Fay Bainter

Biography

Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. MGM persuaded her to try films and her movie debut was in This Side of Heaven (February 1934), the same year she appeared in Dodsworth on Broadway and in the film It Happened One Day (July 1934). Bainter quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the first performer nominated in the same year for both the Academy Award for Best Actress, for White Banners (1938), and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel (1938), winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year. In 1940 she played Mrs. Gibbs in the film production of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. In 1945 she played Melissa Frake in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children's Hour (1961). Finally, in 1962, Fay appeared as a guest star on The Donna Reed Show. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Description above from the Wikipedia article Fay Bainter, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Known For

The Children's Hour

as Amelia Tilford

Jezebel

as Aunt Belle Massey

Make Way for Tomorrow

as Anita Cooper

Woman of the Year

as Ellen Whitcomb

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

as Mrs. Mitty

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

as Mary Caulfield

State Fair

as Melissa Frake

And the Oscar Goes To...

as Self (archive footage)

Our Town

as Mrs Gibbs

The Human Comedy

as Mrs. Macauley