Editing Ruth Gordon (section)

==Career==
=== Silent films ===
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In 1915, Gordon appeared as an extra in silent films that were shot in [[Fort Lee, New Jersey]], including as a dancer in ''[[The Whirl of Life]]'', a film based on the lives of [[Vernon and Irene Castle]].{{Citation needed |date=January 2021}} The same year, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of ''[[Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up]]'' in the role of Nibs (one of the [[Lost Boys (Peter Pan)|Lost Boys]]), appearing onstage with [[Maude Adams]] and earning a favorable mention from powerful critic [[Alexander Woollcott]]. He described her favorably as "ever so gay", and he became her friend and mentor.<ref name="current"/>

In 1918, Gordon played opposite actor Gregory Kelly in the [[Seventeen (play)|Broadway adaptation]] of [[Booth Tarkington]]'s ''[[Seventeen (Tarkington novel)|Seventeen]]''. The pair continued to perform together in North American tours of [[Frank Craven]]'s ''The First Year'' and Tarkington's ''Clarence'' and ''Tweedles''. Then in 1921, Gordon and Kelly were wed.

In December 1920, Gordon checked into a Chicago hospital to have her legs broken and straightened to treat her lifelong [[Genu varum|bow-leggedness]].<ref>The Pittsburgh Press, December 24, 1920: [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19201224&id=CAMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qUkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2239,3070545 "Actress, to continue her career, has bowed legs broken and straightened"]</ref> After a three-month recovery,  she moved to Indianapolis, where they started a repertory company.

Kelly died of heart disease in 1927 at the age of 35. Gordon at the time had been enjoying a comeback, appearing on Broadway as Bobby in [[Maxwell Anderson]]'s ''Saturday's Children'', performing in a serious role after being typecast for years as a "beautiful, but dumb" character.<ref name="current"/>

In 1929, Gordon was starring in the hit play ''Serena Blandish'' when she became pregnant by the show's producer, [[Jed Harris]]. Their son, Jones Harris, was born in Paris that year and Gordon brought him back to New York. Although they never married, Gordon and Harris provided their son with a normal upbringing, and his parentage became public knowledge as social conventions changed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wada |first=Karen |date=August 29, 1985 |title=Ruth Gordon Dies; Stage, Film Career Spanned 7 Decades|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-29-mn-23770-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=2015-12-29}}</ref> In 1932, the family was living discreetly in a small, elegant New York City brownstone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lanchester |first=Elsa |author-link=Elsa Lanchester |date=1983 |title=Elsa Lanchester Herself |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/elsalanchesterhe00lanc/page/102 102] |isbn=0-312-24376-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/elsalanchesterhe00lanc/page/102}}</ref>
[[File:Ruth-Gordon-Seventeen-1918-2.jpg|thumb|Gordon as Lola Pratt, holding her dog Flopit in the Broadway production ''Seventeen'', 1918]] Their son later married the actress and heiress [[Heidi Vanderbilt]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/28/archives/miss-vanderbilt-becomes-bride-of-jones-harris.html | title=Miss Vanderbilt Becomes Bride of Jones Harris (Published 1971) | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=28 October 1971 }}</ref>

=== 1930s ===
Gordon continued to act on the stage throughout the 1930s, including notable runs as Mattie in ''[[Ethan Frome]]'', Margery Pinchwife in [[William Wycherley]]'s [[Restoration comedy]] ''[[The Country Wife]]'' at London's [[Old Vic]] and on Broadway, and [[Nora Helmer]] in [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House]]'' at [[Central City, Colorado]], and on Broadway.<ref>{{cite book|author=Henrik Ibsen|title=A Doll's House|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgWrDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT72|date=6 June 2016|publisher=Theatre Communications Group|isbn=978-1-55936-850-6|pages=72–}}</ref>

=== 1940s ===
Gordon was signed to a [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] film contract for a brief period in the early 1930s, but did not make a movie for the company until her supporting role in [[Greta Garbo]]'s final film ''[[Two-Faced Woman]]'' (1941). Gordon had better luck at other studios in Hollywood, appearing in supporting roles in a string of films, including ''[[Abe Lincoln in Illinois (film)|Abe Lincoln in Illinois]]'' (as [[Mary Todd Lincoln]]), ''[[Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet]]'' (as Mrs. Ehrlich) and ''[[Action in the North Atlantic]]'', in the early 1940s. Gordon's Broadway acting appearances in the 1940s included Iris in [[Paul Vincent Carroll]]'s ''The Strings, My Lord, Are False'', Natasha in [[Katharine Cornell]] and [[Guthrie McClintic]]'s revival of [[Anton Chekhov]]'s ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]'', and leading roles in her plays ''Over Twenty-One'' and ''The Leading Lady''.

Gordon married her second husband, writer [[Garson Kanin]], in 1942. Gordon and Kanin collaborated on the screenplays for the [[Katharine Hepburn]]&nbsp;– [[Spencer Tracy]] films ''[[Adam's Rib]]'' (1949) and ''[[Pat and Mike]]'' (1952). Both films were directed by [[George Cukor]]. They were close friends of Hepburn and Tracy, and they incorporated elements of the actors' personalities in the films. Gordon and Kanin received [[Academy Award]] nominations for both of those screenplays as well as for ''[[A Double Life (1947 film)|A Double Life]]'' (1947), also directed by Cukor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/25521-A-DOUBLE-LIFE?cxt=filmography|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog A Double Life (1948) History|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/25613-ADAMS-RIB?sid=c28a11b0-6ca3-45c3-93f1-da138c051047&sr=22.19036&cp=1&pos=0|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog Adam's Rib (1949) History|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50612-PAT-ANDMIKE?sid=f9f07450-f8e1-42f4-9fe1-390cdbe1652f&sr=13.860557&cp=1&pos=0|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog Pat and Mike (1952) History|website=catalog.afi.com|access-date=2020-02-02}}</ref>

=== 1950s ===
''[[The Actress]]'' (1953) was Gordon's film adaptation of her autobiographical play ''Years Ago'', filmed by MGM with [[Jean Simmons]] portraying the girl from Quincy, Massachusetts, who convinced her sea captain father to let her go to New York to become an actress. Gordon wrote three volumes of memoirs in the 1970s: ''My Side'', ''Myself Among Others'', and ''An Open Book''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Ruth|title=My side: the autobiography of Ruth Gordon.|publisher=Harper & Row|language=en|date=1976|oclc=2437769}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Ruth|title=Ruth Gordon, an open book|publisher=Doubleday|language=en|date=1980|oclc=6014288}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Ruth|title=Myself among others.|publisher=Atheneum|language=en|date=1971|oclc=138331}}</ref>

Gordon continued her stage-acting career in the 1950s, and she was nominated for a 1956 [[Tony Award|Tony]] for [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play|Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play]] for her portrayal of Dolly Levi in [[Thornton Wilder]]'s ''[[The Matchmaker]]'', a role she played in London, Edinburgh, and Berlin.

[[File:Natalie_Wood_Ruth_Gordon_23rd_Golden_Globes.jpg|thumb|right|Gordon and Natalie Wood at the Golden Globes, 1966]]

=== 1960s ===
In 1966, Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress]] for ''[[Inside Daisy Clover]]'' opposite [[Natalie Wood]]. It was her first nomination for acting. In 1969, she won an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for ''[[Rosemary's Baby (film)|Rosemary's Baby]]'', a film adaptation of [[Ira Levin]]'s bestselling horror novel about a satanic cult residing in an Upper West Side apartment building in Manhattan. In accepting the award onstage at the [[41st Academy Awards]], Gordon thanked the academy by saying "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is ..." (rousing laughter from the audience). At the time she had been in the business for 50 years and was 72 years old. "And thank all of you who voted for me, and to everyone who didn't: please, excuse me", she added, prompting more laughter and applause.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Skolsky |first=Sidney |date=April 15, 1969 |title=Quake – And a Kiss |work=[[Hollywood Citizen-News]] |page=5 Academy Awards Section}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=June 25, 2024 |title=Ruth Gordon Wins Supporting Actress: 1969 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxsLNhH0yjA |access-date=June 25, 2024 |website=[[YouTube]] |via=[[Oscars.org]]}}</ref>

Gordon won another Golden Globe for ''Rosemary's Baby'', and she was nominated again in 1971 for her role as Maude in ''[[Harold and Maude]]'' (with [[Bud Cort]] as her love interest).<ref>{{cite web | title=Ruth Gordon | url=http://www.goldenglobes.com/person/ruth-gordon | access-date=1 November 2016}}</ref>

=== Later career ===
She appeared in 22 more films and many television appearances through her 70s and 80s, including successful sitcoms such as ''[[Rhoda]]'' (as the mother of the unseen doorman Carlton, which earned her an [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] nomination) and ''[[Newhart]]''. She portrayed a murderous author on the 1977 episode ''[[List of Columbo episodes#Seventh season (1977–1978, 5 episodes)|Columbo: Try and Catch Me]]''. She made countless talk-show appearances, in addition to hosting ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in 1977.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/tv/episode/5528357/Saturday-Night-Live/overview|title=Saturday Night Live − TV Series − Seasons and Episodes |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=2015-08-25}}</ref>

Gordon won an Emmy Award for an appearance on the sitcom ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'', for a 1979 episode titled "Sugar Mama", in which her character tries to solicit the services of a taxi driver, played by series star [[Judd Hirsch]], as a male escort.<ref name=obit/>

Her last Broadway appearance was as Mrs. Warren in [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Mrs. Warren's Profession]]'', produced by [[Joseph Papp]] at the [[Vivian Beaumont Theater]] in 1976. In the summer of 1976, Gordon starred in the leading role of her own play, ''Ho! Ho! Ho!'' at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. She had a minor role as Ma Boggs, the mother of Orville Boggs ([[Geoffrey Lewis (actor)|Geoffrey Lewis]]), in the [[Clint Eastwood]] films ''[[Every Which Way but Loose]]'' and ''[[Any Which Way You Can]]''.

In 1983, Gordon was awarded the [[Women in Film Los Angeles|Women in Film]] [[Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards#THE CRYSTAL AWARD|Crystal Award]] for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wif.org/past-recipients|title=Past Recipients|date=Jun 30, 2011|access-date=Nov 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630083646/http://www.wif.org/past-recipients|archive-date=2011-06-30}}</ref>

''Harold and Maude'', ''Adam's Rib'', and ''Rosemary's Baby'' have been selected for preservation in the [[National Film Registry]] of the United States [[Library of Congress]].