Cathy O'Donnell

from Siluria, Alabama, USA

Artwork for Ben-HurImage of Cathy O'Donnell

Biography

Cathy O'Donnell (July 6, 1923 – April 11, 1970) was an American actress, best known for her many roles in film-noir movies.

While under contract with Samuel Goldwyn, O'Donnell made her debut in an uncredited role as a nightclub extra in Wonder Man (1945). Her first major role in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), playing Wilma Cameron, the high-school sweetheart of double amputatee Homer Parrish, played by real-life World War II veteran/amputee Harold Russell.

She was loaned out to RKO for one of her most memorable films, They Live by Night (1949) starring with Farley Granger, widely considered a classic of the noir genre and on the Guardian's list of the top ten noir films. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray. The two actors later re-teamed for another movie, Side Street (1950).

Later O'Donnell starred in The Miniver Story (also 1950), as Judy Miniver and also had a supporting role in Detective Story (1951). She appeared as Barbara Waggoman, the love interest of James Stewart's character in the western The Man from Laramie (1955). Her final film role was the title character's sister Tirzah in William Wyler's 1959 Academy Award winning Best Picture Ben-Hur (1959).

In the 1960s, she appeared in TV shows, playing mostly bit parts on shows such as Perry Mason, The Rebel and Man Without a Gun. Her last screen appearance was in 1964, in an episode of Bonanza.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Cathy O'Donnell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Timeline

1959Aged 36

  • Poster for Ben-Hur

    Tirzah

1958Aged 35

  • Poster for My World Dies Screaming

    Sheila Wayne Tierney (as Kathy O'Donnell)

1957Aged 34

  • Poster for The Deerslayer

    Judith Hutter

  • Poster for The Story of Mankind

    Early Christian Woman

1955Aged 32

  • Poster for Mad at the World

    Anne Bennett

  • Poster for The Man from Laramie

    Barbara Waggoman

1954Aged 31

  • Poster for Eight O'Clock Walk

    Jill Manning

  • Poster for Loves of Three Queens

    Enone (segment: The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships)

1952Aged 29

  • Poster for The Woman's Angle

    Nina van Rhyne

1951Aged 28

  • Poster for Never Trust a Gambler

    Virginia Merrill

  • Poster for Detective Story

    Susan Carmichael

1950Aged 27

  • Poster for Side Street

    Ellen Norson

  • Poster for The Miniver Story

    Judy Miniver

1949Aged 26

  • Poster for They Live by Night

    Catherine "Keechie" Mobley

1948Aged 25

  • Poster for The Amazing Mr. X

    Janet Burke

1947Aged 24

  • Poster for Bury Me Dead

    Rusty

1946Aged 23

  • Poster for The Best Years of Our Lives

    Wilma Cameron