Actress Ruth Hussey, who was best known for her Oscar-nominated role as James Stewart’s sassy photographer girlfriend in the classic 1940 film “The Philadelphia Story,” has died. She was 93.
Her son, John Longenecker, said Hussey died Tuesday at Mary Health of the Sick Convalescent Home in Newbury Park, Calif., of complications from an appendectomy.
“But my mom told her children and grandchildren she had ‘Cholery Marbles,’ a term for whatever ails you, invented by her mother in Rhode Island and well known and used by all the Hussey cousins and family,” he said, adding, “She was fun.”
Ruth Carol Hussey was born Oct. 30, 1911, in Providence, R.I., and graduated from Pembroke Women’s College at Brown University. She studied acting at the University of Michigan.
She began her career as a fashion commentator on local radio and later was a model in New York for the famed Powers agency.
Her first film was an uncredited role in “The Big City” in 1937, starring Spencer Tracy; in 1940 she was Tracy’s leading lady in “Northwest Passage.”
She also starred opposite Robert Taylor in “Flight Command” (1940), Melvyn Douglas in “Our Wife” (1941), Van Heflin in “Tennessee Johnson” (1943), Ray Milland in “The Uninvited” (1944), and John Carroll in “Bedside Manner” (1945).
Talk to us
- You can tell us about news and ask us about our journalism by emailing newstips@heraldnet.com or by calling 425-339-3428.
- If you have an opinion you wish to share for publication, send a letter to the editor to letters@heraldnet.com or by regular mail to The Daily Herald, Letters, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206.
- More contact information is here.
