 ProductLink |
|
 Sylvia Sidney was born in The Bronx, New York City, on August 8, 1910 as Sophia Kosow to Jewish parents. Her father was born in Russia and her mother was born in Romania. They divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently remarried and young Sophia was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund Sidney.A shy, only child, her parents tried to encourage her to be more outgoing and gregarious. As an early teen, Sophia (later Sylvia) had decided she wanted a stage career. While most parents would have looked down on such an announcement, Sylvia was encouraged to pursue the dream she had made. She enrolled in the Theater Guild's School for Acting. Sylvia later admitted that when she decided to become a stage actress at 15, it wasn't being star struck that occurred to her, but the expression of beauty that encompassed acting. All she wanted was to be identified with good productions.One school production was held at a Broadway theater and in the audience there was a critic from the New York Times who had nothing but rave reviews for the young woman. On the strength of her performance in New York, she appeared onstage in Washington, D.C. Further stage productions followed, each better than the last and it wasn't long before the film moguls were at the doorstep. She was appearing in the stage production of "Crime" when she made her first appearance on the silver screen in 1927. The film in question was Broadway Nights (1927) which dealt with stage personalities of which Sylvia, despite her extremely tender age, was one. After the film she returned to the stage where she appeared in creations which were, for the most part, forgettable. She moved to Colorado to tour with a stock company. She later returned to Broadway for a series of other plays. By 1929, she was on the big screen with Thru Different Eyes (1929) as Valerie Briand. This was followed by a short film, Five Minutes from the Station (1930). Sylvia Sidney was slowly leaving the stage for the production studios of Paramount.1931 saw her appear in five films, one of which, City Streets (1931), made her a star. Aware that she was replacing the great Clara Bow, who was suffering from severe and debilitating health issues, mainly depression. The contrast between the two actresses was great but the movie was a hit. The sad-eyed Sylvia made a tremendous impact and her screen career was off a running. Her next film was Ladies of the Big House (1931) as Kathleen Storm McNeil, part of a couple framed for a murder they didn't commit. The film made huge profits at the box-office. She then made Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), appearing opposite Fredric March. The film was an unqualified success. Later, in Madame Butterfly (1932), she starred as the doomed geisha girl (Cho-Cho San); critics agreed that only her performance saved the film from being a total disaster.In 1933, she starred in the title role in Jennie Gerhardt (1933). Yet another doom and gloom picture, she played a girl beset with poverty and the death of her young husband before the birth of their child. Sidney received the star spotlight in Good Dame (1934). Despite her fine performance, the film failed at the box-office. She scored big with the film critics as the lead female in Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935), a restaurant owner who falls for a big time gangster. Her performance was overshadowed by Alan Baxter, who gave an outstanding portrayal as the gangster. That film was quickly followed by "Accent On Youth", in which she played Linda Brown, a young lady fascinated by older men. In 1938, Sidney played in "You and Me", opposite George Raft. The film critics gave it mixed reviews but it did not fare well at the box-office. Afterward, the roles began to dissipate. She filmed ...One Third of a Nation... (1939) and would not be seen again onscreen until The Wagons Roll at Night (1941). There was a four year hiatus before Blood on the Sun (1945), opposite James Cagney.In 1946, she starred in The Searching Wind (1946) as Cassie Bowman. The film was based on a Broadway play but it just didn't transfer well onto the big screen. It was widely considered to be too serious and flopped with the movie fans. After Love from a Stranger (1947), she didn't appear onscreen again until Les Miserables (1952), as "Fantine". Only three more films followed that decade. There were no films throughout the 1960s. After appearing in a made-for-television movie, she returned to the big screen in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), playing the mother of the character played by Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward. For her performance, Sidney received her only Oscar nomination, losing to another actress who also only received one Oscar nomination in her lifetime, Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon (1973)). O'Neal was 10 years old when she accepted the award.Aside from a few more supporting role film appearances strewn here and there, Sidney mostly appeared on television thereafter. In 1988, she appeared as Juno in Tim Burton 's hit film Beetlejuice (1988). Her last film for the big screen was Mars Attacks! (1996) as the unlikely heroine whose taste in music saves Earth from an exceptionally brutal Martian victory. She had been seriously injured after being hit by a car but director Burton waited for her to be able to appear (in a wheelchair) rather than recast the role. In 1998, she played Clia, the irritable elderly travel agency clerk, who appeared (along with Fyvush Finkel) at the beginning of every episode of Fantasy Island (1998), the short-lived black-humored reboot of the iconic 1970s series of the same name.A lifelong heavy smoker, Sidney died on July 1, 1999, aged 88, of throat cancer."Film after film took advantage of the saddest eyes in Hollywood", says the photo caption for a portrait of Sylvia Sidney published with a 1978 interview conducted by Columbia University film instructor Karyn Kay. Sidney told what it was like working with Hitchcock on Sabotage (1936). She asked him: "How do we do the end of the scene before we've even rehearsed?" Once she learned his methods, she stopped asking questions. "Give him what he needs". In The Searching Wind (1946), Sidney played a newspaper reporter with convictions who was the alter ego of playwright Lillian Hellman. It was Hellman's play and she also wrote the film script. Sidney prided herself on simply playing "the writer's character."
Bio:
Sylvia Sidney was born in The Bronx, New York City, on August 8, 1910 as Sophia Kosow to Jewish parents. Her father was born in Russia and her mother was born in Romania. They divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently remarried and young Sophia was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund Sidney.A shy, only child, her parents tried to encourage her to be more outgoing and gregarious. As an early teen, Sophia (later Sylvia) had decided she wanted a stage career. While most parents would have looked down on such an announcement, Sylvia was encouraged to pursue the dream she had made. She enrolled in the Theater Guild's School for Acting. Sylvia later admitted that when she decided to become a stage actress at 15, it wasn't being star struck that occurred to her, but the expression of beauty that encompassed acting. All she wanted was to be identified with good productions.One school production was held at a Broadway theater and in the audience there was a critic from the New York Times who had nothing but rave reviews for the young woman. On the strength of her performance in New York, she appeared onstage in Washington, D.C. Further stage productions followed, each better than the last and it wasn't long before the film moguls were at the doorstep. She was appearing in the stage production of "Crime" when she made her first appearance on the silver screen in 1927. The film in question was Broadway Nights (1927) which dealt with stage personalities of which Sylvia, despite her extremely tender age, was one. After the film she returned to the stage where she appeared in creations which were, for the most part, forgettable. She moved to Colorado to tour with a stock company. She later returned to Broadway for a series of other plays. By 1929, she was on the big screen with Thru Different Eyes (1929) as Valerie Briand. This was followed by a short film, Five Minutes from the Station (1930). Sylvia Sidney was slowly leaving the stage for the production studios of Paramount.1931 saw her appear in five films, one of which, City Streets (1931), made her a star. Aware that she was replacing the great Clara Bow, who was suffering from severe and debilitating health issues, mainly depression. The contrast between the two actresses was great but the movie was a hit. The sad-eyed Sylvia made a tremendous impact and her screen career was off a running. Her next film was Ladies of the Big House (1931) as Kathleen Storm McNeil, part of a couple framed for a murder they didn't commit. The film made huge profits at the box-office. She then made Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), appearing opposite Fredric March. The film was an unqualified success. Later, in Madame Butterfly (1932), she starred as the doomed geisha girl (Cho-Cho San); critics agreed that only her performance saved the film from being a total disaster.In 1933, she starred in the title role in Jennie Gerhardt (1933). Yet another doom and gloom picture, she played a girl beset with poverty and the death of her young husband before the birth of their child. Sidney received the star spotlight in Good Dame (1934). Despite her fine performance, the film failed at the box-office. She scored big with the film critics as the lead female in Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935), a restaurant owner who falls for a big time gangster. Her performance was overshadowed by Alan Baxter, who gave an outstanding portrayal as the gangster. That film was quickly followed by "Accent On Youth", in which she played Linda Brown, a young lady fascinated by older men. In 1938, Sidney played in "You and Me", opposite George Raft. The film critics gave it mixed reviews but it did not fare well at the box-office. Afterward, the roles began to dissipate. She filmed ...One Third of a Nation... (1939) and would not be seen again onscreen until The Wagons Roll at Night (1941). There was a four year hiatus before Blood on the Sun (1945), opposite James Cagney.In 1946, she starred in The Searching Wind (1946) as Cassie Bowman. The film was based on a Broadway play but it just didn't transfer well onto the big screen. It was widely considered to be too serious and flopped with the movie fans. After Love from a Stranger (1947), she didn't appear onscreen again until Les Miserables (1952), as "Fantine". Only three more films followed that decade. There were no films throughout the 1960s. After appearing in a made-for-television movie, she returned to the big screen in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), playing the mother of the character played by Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward. For her performance, Sidney received her only Oscar nomination, losing to another actress who also only received one Oscar nomination in her lifetime, Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon (1973)). O'Neal was 10 years old when she accepted the award.Aside from a few more supporting role film appearances strewn here and there, Sidney mostly appeared on television thereafter. In 1988, she appeared as Juno in Tim Burton 's hit film Beetlejuice (1988). Her last film for the big screen was Mars Attacks! (1996) as the unlikely heroine whose taste in music saves Earth from an exceptionally brutal Martian victory. She had been seriously injured after being hit by a car but director Burton waited for her to be able to appear (in a wheelchair) rather than recast the role. In 1998, she played Clia, the irritable elderly travel agency clerk, who appeared (along with Fyvush Finkel) at the beginning of every episode of Fantasy Island (1998), the short-lived black-humored reboot of the iconic 1970s series of the same name.A lifelong heavy smoker, Sidney died on July 1, 1999, aged 88, of throat cancer.
"Film after film took advantage of the saddest eyes in Hollywood", says the photo caption for a portrait of Sylvia Sidney published with a 1978 interview conducted by Columbia University film instructor Karyn Kay. Sidney told what it was like working with Hitchcock on Sabotage (1936). She asked him: "How do we do the end of the scene before we've even rehearsed?" Once she learned his methods, she stopped asking questions. "Give him what he needs". In The Searching Wind (1946), Sidney played a newspaper reporter with convictions who was the alter ego of playwright Lillian Hellman. It was Hellman's play and she also wrote the film script. Sidney prided herself on simply playing "the writer's character."
Tivia:
Wrote two books on needlepoint, which were published in the 1970s.Was a lifetime smoker, enjoying smoking until the end of her life. She smoked even when she was on chemotherapy to treat her cancer. Her trademark raspy voice was of course, due to a lifetime of smoking.She became the first star actress to be photographed in "outdoor Technicolor" when she starred in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936).She played the tragic, non-singing Cio-Cio San in the film Madame Butterfly (1932) which led to a brand of Japanese condoms being named the "Sylvia Sidneys".Miss Sidney was easily identified wherever she drove by her personalized Connecticut license plate which read "SYLIE".She was Max Factor's Star of the Year in 1934.Honored with a lifetime achivement award by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. (1990)Sylvia's first marriage was to Random House publishing president Bennett Cerf, who later served as the avuncular panelist on the popular nighttime game show What's My Line? (1950) of the 1950s and 1960s. Married on October 1, 1935, they separated three months later and divorced after just eight. Cerf later quipped, "One should never legalize a hot romance.".Seeing herself as a screaming witness in her first film Thru Different Eyes (1929) made her scream in the audience and cancel her Fox contract.Son Jacob, known as Jody, with actor Luther Adler was born October 22, 1939 and died 1987. Although Sylvia and Luther divorced in 1946, they remained friends and frequently turned to each other for professional advice, even appearing together in later stage productions.She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6245 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.An antique farmhouse in Roxbury, Connecticut was Miss Sidney's home for decades, before moving to suburban Danbury, Connecticut the last several years of her life.One of her hobbies was needlepoint.Ex-wife of Luther Adler. She was at one time the sister-in-law of famed acting coach Stella Adler.On August 7, 2020, she was honored with a day of her film-work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival.Turned down the Casbah Girl lead in Algiers (1938) opposite Charles Boyer. Hedy Lamarr went on to fame in the role.She was nominated for a 1973 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in the play, "Suddenly Last Summer", at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.She was a lifelong liberal Democrat.French actress Marion Cotillard has been noted for her resemblance to Sidney.She was sought for the lead role in "Angel In Furs" a film set on the Alaskan glacier. Sylvia's character, the lead, would have been a nurse. The film appears never to have been made.On the online retailer, Amazon, a 16 x 13 inch tin sign is available for sale year round featuring a colored image of Sidney on it which includes a humorous side caption that reads: "Wine, how classy people get wasted". |
| Name: |
Sylvia Sidney |
Type: |
Actress (IMDB) |
| Area: |
All World |
Platform: |
IMDB |
| Category: |
|
Business scope: |
Actress |
| Products for sale: |
Actress |
| Last update: |
2024-07-01 05:30:13 |
| Height: |
5' 2?' (1.59 m) |
| Biography: |
Sylvia Sidney was born in The Bronx, New York City, on August 8, 1910 as Sophia Kosow to Jewish parents. Her father was born in Russia and her mother was born in Romania. They divorced not long after her birth. Her mother subsequently remarried and y |
| Trivia: |
Wrote two books on needlepoint, which were published in the 1970s.Was a lifetime smoker, enjoying smoking until the end of her life. She smoked even when she was on chemotherapy to treat her cancer. Her trademark raspy voice was of course, due to a lifetime of smoking.She became the first star actress to be photographed in "outdoor Technicolor" when she starred in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936).She played the tragic, non-singing Cio-Cio San in the film Madame Butterfly (1932) which led to a brand of Japanese condoms being named the "Sylvia Sidneys".Miss Sidney was easily identified wherever she drove by her personalized Connecticut license plate which read "SYLIE".She was Max Factor's Star of the Year in 1934.Honored with a lifetime achivement award by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. (1990)Sylvia's first marriage was to Random House publishing president Bennett Cerf, who later served as the avuncular panelist on the popular nighttime game show What's My Line? (1950) of the 1950s and 1960s. Married on October 1, 1935, they separated three months later and divorced after just eight. Cerf later quipped, "One should never legalize a hot romance.".Seeing herself as a screaming witness in her first film Thru Different Eyes (1929) made her scream in the audience and cancel her Fox contract.Son Jacob, known as Jody, with actor Luther Adler was born October 22, 1939 and died 1987. Although Sylvia and Luther divorced in 1946, they remained friends and frequently turned to each other for professional advice, even appearing together in later stage productions.She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6245 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.An antique farmhouse in Roxbury, Connecticut was Miss Sidney's home for decades, before moving to suburban Danbury, Connecticut the last several years of her life.One of her hobbies was needlepoint.Ex-wife of Luther Adler. She was at one time the sister-in-law of famed acting coach Stella Adler.On August 7, 2020, she was honored with a day of her film-work during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars Festival.Turned down the Casbah Girl lead in Algiers (1938) opposite Charles Boyer. Hedy Lamarr went on to fame in the role.She was nominated for a 1973 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in the play, "Suddenly Last Summer", at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.She was a lifelong liberal Democrat.French actress Marion Cotillard has been noted for her resemblance to Sidney.She was sought for the lead role in "Angel In Furs" a film set on the Alaskan glacier. Sylvia's character, the lead, would have been a nurse. The film appears never to have been made.On the online retailer, Amazon, a 16 x 13 inch tin sign is available for sale year round featuring a colored image of Sidney on it which includes a humorous side caption that reads: "Wine, how classy people get wasted". |
| Trademarks: |
Husky voice |
| Quotes: |
Every young actress thinks she's a tragedian -- the more tragic roles, the more you cry, the more you suffer, the better an actress you are. But, when I got a little older, a little more mature, I wanted to get out of my image of "the victimized kid." I began to say, "Wait a minute. There's a thing called comedy that takes an even rougher intelligence and more technique and knowledge of the craft.
<br />
<hr>
I'd be the girl of the gangster... then the sister who was bringing up the gangster... then the mother of the gangster... and they always had me ironing somebody's shirt.
<br />
<hr>
What did Hitchcock teach me? To be a puppet and not try to be creative.
<br />
<hr>
Paramount paid me by the tear.
<br />
<hr>
Prima donnas in anything are bad... Having a child was a great leveling agent. Those babies couldn't care less that their parents were famous. |
| Salaries: |
Dead End (1937) - $75,000
<br />
<hr>
Sabotage (1937) - $80,000
<br />
<hr>
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) - $50,000
<br />
<hr>
Thru Different Eyes (1929) - $1,500 / week |
| Job title: |
Actress |
| Others works: |
(1927) Stage: Appeared (as "Annabelle Porter") in "Crime" on Broadway. Melodrama. Written by Samuel Shipman and John B. Hymer. Directed by A.H. Van Buren. Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre: 22 Feb 1927-Aug 1927 (closing date unknown/186 perf |
| Spouse: |
Carlton Alsop (March 5, 1947 - March 22, 1951) (divorced)Luther Adler (August 13, 1938 - February 27, 1946) (divorced, 1 child)Bennett Cerf (October 1, 1935 - April 9, 1936) (divorced) |
| Parents: |
Victor Kosow
Rebecca Saperstein
Sigmund Sidney |
|
