Teresa Wright

Teresa Wright was twice married and twice divorced. Her first marriage was to writer, Niven Busch, from 1942 to 1952. They had two children.

She tied the knot for the second time with playwright Robert Anderson in 1959. The couple divorced in 1978 after almost two decades of marriage. However, they maintained a close relationship till the very end.

She died on March 6, 2005, of a heart attack, at the age of 86.

Muriel Teresa Wright was born on October 27, 1918 in Harlem, New York City to Martha (née Espy) and Arthur Hendricksen Wright, an insurance agent. Her parents separated when she was young and she spent her childhood staying with different relatives.

She attended Columbia High School and became interested in acting as a student. In 1936, she went to watch Helen Hayes perform in ‘Victoria Regina’ at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City. This incident greatly inspired the young girl and she began playing leading roles in school plays.

She went to the Wharf Theater in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on a scholarship she acquired with the help of a teacher. She apprenticed for two summers and graduated from high school in 1938.

She then went to New York where she was hired as understudy to Dorothy McGuire and Martha Scott for the role of Emily in Thornton Wilder's stage production of ‘Our Town’ at Henry Miller's Theatre.

Teresa Wright began playing the role of Mary Skinner in the stage play ‘Life with Father’ in 1939. Film producer, Samuel Goldwyn, saw her perform and immediately recognized her potential. He hired her to play the role of Bette Davis' daughter in the 1941 adaptation of Lillian Hellman's ‘The Little Foxes.’

She was much appreciated for her debut performance which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The next two films—‘The Pride of the Yankees’ (1942) and ‘Mrs. Miniver’ (1942)—were also critically acclaimed ones which made young Teresa a recognized actress in Hollywood.

Her string of successes continued with the acclaimed thriller ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ (1943), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, in which she played an innocent young woman who discovers her uncle is a serial murderer. Her performance in the 1946 movie, ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’, was also well received.

A serious actress from the very beginning, she refused to pose for photograph that would portray her as a sex symbol. She also had several other complaints against the studio system. Her stance, which was viewed as rigid, brought her to conflict with Samuel Goldwyn in 1948 and led to the cancellation of her contract.

Her film career was not as successful in the 1950s. She appeared in a string of unsuccessful films including ‘The Capture’ (1950), ‘Something to Live For’ (1952), ‘California Conquest’ (1952), ‘The Steel Trap’ (1952), ‘Count the Hours’ (1953), and ‘Track of the Cat. (1954).

Teresa Wright impressed the film critics with her performance as Alexandra Giddens in her debut film ‘The Little Foxes.’ She played the role of an innocent and kind-hearted girl who struggles with a villainous and manipulative mother. The role earned her a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her role of Carol Beldon in the romantic war drama film ‘Mrs. Miniver’ in 1942 is also counted amongst her most memorable performances. In 2009, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.