Gordon, Ruth

Related Category: Theater: Biographies

1896–1985, American actress and playwright, b. Wollaston, Mass. From her debut as Nibs in Peter Pan (1915), Gordon's career encompassed broad stage and film experience. Among the plays she wrote are Over Twenty-One, Years Ago, and The Leading Lady. She and her husband, the playwright and director Garson Kanin, collaborated on many successful screenplays, including A Double Life (1948), Adam's Rib (1949), and Pat and Mike (1952). Gordon won an Academy Award for her performance in Rosemary's Baby (1968). In 1971, she starred in the black comedy classic Harold and Maude. In 1974 she appeared in the play Dreyfus in Rehearsal.

See her autobiography, Myself Among Others (1971).