Immigrant of the Day: Geraldine Fitzgerald (Ireland)

Geraldine Fitzgerald (1913–2005) was an Academy Award-nominated actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Fitzgerald was born in Greystones, County Wicklow, south of Dublin, Ireland. Her father was Catholic and her mother a Protestant who converted to Catholicism. Inspired by her aunt, the actress/director Shelah Richards, Geraldine Fitzgerald began her acting career in 1932 in theatre in her native Dublin before moving to London in 1934 to appear in British films. She quickly came to be regarded as one of the British film industry's most promising young performers and her most successful film of this period was The Mill on the Floss (1937).

Dark Victory (1939) marked one of Fitzgerald's earliest appearances in American films. Her success led her to Broadway in 1938, and while appearing opposite Orson Welles in the Mercury Theatre production of Heartbreak House, she was seen by the film producer Hal B. Wallis who signed her to a film contract. In 1939, Fitzgerald received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Isabella Linton in Wuthering Heights and had an important role in Dark Victory. She appeared in Shining Victory (1941), Watch on the Rhine (1943), and Wilson (1944).

Fitzgerald became a U.S. citizen during World War II. In 1946, shortly after completing work on Three Strangers, she left Hollywood to return to New York City. She returned to Britain to film So Evil My Love (1948). In 1951 she appeared in The Late Edwina Black before returning to America. Among Fitzgerald's successful films inn the 1960s were Ten North Frederick (1961), The Pawnbroker (1964) and Rachel, Rachel (1968). Her other films include The Mango Tree (1977) (for which she received an Australian Film Institute "Best Actress" nomination), Arthur (1981), Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Arthu2 2 (1988). From the 1940s she began to act more on stage and she won acclaim for her performance in the 1971 revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. Fitzgerald also achieved success as a theatre director, becoming one of the first women to received a Tony Award nomination for directing (1982) for the production Mass Appeal. She also appeared frequently on television in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Robert Montgomery Presents, Naked City, St. Elsewhere, and Cagney and Lacey. In 1983, she played Rose Kennedy in the mini-series Kennedy. Fitzgerald received an Emmy Award nomination for a guest role playing Anna in The Golden Girls Mother's Day episode in 1988. Fitzgerald won a Daytime Emmy award for her appearance in the episode 'Rodeo Red and the Runaways' on NBC Special Treat. In 1990 she began a career as a cabaret singer with the show Streetsongs which played three successful runs on Broadway.

Geraldine Fitzgerald has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She died at age 91 in New York City following a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

KJ