The Midnight Palace

Every month we throw the spotlight on an actor or actress who exemplifies what it means to be a class act. We welcome your emails if you have a suggestion for a future Star of the Month. The Midnight Palace is pleased to present the Star of the Month for March 2010: Miriam Hopkins.

Date of Birth
October 18, 1902, Savannah, Georgia

Date of Death
October 9, 1972, New York City, New York

Birth Name
Ellen Miriam Hopkins 

Nickname(s)
Mims

Height
5?2

Overview:

Independence, complete, and often austere, is the impression first and lastingly given by actress Miriam Hopkins, who confutes the romantic notion that southern girls, clinging, prone to flattery and tenderness, are the softies they?re supposed to be. Hopkins certainly belies that image.

A true Southern belle, Miriam Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, on October 18, 1902; she was petite, only five feet two inches tall, weighing 102 pounds. A sophisticate, Hopkins (who had very few actor friends) admired and sought out the company of intellectuals. Those she was closest to throughout her life were writers Theodore Dreiser, William Faulkner, Ward Morehouse, Dorothy Parker, and Tennessee Williams, just to name a few. Except for her first husband, an actor (Brandon Peters) whom she never discussed, she married two writers (Austin Parker and Raymond Brock) and a director (Anatole Litvak). Most if not all of her love affairs were with writers, including Patrick Kearny, William Saroyan and John Gunther.

Very well-read, she had a huge book collection, many of which were first editions. She had a volatile temper and once trashed the library of her New York home after hearing on the radio that Bette Davis had won the Oscar for Jezebel (1938) (Hopkins had originated the role of the brash Southern belle Julie on Broadway, after replacing an ailing Tallulah Bankhead). Even though she supported her mother financially from a sense of duty, the relationship was strained.

Surprisingly very straitlaced ? despite her highly erotic early screen roles ? she had a lifelong aversion to obscenity. On the other hand, she did believe in the occult and would not accept roles, move to a new home, or take long trips without consulting a psychic.

Unfortunately for a biographer, she was not sentimental. Even though she always wanted to be a writer, she never kept a diary or saved correspondence. She left no scrapbooks, but did leave an impression on those she knew and loved.

Hopkins first appeared on the Broadway stage in 1920. However, it was in the role of Sondra Finchley in the 1926 adaptation of Theodore Dreiser?s An American Tragedy that theatergoers first took notice.

It was her popularity on stage that brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Mack Sennett tried to hire her as one of his "Bathing Beauties," but she turned him down. Then in 1930, Paramount signed her to make films during the day while she appeared on stage at night in Lysistrata.

Hopkins was very popular throughout the 1930s. During that period, in all of her films she was either the headliner or shared equal billing with her co-stars. However, Hopkins appeared in only 35 films during her entire career, and 22 of them were made from 1930 to 1937. Because Paramount sold their library of films to Universal in the 1950s, most of her titles have not been available to the public. It?s sad to say, but she is mostly known for the two films she made with Bette Davis and many are unaware of her early work, especially for Paramount.

During her time with Paramount, she was also loaned out to MGM once and four times to RKO. In fact, when she left Paramount, RKO wanted to sign her (she was doing Becky Sharp for them at the time), but she decided to go with Samuel Goldwyn instead. Hopkins was producer Jock Whitney?s choice for the role; however, she almost lost it when she couldn?t come to an agreement with RKO over her salary. The studio considered replacing her with Myrna Loy (who starred in a modern-day version in 1932) or Claudette Colbert, who turned down the role after reading the script. Finally, Hopkins and RKO came to terms and she was reinstated.

Becky Sharp, which was based on William Makepeace Thackeray?s 1848 novel Vanity Fair, received mixed reviews, whereas Hopkins herself was praised for her performance and received her only Academy Award nomination (she lost to -- who else? -- Bette Davis in Dangerous).

The films she made with Ernst Lubitsch (The Smiling Lieutenant, Trouble in Paradise, Design for Living) were her favorites, and she would reminisce more about them as she got older. At one time, The Story of Temple Drake was a favorite, but she later had a change of heart after seeing it with an audience shortly before her death.

Besides the Lubitsch films, her acting abilities were best displayed in 24 Hours (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (she was strangled in both films), and These Three (1936). And in supporting roles, she made quite an impression in The Heiress, Carrie, and The Children?s Hour.

It?s not known that in many public polls Miriam Hopkins was the overwhelming choice to play the coveted role of Scarlett O?Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Author Margaret Mitchell, who was never consulted by David O. Selznick, also said that Hopkins would be her first choice to play the part. ?Miriam Hopkins has been my choice from the beginning,? Mitchell explained, ?but I know what I had to say wouldn?t matter so I said nothing.?

As for the reported feud with Bette Davis, it?s true that they felt very little affection for each other ? Bette was just more outspoken about it. Miriam would not publicly admit to a feud with Bette or with anyone else for that matter ? and there were several that she did not get along with, including George Raft and Paul Muni, in addition to Errol Flynn.

It?s too bad that Bette was so vocal about it so many years after Miriam?s death. Once during an interview with one of the morning news programs, Bette was asked about working with difficult actors. When asked about Hopkins she replied, ?Miriam Hopkins was a bitch!? Unfortunately, Miriam?s family was watching and it hurt them deeply.

They thought it was not fair that Bette was so virulent about Miriam when she was no longer around to defend herself.

Say what you want about Miriam Hopkins, but she was a class act in that respect because she refused to air her dirty laundry in public. She could have said unkind things about Davis if she wanted ? and rightly so ? but she chose not to, which says something about her character. Take a look at this clip from The Story of Temple Drake:

Hopkins preferred the stage to making films. She was a talented actress and under the right conditions she gave stunning performances. For whatever reasons, Hopkins felt she had to fight for what she wanted ? she knew that she wasn?t about to have it handed to her. That?s the way she thought and the way she lived.

In the mid 1940s, she took a five-year break in making films, but certainly wasn?t idle. During that time she put her resources into the legitimate stage, appearing in three Broadway plays and several major road-show productions.

When she did return, it was in supporting roles in several important films. Besides The Heiress, she played an interfering mother-in-law in The Mating Season (1952), an aging hooker in The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952), and what I believe is one of her most evil roles, Laurence Olivier?s scornful wife in Carrie (1952).

Miriam, Miriam...

During the remainder of the ?50s she did television and toured in several plays, ending the decade on Broadway replacing Jo Van Fleet in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Look Homeward Angel. In this production she received the best reviews of her career, later taking the play on the road for a year. So, even though she no longer reigned at the box-office after the mid-40s, she continued to succeed in the projects she chose throughout the 1960s.

In July 1972, Hopkins attended the 60th anniversary of Paramount Pictures celebration held at MOMA in New York. Their first event was a showing of The Story of Temple Drake and Miriam agreed to attend. Unknown to her family, she was also there for treatment of a heart condition at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

After being released from the hospital, she moved in to the Hotel Alrae, where on October 9, 1972, she died in her suite of a massive coronary, just nine day shy of her 70th birthday. After funeral services at Madison Avenue?s, Church of Incarnation, her body was cremated and her ashes interred next to her mother at Oak City Cemetery in her childhood home of Bainbridge, Georgia.

Special Links of Interest:
Miriam Hopkins on IMDB
A Miriam Hopkins Salute

Downloads:
Miriam Hopkins SOTM Wallpaper (1024x768)
Miriam Hopkins SOTM Wallpaper (800x600)

Allan R. Ellenberger is the author of a forthcoming biography on Miriam Hopkins. Please take a moment to visit his website, Hollywoodland, HERE.