Ruth Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story.
Hussey was born Ruth Carol O'Rourke in Providence, Rhode Island in 1911. Her father died, aged 34, when Ruth was seven years old, from the 1918 flu. She went on to attend and graduate from Pembroke College in 1933. She would taker her mother's maiden's name professional...
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Ruth Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story.
Hussey was born Ruth Carol O'Rourke in Providence, Rhode Island in 1911. Her father died, aged 34, when Ruth was seven years old, from the 1918 flu. She went on to attend and graduate from Pembroke College in 1933. She would taker her mother's maiden's name professionally, Hussey, that sounded at odds with the lady-like roles she played, most of them were faithful wives.
She never landed a role at Pembroke in any of the school plays she tried out for. She then studied drama in post graduate school at the University of Michigan School of Drama, and worked as an actress with a summer stock company in Michigan for two seasons.
After working as an actress in summer stock, she returned to Providence and worked as a radio fashion commentator on a local station. She wrote the ad copy for a Providence clothing store...
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