Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge (March 16, 1916 – March 2, 2004) was an American actress of radio, stage, film, and television. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress." She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for All the King's Men (1949) and was nominated in the same category for Giant (1956). She also provided the voice of Pazuzu in The Exorcist (1973).
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| 1 | [on Nicholas Ray]: I think his films probably showed his great restlessness, his moroseness, his vulnerability, the rawness of his nature, the occasional tenderness, which was very profound - but that that's just my observation of watching a man walk around the set. |
| 2 | No it wasn't. Finish your popcorn. |
| 3 | [on Johnny Guitar (1954)] When you are as big a star as Joan Crawford was in those days, you don't allow anybody to photograph you outside. Not in harsh light, and only in long, long, long shots. If you are a cameraman and you think you are going to get any closer than the length of a football field to take pictures of Miss Crawford, in anything but elaborately diffused interior light, you had better get out of show business, and a few of them had to. |
| 4 | One of the most destructive things in my life was the kind of parts I played in pictures. I studied Shakespeare and the classics, and I end up shooting Joan Crawford and killing a horse that Elizabeth Taylor was in love with. I'm serious. I played the worst harridans, the most hard-bitten women, the absolute heavies, and it just about did me in. |
| 5 | [on Joan Crawford] She was a mean, tipsy, powerful, rotten-egg lady. |
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| 1 | She was awarded the 1992 Drama Logue Award for Performance in "Lost in Yonkers" in presented by the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson at the James A. Doolittle (University of California) Theatre in Los Angeles, California. |
| 2 | Grandmother of Suzanne Marie Markle (February 8, 1978-November 16, 1987). |
| 3 | Is one of 13 actresses who won their Best Supporting Actress Oscars in a movie that also won the Best Picture Oscar (she won for All the King's Men (1949)). The others are Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind (1939), Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver (1942), Celeste Holm for Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Donna Reed for From Here to Eternity (1953), Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront (1954), Rita Moreno for West Side Story (1961), Meryl Streep for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996), Judi Dench for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Jennifer Connelly for A Beautiful Mind (2001), Catherine Zeta-Jones for Chicago (2002) and Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave (2013). |
| 4 | Was the 33rd actress to win an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for All the King's Men (1949) at The 22nd Academy Awards on March 23, 1950. |
| 5 | Gave birth to her only child at age 25, a son John Lawrence Fifield (later Markle) on December 25, 1941. Child's father was her 1st ex-husband, William Fifield. |
| 6 | She was a staunch liberal Democrat. |
| 7 | Suffered from bronchitis for the most part of her life. She later revealed she was able to use this to her advantage for the chilling, unearthly breathing of the demon in The Exorcist (1973). |
| 8 | Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 342-343. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007. |
| 9 | Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" bu Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004). |
| 10 | During filming of Johnny Guitar (1954) she and Joan Crawford' fought both on and off the set. One night, in a drunken rage, Crawford scattered the costumes worn by McCambridge along an Arizona highway. Cast and crew had to collect the outfits. |
| 11 | Was nominated for Broadway's 1972 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks." |
| 12 | She was originally not credited for her voice work on The Exorcist (1973) after director William Friedkin assured her that she would be. An appeal by her to the Screen Actors Guild rectified this matter, and a new print of the film was made with her name in the credits. |
| 13 | Was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater, together with Agnes Moorehead, with whom she appeared as Endora's old nemesis, Carlotta, in an episode of Bewitched (1964). |
| 14 | Had one son, John Lawrence Fifield (DOB: December 25, 1941, in Hollywood, California), who was later adopted by his stepfather Fletcher Markle and took his last name. On November 16, 1987 he killed his wife, both of his children and then himself in Little Rock, Arkansas after being fired from his job on November 13, 1987 for an embezzlement scheme involving accounts belonging to his mother. |
| 15 | Her father was of Irish descent, and her mother was of three quarters Irish ancestry (with her mother's other roots being English and German). From a Catholic background, Mercedes was educated at Catholic schools. |
| 16 | The hat she wore in Giant (1956) was given to her by Gary Cooper. |
| 17 | Born 5:00am - CST |
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|
| The Other Side of the Wind | 2016 | Maggie Fassbender |
| Cagney & Lacey | 1988 | TV Series | Sister Elizabeth |
| Amazing Stories | 1987 | TV Series | Miss Lestrange |
| Lyman H. Howe's High Class Moving Pictures | 1983 | TV Short | Narrator (voice) |
| Echoes | 1982 | Lillian Gerben |
| Magnum, P.I. | 1981 | TV Series | Agatha Kimball |
| Hagen | 1980 | TV Series | Rosemary |
| The Concorde... Airport '79 | 1979 | Nelli |
| The Sacketts | 1979 | TV Mini-Series | Ma Sackett |
| Flying High | 1978 | TV Series | Claire |
| Charlie's Angels | 1978 | TV Series | Norma |
| Thieves | 1977 | Street Lady |
| Who Is the Black Dahlia? | 1975 | TV Movie | Grandmother |
| The Exorcist | 1973 | Demon (voice) |
| Sixteen | 1973 | Ma Irtley |
| The President's Plane Is Missing | 1973 | TV Movie | Hester Madigan |
| The Girls of Huntington House | 1973 | TV Movie | Doris McKenzie |
| Two for the Money | 1972 | TV Movie | Mrs. Castle |
| Killer by Night | 1972 | TV Movie | Sister Sarah |
| Gunsmoke | 1971 | TV Series | Rubilee Mather |
| The Name of the Game | 1971 | TV Series | Victoria Stuart |
| Medical Center | 1970 | TV Series | Nurse Marge Bowen |
| Bonanza | 1962-1970 | TV Series | Matilda Curtis / Deborah Banning |
| Marquis de Sade's Justine | 1969 | Madame Dusbois |
| 99 Women | 1969 | Thelma Diaz |
| Bewitched | 1968 | TV Series | Carlotta |
| The Counterfeit Killer | 1968 | Frances |
| ABC Stage 67 | 1966 | TV Series |
| Lost in Space | 1966 | TV Series | Sybilla |
| Run Home, Slow | 1965 | Nell Hagen |
| Rawhide | 1959-1965 | TV Series | Ma Gufler / Ada Randolph / Mrs. Martha Mushgrove / ... |
| Vacation Playhouse | 1965 | TV Series | Margaret Malloy |
| Dr. Kildare | 1964 | TV Series | Sister Teresa |
| The Defenders | 1964 | TV Series | Mildred Cochraine |
| The Doctors and the Nurses | 1964 | TV Series | Mrs. Chase |
| The Dakotas | 1963 | TV Series | Jay French |
| Angel Baby | 1961 | Sarah Strand |
| Cimarron | 1960 | Mrs. Sarah Wyatt |
| Overland Trail | 1960 | TV Series | Sour Annie Tatum |
| Suddenly, Last Summer | 1959 | Mrs. Grace Holly |
| Riverboat | 1959 | TV Series | Jessie Quinn |
| The Red Skelton Hour | 1957-1959 | TV Series | Clara Appleby / Nancy Lump Lump |
| Schlitz Playhouse | 1959 | TV Series |
| Spectrum | 1958 | TV Mini-Series |
| Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre | 1958 | TV Series | Aunt Hannah |
| Panic! | 1958 | TV Series | Helen Colby |
| Touch of Evil | 1958 | Gang Leader (uncredited) |
| A Farewell to Arms | 1957 | Miss Van Campen |
| Wagon Train | 1957 | TV Series | Emily Rossiter |
| Wire Service | 1956-1957 | TV Series | Kate Wells / Katherine Wells |
| Giant | 1956 | Luz Benedict |
| Front Row Center | 1955-1956 | TV Series | Vivian Donfield / Nicole Warren |
| The Loretta Young Show | 1956 | TV Series | Cissy Brackett |
| Studio One in Hollywood | 1953-1956 | TV Series | Connie MartIn |
| Climax! | 1955 | TV Series | Eliza |
| Johnny Guitar | 1954 | Emma Small |
| Tales of Tomorrow | 1953 | TV Series | Patricia Kimworth |
| The Ford Television Theatre | 1952 | TV Series | Lona Smith |
| Lux Video Theatre | 1950-1952 | TV Series | Chris / Marie |
| Lightning Strikes Twice | 1951 | Liza McStringer |
| The Scarf | 1951 | Connie Carter |
| Inside Straight | 1951 | Ada Stritch |
| The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre | 1950 | TV Series |
| All the King's Men | 1949 | Sadie Burke |
| One Man's Family | 1949 | TV Series | Beth Holly #1 (1949-1950) |
| Title | Year | Status | Character |
|---|
| The Story of Film: An Odyssey | 2011 | TV Mini-Series documentary | Herself - Interviewee |
| The 70th Annual Academy Awards | 1998 | TV Special | Herself - Past Winner (uncredited) |
| The Bob Braun Show | 1975 | TV Series | Herself |
| The 26th Annual Tony Awards | 1972 | TV Special | Herself |
| The David Frost Show | 1972 | TV Series | Herself |
| The Joey Bishop Show | 1967-1969 | TV Series | Herself |
| The 18th Annual Tony Awards | 1964 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter |
| Lamp Unto My Feet | 1963 | TV Series | Herself - Dancer |
| The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | 1963 | TV Series | Herself - Guest |
| Here's Hollywood | 1961 | TV Series | Herself |
| About Faces | 1960 | TV Series | Herself |
| The 29th Annual Academy Awards | 1957 | TV Special documentary | Herself - Nominee: Best Actress in a Supporting Role & Co-Presenter: Documentary Awards |
| 'Giant' Stars Are Off to Texas | 1955 | Documentary short | Herself (uncredited) |
| Warner Pathé News Issue # 87 | 1955 | Documentary short | Herself |
| The 26th Annual Academy Awards | 1954 | TV Special | Herself - Presenter: Best Actor in a Supporting Role |
| The Ed Sullivan Show | 1953 | TV Series | Herself / Himself |
| Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Awards | 1951 | Documentary short | Herself |
| What's My Line? | 1951 | TV Series | Herself - Guest Panelist |
