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Gale Sondergard, Anthony Adverse, 1935. Kitty – by now Kitty Carlisle Hart – bowed out and Gale blew in – winning the very first Best Supporting Actress Oscar. (She was then blacklisted… for 20 years!) And so, a mere ten films across 50 years for Kitty, aka Mrs Moss Hart, 1946-1961. She never re-wed. “When you’ve had the best… why fiddle around?”
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Arlene Francis, The Thrill of It All, 1962. Films were not Kitty Carlise’s thing – Broadway was. And how! Indeed, she only ever made eight movies and none since 1956 when producer Ross Hunter invited her to join his third Doris Day comedy. Kitty was not easily wooed. Hardly surprising as the role was the wife of an ageing couple who, heaven forfend, are expecting a baby! The wjdow of the iconic Broadway producer Moss Hart (starring in many of his hits), she died at age 96 after, as IMDb charmingly put it, wearing “ a cloak of many professional and elegant colors. Actress, opera singer, Broadway performer, TV celebrity, game show panelist, patron of the arts, and, at age 95, star of her own one-woman shows of songs reminisces.”
Birth year: 1910Death year: 2007Other name: Casting Calls: 2