Shirley Booth

She married comedian Ed Gardner in 1929 but after some years their marriage unraveled and they divorced in 1942.

In 1943, she married United States Army Corporal William Baker. Baker was a soft spoken and kind man who treated his wife very well. They were happily married till Baker’s death and Booth never remarried.

After retiring she spent her later years living with her pet poodle. She lived a long life and suffered some health problems during her last years. She died in 1992 at the ripe old age of 94.

She was born as Marjory Ford to Albert James and Virginia Ford. But some records suggest that she was known as Thelma Booth Ford. She had one younger sister.

She loved acting from a young age and was determined to become an actress. However, her father did not support her choice of profession. So in an act of rebellion, she ran away from home.

She began acting in stock company productions as a teenager and was soon a popular actress in Pittsburgh theatre. She made her Broadway debut opposite Humphrey Bogart in 1925.

It was during the mid 1930s that she began to garner attention. She played the female lead in the play ‘Three Men on a Horse’ which ran from 1935 to 1937 which increased her popularity.

In 1940, she appeared in the comedy play ‘My Sister Eileen’ which was the funny story of two sisters, Ruth and Eileen, one of whom wants to be a writer and the other an actress.

Over the 1940s her stage career thrived as she acted in several plays which became hits and further boosted her fame. Some of her best plays were ‘Hollywood Pinafore’ (1945), ‘The Men we Marry’ (1948) and ‘Goodbye, my Fancy’ (1949).

She played the role of an unhappy housewife in the play ‘Come Back, Little Sheba’ in 1950. The play was a hit and was made into a movie in 1952 in which Booth reprised her role, making her Hollywood debut.

She played a dull, talkative and unhappily married woman in the drama film ‘Come Back, Little Sheba’ which also marked her Hollywood debut. Her performance was critically appreciated and this role earned her several awards and accolades.