Kathryn Eames
Encyclopedia
Kathryn Eames was an American
cinema
, television
and stage
actress. She worked for more than 50 years as an actress.
, a city in Barber County
, Kansas
, Kathryn was the youngest daughter of Lorenzo and Katie Bridenstine, who had four more children. She grew up in Hoisington
, Kansas. As a child she would be in every play she could. Her mother, who gave poetry readings, painted china and theorems, insisted that each of her children learn a musical instrument. Kathryn learned how to play the violin, something which she'd keep doing, with the violin she was given as a child by her father, until she was very old.
As a young bride she had an automobile accident, recuperating from which gave her some extra time to enroll in classes at the University of Arizona
where she chose drama, thinking she might enjoy writing a play someday. Instead, she moved quickly into acting and in 1940 won the National Collegiate Players Award for her portrayal of Lillom in The Typewriter. The award included a chance to train in White Plains
, New York
with Madam Tamara Daykarhanova and Michael Chekhov
who gave her a scholarship to continue study in the fall.
production of Winged Victory. For over 50 years, she appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway, on radio
, television
and film
. She worked in regional theatre, stock packages, dinner theatre and industrial shows. She had a role in Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
. Her last work in Broadway and theatre was in 1992, in Democracy and Esther at the Triangle Theater. She continued to act in commercials and plays such as The Last Resort well into her 80s.
Kathryn toured in The Cat and the Canary, Anniversary Waltz, Marat/Sade
, and Morning's at Seven
which played in Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University
. She was a guest artist in various university productions including Henry IV (parts 1
and 2
), Le Roi se meurt
, and Ah! Wilderness.
She was able to work with quite a few notable actors during her career. With Glenn Ford
as his sister-in-law in The Big Heat
. Eames would also work often with Groucho Marx
, who would always ask her to play opposite him whenever he performed in Time for Elizabeth. She played with Shirley Booth
in The Torchbearers, with George Montgomery in Toys in the Attic and with Rita Moreno
in I Am a Camera
. She was also featured with Kaye Ballard
, Eddie Bracken
, Tom Ewell, Virginia Mayo
, Ian Keith
, Robert Alda
and Gloria DeHaven
.
, where a theatre scholarship would be established in her name, in 1992 as artist in residence. There he taught students how to deal with things such as auditions and working in television.
, Missouri
. She was cremated and her ashes were placed with her brother's in Rose Hills Memorial Park
in Whittier
, California
.
and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
. Her residence was an apartment in New York City
she acquired in the 1940s. Despite the fact that she did not have many major roles, she could support herself almost entirely through acting because of her unusual versatility and willingness to explore new avenues for performance as well as the discipline and energy she gave to her work.
Age wasn't something which could refrain Kathryn from doing certain activities. In her 60s, she enrolled in tap dancing lessons and in her 70s, she took French
lessons.
movies:
plays in which Kathryn worked:
productions:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
actress. She worked for more than 50 years as an actress.
Early life
Born the 25th of July of 1908 in KiowaKiowa, Kansas
Kiowa is a city in Barber County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,026.-19th century:Kiowas was the city where anti-saloon advocate Carrie Nation vandalized her first saloon.-Geography:...
, a city in Barber County
Barber County, Kansas
Barber County is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 4,861. Its county seat and most populous city is Medicine Lodge...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Kathryn was the youngest daughter of Lorenzo and Katie Bridenstine, who had four more children. She grew up in Hoisington
Hoisington, Kansas
Hoisington is a city in Barton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,706.-History:In 1886, a group of Barton County businessmen formed the Central Kansas Town Company and founded the town of Hoisington to attract the Kansas and Colorado Railroad to the...
, Kansas. As a child she would be in every play she could. Her mother, who gave poetry readings, painted china and theorems, insisted that each of her children learn a musical instrument. Kathryn learned how to play the violin, something which she'd keep doing, with the violin she was given as a child by her father, until she was very old.
As a young bride she had an automobile accident, recuperating from which gave her some extra time to enroll in classes at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
where she chose drama, thinking she might enjoy writing a play someday. Instead, she moved quickly into acting and in 1940 won the National Collegiate Players Award for her portrayal of Lillom in The Typewriter. The award included a chance to train in White Plains
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with Madam Tamara Daykarhanova and Michael Chekhov
Michael Chekhov
Michael Chekhov was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner. His acting technique has been used by actors such as Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, and Robert Stack. Constantin Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student...
who gave her a scholarship to continue study in the fall.
Acting career
Kathryn chose her mother's maiden name for her stage name, packed her bags, and left home to pursue her acting career. Her first professional appearance was in the BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of Winged Victory. For over 50 years, she appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway, on radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. She worked in regional theatre, stock packages, dinner theatre and industrial shows. She had a role in Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an anthology television series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967...
. Her last work in Broadway and theatre was in 1992, in Democracy and Esther at the Triangle Theater. She continued to act in commercials and plays such as The Last Resort well into her 80s.
Kathryn toured in The Cat and the Canary, Anniversary Waltz, Marat/Sade
Marat/Sade
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
, and Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
which played in Stephens Auditorium at Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
. She was a guest artist in various university productions including Henry IV (parts 1
Henry IV, Part 1
Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
and 2
Henry IV, Part 2
Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
), Le Roi se meurt
Le Roi se meurt
Le Roi se meurt is an absurdist drama by Eugene Ionesco that premiered in 1962.-The play:It is the third in Ionesco's "Berenger Cycle", the first two being The Killer and Rhinocéros , and the final one being A Stroll in the Air...
, and Ah! Wilderness.
She was able to work with quite a few notable actors during her career. With Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford
Glenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
as his sister-in-law in The Big Heat
The Big Heat
The Big Heat is a 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Lee Marvin. It is about a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city after the brutal murder of his beloved wife. The film was written by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm based on a...
. Eames would also work often with Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
, who would always ask her to play opposite him whenever he performed in Time for Elizabeth. She played with Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth
Shirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
in The Torchbearers, with George Montgomery in Toys in the Attic and with Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
in I Am a Camera
I Am a Camera
I Am a Camera is a 1951 Broadway play inspired by Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin which is part of The Berlin Stories...
. She was also featured with Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
, Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken
Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an American actor.-Life and career:Bracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940...
, Tom Ewell, Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo was an American film actress.After a short career in vaudeville, Mayo progressed to films and during the 1940s established herself as a supporting player in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives and White Heat .Mayo remained an A-list actress into the mid-'50s, but then went...
, Ian Keith
Ian Keith
-Life and career:Born Keith Ross in Boston, Massachusetts, Ian Keith was a veteran character actor of the legitimate theater, and appeared in a variety of colorful roles in silent features of the 1920s. His stage training made him a natural choice for the new "talking pictures"; he played John...
, Robert Alda
Robert Alda
Robert Alda was an American actor. He was the father of actors Alan Alda and Antony Alda.-Life and career:...
and Gloria DeHaven
Gloria DeHaven
Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former contract star for MGM.-Early life and career:DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter DeHaven and actress Flora Parker DeHaven, both former vaudeville performers.She began her career as a child...
.
Later life
Kathryn returned to Iowa State UniversityIowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...
, where a theatre scholarship would be established in her name, in 1992 as artist in residence. There he taught students how to deal with things such as auditions and working in television.
Death
Kathryn died at the age of 96 on December 12, 2004 in a nursing home in JoplinJoplin, Missouri
Joplin is a city in southern Jasper County and northern Newton County in the southwestern corner of the US state of Missouri. Joplin is the largest city in Jasper County, though it is not the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 50,150...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. She was cremated and her ashes were placed with her brother's in Rose Hills Memorial Park
Rose Hills Memorial Park
Rose Hills Memorial Park is the largest cemetery in the United States and is located in Whittier, California. It is owned and operated by Service Corporation International .-Mausoleums and Chapels:...
in Whittier
Whittier, California
Whittier is a city in Los Angeles County, California about southeast of Los Angeles. The city had a population of 85,331 at the 2010 census, up from 83,680 as of the 2000 census, and encompasses 14.7 square miles . Like nearby Montebello, the city constitutes part of the Gateway Cities...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Personal life
She was a member of the Screen Actors GuildScreen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...
. Her residence was an apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
she acquired in the 1940s. Despite the fact that she did not have many major roles, she could support herself almost entirely through acting because of her unusual versatility and willingness to explore new avenues for performance as well as the discipline and energy she gave to her work.
Age wasn't something which could refrain Kathryn from doing certain activities. In her 60s, she enrolled in tap dancing lessons and in her 70s, she took French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
lessons.
Cinema
Kathryn appeared in the following cinemaFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
movies:
- Coop
- Diary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad HousewifeDiary of a Mad Housewife is a 1967 novel that was adapted into 1970 drama film about a frustrated wife, portrayed by Carrie Snodgress, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award in the same category. The film was adapted by Eleanor Perry from the 1967...
- RoselandRoseland (film)Roseland is a 1977 Merchant Ivory Productions' portmanteau film with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It was directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant....
- Starlight: A Musical Movie (1988) - Louise
- The Big HeatThe Big HeatThe Big Heat is a 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Lee Marvin. It is about a cop who takes on the crime syndicate that controls his city after the brutal murder of his beloved wife. The film was written by former crime reporter Sydney Boehm based on a...
(1953) - Marge (Bannion's sister-in-law)
Stage
These are the stageTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
plays in which Kathryn worked:
- Ah! Wilderness
- Anniversary Waltz
- Beyond the Horizon
- Book of Job
- Church Street
- Democracy and Esther (1992)
- Escape Me Never
- Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
- Henry IV, Part 2Henry IV, Part 2Henry IV, Part 2 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written between 1596 and 1599. It is the third part of a tetralogy, preceded by Richard II and Henry IV, Part 1 and succeeded by Henry V.-Sources:...
- Home Room"
- Hot House"
- I Am a CameraI Am a CameraI Am a Camera is a 1951 Broadway play inspired by Christopher Isherwood's novel Goodbye to Berlin which is part of The Berlin Stories...
- In White America
- Lamp at Midnight
- Le Roi se meurtLe Roi se meurtLe Roi se meurt is an absurdist drama by Eugene Ionesco that premiered in 1962.-The play:It is the third in Ionesco's "Berenger Cycle", the first two being The Killer and Rhinocéros , and the final one being A Stroll in the Air...
- Marat/SadeMarat/SadeThe Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
- Morning's at SevenMorning's at SevenMorning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
- Portrait of a Madonna
- The Brothel
- The Cat and the Canary
- The Last Resort (1988) - Isabel
- The Torchbearers
- Time for Elizabeth
- Toys in the Attic
- Winged Victory
Television
She acted in the following televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
productions:
- Another WorldAnother World (TV series)Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
- Armstrong Theater
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreBob Hope Presents the Chrysler TheatreBob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an anthology television series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967...
, chapter "Time for Elizabeth" (1964) - Kay Davis - Day in Court
- I Spy
- Lamp Unto My FeetLamp Unto My FeetLamp Unto My Feet is an American religious television program that was produced by CBS and broadcast on Sunday mornings from 1948 to 1979.-Overview:...
- Look Up and Live
- Love of LifeLove of LifeLove of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
- LovingLoving (TV series)Caden Grant Carlton loves Mika Ayako Ryan more.Loving is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC's daytime lineup from June 26, 1983 to November 10, 1995 for 3,169 episodes...
- Sgt. Bilko
- The Secret StormThe Secret StormThe Secret Storm is a soap opera which ran on CBS from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow and Love of Life...