American actress (1925?2021)
Cara Williams
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/Cara_Williams.JPG/220px-Cara_Williams.JPG) Williams in 1960
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Born
| Bernice Kamiat
(
1925-06-29
)
June 29, 1925
New York City, U.S.
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Died
| December 9, 2021
(2021-12-09)
(aged 96)
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Other names
| Bernice Kay
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Occupation
| Actress
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Years active
| 1941?1982
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Spouses
|
Alan Gray
(
m.
1945;
div.
1947)
(
m.
1952;
div.
1959)
Asher Dann
(
m.
1964; died 2018)
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Children
| 2, including
John Blyth Barrymore
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Cara Williams
(born
Bernice Kamiat
; June 29, 1925 ? December 9, 2021) was an American film and television actress. She was best known for her role as Billy's Mother in
The Defiant Ones
(1958), for which she was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
, and for her role as Gladys Porter on the 1960?62
CBS
television series
Pete and Gladys
, for which she was nominated for the
Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy
.
[1]
At the time of her death, Williams was one of the last surviving actors from the
Golden Age of Hollywood
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Williams was born Bernice Kamiat to a Romanian Jewish mother and an Austrian Jewish father.
[2]
She began making impersonations of all the screen stars she watched in the movies there, and knew she wanted to be an actress. Her parents divorced, and her mother relocated her to Los Angeles, where she chose Cara Williams as her stage name and attended the
Hollywood Professional School
. Soon she began performing in radio, and at the age of 16 in 1941, she was signed to a film contract and began performing in bit roles, credited as Bernice Kay.
[3]
Williams married Alan Gray in 1945; they had a daughter, Cathy Gray, but the marriage ended after two years.
[4]
Williams then married
John Drew Barrymore
in 1952.
[5]
The marriage was troubled and they divorced in 1959. Their son,
John Blyth Barrymore
, followed in his parents' footsteps and also became an actor. Her third husband was New York-born Los Angeles real-estate entrepreneur Asher Dann (
ne
Jagoda; the couple remained together until his death in 2018, aged 83.
[3]
[6]
[7]
Film and television
[
edit
]
Harry Morgan
and Williams on set of
Pete and Gladys
Williams's first credited role was in the Western
Wide Open Town
released in 1941. She followed this with the dramas
Girls Town
(1942) and
Happy Land
(1943) with
Don Ameche
. She appeared uncredited in the Oscar-nominated musical film
Sweet and Low-Down
and as a secretary in the Oscar-winning film
Laura
(both 1944) directed by
Otto Preminger
. She also had a supporting role in the drama
In the Meantime, Darling
, which stars
Jeanne Crain
. Around this time, she took some time off, marrying her first husband, Alan Gray, in 1945, and having her daughter Cathy.
She had supporting roles in the Oscar-nominated films
Boomerang
(1947) directed by
Elia Kazan
, and (uncredited) in
Sitting Pretty
(1948). She next had supporting roles in
The Saxon Charm
(1948), which stars
Susan Hayward
, and
Knock on Any Door
(1949), which stars
Humphrey Bogart
.
Williams started the early 1950s by appearing often in television. She played supporting roles in the musicals
The Girl Next Door
(1953) and
The Great Diamond Robbery
(1954). She also appeared in
Monte Carlo Baby
(1951), a comedy with
Audrey Hepburn
. Williams took time off during this period in which she was married to John Drew Barrymore and gave birth to their son, John Blyth Barrymore, in 1954.
Williams performed in the film
Meet Me in Las Vegas
(1956), in which she performs the song "I Refuse to Rock n Roll" and a supporting role in
The Helen Morgan Story
(1957), which stars
Ann Blyth
and
Paul Newman
. She was cast as Billy's mother in
The Defiant Ones
(1958), which was nominated for the
Academy Award
for Best Picture and for which she was nominated for the
Golden Globe
and
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
. In
Never Steal Anything Small
(1959), a musical comedy, she appeared with
James Cagney
. Williams also co-starred with
Danny Kaye
in the comedy film
The Man from the Diner's Club
(1963).
Williams appeared in four episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
: "Decoy" (1956), "De Mortuis" (1956), "Last Request" (1957), and "The Cure" (1960). From 1960 to 1962, she starred in the CBS television comedy series
Pete and Gladys
, with
Harry Morgan
as Pete. The series was a spin-off of the CBS comedy
December Bride
, in which Morgan appeared from 1954 to 1959 as Pete Porter. Gladys, his wife, was referred to throughout the entire run of that series but never shown. Williams brought the character to life with Morgan retaining his role as her husband. Williams was nominated for the
Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy
. For the next two years, while still under contract to the network, CBS kept her in the public eye by repeating
Pete and Gladys
episodes as part of its morning line-up, an unusual move for a short-run series.
[
citation needed
]
CBS returned Williams to prime time in 1964 in her own series,
The Cara Williams Show
, in which she and
Frank Aletter
portrayed a married couple who had to keep their marriage secret from their employer. It lasted only one season.
[8]
During the 1970s, Williams's acting appearances became less frequent. In 1971, she had a supporting role in the film
Doctors' Wives
. She guest-starred in three episodes of
Rhoda
in 1975, in the role of Mae.
[8]
: 891-892
Her last television performance was in a 1977 episode of
Visions
. Her last film role came in 1978 with
The One Man Jury
.
Retirement and death
[
edit
]
After retiring from acting, Williams began a career as an interior designer. She resided in Los Angeles and was married to real-estate entrepreneur (and former actor) Asher Dann (
ne
Jagoda), her third husband, until his death in 2018. Williams died on December 9, 2021, at the age of 96 of a
heart attack
.
[9]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Film
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Johnson, Erskine (1960).
"Television Comes as Heady Dish for Cara Williams"
,
Ocala Star-Banner
(Ocala, Florida), December 7, 1960; retrieved October 27, 2017.
- ^
Howard, Jonathan.
"Cara Williams, Star of 'The Defiant Ones' and 'Pete and Gladys,' Dies at 96"
.
American Entertainment
. Archived from
the original
on December 3, 2022
. Retrieved
August 14,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
Dolowicz, Caz (2009).
"Cara Williams: A Brooklyn Sex Bomb Remembered"
, Who Walk In Brooklyn, December 31, 2009; retrieved October 27, 2017.
- ^
"‘Why? Because we love you'"
Archived
May 10, 2019, at the
Wayback Machine
, OurValley.org., April 11, 2013; retrieved October 27, 2017.
- ^
"Barrymore in Surprise Elopement"
.
Pasadena Independent
. December 24, 1952
. Retrieved
June 10,
2021
.
- ^
"TV's new Lucy?"
.
The Milwaukee Sentinel
. September 25, 1960
. Retrieved
March 9,
2014
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Interview with Actor John Blyth Barrymore"
,
The Arts and Entertainment Magazine
, November 2017, issue number 76; retrieved October 27, 2017.
- ^
a
b
Terrace, Vincent (2011).
Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010
(2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 163.
ISBN
978-0-7864-6477-7
.
- ^
Murphy, J. Kim (December 11, 2021).
"Cara Williams, Star of 'The Defiant Ones' and 'Pete and Gladys,' Dies at 96"
. Variety
. Retrieved
December 12,
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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People
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Other
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