attends a movie only to find that her life story is being revealed on the screen. In "Where the Dead Are," a Boston surgeon in 1868 searches for a scientist who may have the answer to a medical mystery.

The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics

1994

Gypsy poster
6.3

Gypsy's mother Rose dreams of a life in show business for her daughters, but Louise becomes a huge burlesque star. Stage musical loosely based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee.

Gypsy

1962

Sister Kenny poster
6.9

An Australian nurse discovers an effective new treatment for infantile paralysis, but experiences great difficulty in convincing doctors of the validity of her claims.

Sister Kenny

1946

The Fabulous Allan Carr poster
5.0

Armed with a limitless Rolodex and a Benedict Canyon enclave with its own disco, Allan Carr threw the Hollywood parties that defined the 1970s. A producer, manager, and marketing genius, Carr built his bombastic reputation amid a series of successes including the mega-hit musical film "Grease," until it all came crashing down after he produced the 1989 Academy Awards, a notorious debacle.

The Fabulous Allan Carr

2017

Evelyn Prentice poster
6.5

A criminal lawyer's wife is blackmailed when she is falsely accused of infidelity.

Evelyn Prentice

1934

That's Entertainment! III poster
7.1

Some of MGM's musical stars review the studio's history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

That's Entertainment! III

1994

The Trouble with Angels poster
6.7

Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.

The Trouble with Angels

1966

A Woman of Distinction poster
7.0

Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, touring North America and in possession of a keepsake of Susan's he wants to return. Desperate for publicity, lecture bureau press agent Teddy Evans magnifies this into a great romance. The efforts of both dignified principals to quash the story have the opposite effect; matters get more and more involved.

A Woman of Distinction

1950

Hired Wife poster
6.8

Ad man Stephen Dexter asks his secretary Kendall to marry him as a loophole in order to protect his finances during an important business deal. Once the deal is completed, he asks Kendall for a divorce and is dismayed when she refuses.

Hired Wife

1940

The Citadel poster
6.4

Young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor Andrew Manson arrives in Wales and takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his attempts to prove its cause are thwarted, he moves to London. His new practice does poorly, but when a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.

The Citadel

1938

China Seas poster
6.3

Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!

China Seas

1935

Hollywood: Style Center of the World poster
5.8

An MGM short promoting the studio's impact on fashion through film through their chief of costume design, Adrian; in rural America, a mother and daughter are shopping and observe a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie.

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

1940

Rendezvous poster
4.9

A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.

Rendezvous

1935

This Thing Called Love poster
8.4

Two professional people marry, but the wife insists that they be celibate for the first three months to make sure they are truly compatible.

This Thing Called Love

1940

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life poster
6.5

Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

1987

Four's a Crowd poster
5.5

A public relations man falls for his most difficult client's granddaughter.

Four's a Crowd

1938

The Feminine Touch poster
5.1

A college professor who believes there's no place for jealousy in modern marriage, John Hathaway (Don Ameche) moves with his wife, Julie (Rosalind Russell), to New York where he plans to publish a book on the subject. Meeting with publisher Elliott Morgan (Van Heflin), who falls head over heels for Julie, John is assigned to his assistant Nellie (Kay Francis), who only has eyes for her boss. Working closely with Nellie, who Julie thinks is after her husband, John continues his high-minded ways while his angry spouse schemes to make him so jealous he'll knock Elliott's block clean off.

The Feminine Touch

1941

My Sister Eileen poster
6.8

Sisters Ruth and Eileen Sherwood move from Ohio to New York in the hopes of building their careers. Ruth wants to get a job as a writer, while Eileen hopes to succeed on the stage. The two end up living in a dismal basement apartment in Greenwich Village, where a parade of odd characters are constantly breezing in and out. The women also meet up with magazine editor Bob Baker, who takes a personal interest in helping both with their career plans.

My Sister Eileen

1942

The Velvet Touch poster
6.2

Stage actress Valerie Stanton is locked in a bitter feud with her producer and ex Gordon Dunning. When he attempts to blackmail her into remaining under contract with his company, Stanton, in a fit of passion, clubs Dunning with a statuette, killing him. Her gloves have prevented fingerprints but her perfect alibi quickly unravels as Captain Danbury begins investigating.

The Velvet Touch

1948

Behind the camera