Barbara Bel Geddes or Sada Thompson - Who was the better actress?

Sada! Sada! Sada!

I don't think Bel Geddes had the versatility and range that Thompson had. Thompson could go from comedy (TWIGS, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, THE MATCHMAKER) to melodrama (THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS..., DESPERATE CHARACTERS, DRIVING MISS DAISY, FAMILY) to classic world drama (MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA, OUR TOWN, TARTUFFE), all in the blink of an eye.

I love Sada Thompson's work and think she was the better actress. I wish I'd been able to see her in THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS...; I know the critics loved her in the role, but it's hard to imagine the same actress who played sane, intelligent Kate Lawrence also pulling off a lower-class slattern like "Betty the Loon."

Barbara Bel Geddes probably had a more successful career than Sada though. She created at least three roles in major, long-running Broadway shows -- CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, MARY MARY and THE MOON IS BLUE. I never saw her on stage, unfortunately.

I smell eldergay. Who are these broads? The silent era?

Interesting poll, but I can't choose.

"Doug, I'm worried about Willie/Buddy/Annie."

"JR, I hear you're pumping at full capacity."

Seriously, both were wonderful actresses.

Both won Emmys.

Yes, R3, they were right up there with Lillian Pickford and Mary Gish.

Both ladies starred in 'Our Town'

Who?

Excuse me, but you are a total idiot, OP.

OP, why belabor such a question? They were both outstanding.

But one was better R9, the question is which one?

Sada Thompson all the way.

Sada would have never done such an underhanded, backstabbing thing to a fellow actress like what Barbara did to Donna Reed.

What did BBG do to Donna?

Love 'em both, but I voted Sada.

Ms. BG left Dallas, they hired Donna Reed to replace her, Ms. BG decided she wanted to come back, TPTB canned Ms. Reed. I think she got a nice settlement out of it after suing them.

I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm in error. :-)

R13, that makes BBG Jay Leno and Donna Reed Conan O'Brien! Except instead of having middle-of-the-road success after the dust-up, Donna Reed got some money -- along with cancer -- and died.

Who had the bigger cock?

OMG, it's hard to swallow that Bel Geddes deliberately set out to destroy what was left of Donna Reed's career.

Bel Geddes decided to leave Dallas for health reasons. While she recuperated, the show went ahead and cast an actress in the role of the family matriarch. Hagman wanted his mother Mary Martin; producers nixed that idea in favour of Dorothy Malone. Malone declined and someone at CBS suggested Donna Reed - one of TVs classic mother figures - in what was essentially stunt-casting. It was a bad decision because Reed was totally wrong for the part. She had none of the earthiness that was characteristic of Miss Ellie. Instead, she played her like a society matron roughing it on a ranch. Viewers weren't buying it, Reed couldn't sell it, and ratings were falling. When Patrick Duffy announced he was leaving and requested the show kill his character off, CBS, producers and Hagman were all scurrying to find a way to make the show survive without the pivotal Bobby Ewing character. They begged Bel Geddes to return to the show for the following "Bobby-less" season. Feeling better, Bel Geddes accepted their offer. It was a concentrated efort to save the show.

Donna Reed was bitter and sued the producers, but everyone who was a Dallas fan will tell you she was not working out in the role. Reed did not have it took to stand up to Larry Hagman onscreen, and he writers eventualy were writing for Reed nstead of for Ellie.

To even suggest that Bel Geddes coldheartedly stepped all over Reed is reinterpreting a practical business decision for someone's own personal agenda.

I read accounts that it was due to money, not health, that BBG initially departed. I as a Dallas watcher did not think DR was bad--she was very different, and it took some adjustment as soap recasts often can. I don't believe BBG set out to ruin DR--but it seems like TPTB treated DR shabbily. I don't see how DR's presence alone could account for a ratings drop.

And of course BBG was the definitive Miss Ellie.

Regardless of minor health issues and major money issues, BBG would have stayed if they had actually guaranteed her something interesting to do, above getting a total of three minutes of screen time per episode, all spent drinking coffee and looking concerned.

As stated earlier here, Hagman had wanted his own mother in the role and had never warmed to Donna Reed. Making things worse, Reed was a piece of wood. So when Hagman demanded that the show pony up major $$$ for BBG to come back, the timing was right because producers couldn't refuse his demand -- Duffy was leaving and Hagman WAS the show and it was of utmost importance to keep Hagman happy.

BBG cashed in, big time. And though she didn't get anything interesting to do on the show, her shooting schedule was light and comfortable, so she did it.

Reed was not missed by the cast, and certainly not by fans -- but she was not treated well.

Here's a great example of Bel Geddes. Watch her range in it.

Here's another great scene of Miss Ellie.

The writing's great and she delivers.

Bel Geddes was too placid. With Thompson, you never knew what she was about to do. She had great tension in her performances.

Bel Geddes was hardly placcid (what a strange word choice). She held back, kept things understated, but watch closely and you see she held some intense emotions in check. When she was ready to blow, you knew it. I thought her work during Ellie's mastectomy was spell-binding. She was never over-the-top.

Thompson could seem almost passive in her performances. I had to have it explained to me that her character on Family was intentionally emotionally reserved for me to realize the woman was not a bad actress.

Both these ladies conveyed great emotion without doing much on the surface. Quite unlike the histrionics considered good acting these days.

Come to think of it, it's too bad that Sada didn't take over for Bel Geddes when she took her year off on DALLAS.

Sada would have been all wrong for the part of Miss Ellie. Plus, she was only two years older than Hagman. As it was, BBG was just nine years older than Hagman. Reed was ten years older.

[quote] I thought her work during Ellie's mastectomy was spell-binding.

She won the Emmy for that storyline.

They should have cast Sada in the part of Rebecca Wentworth, Pam's mom.

Rebecca & Ellie wound up being friends. Would have been nice to see Sada and Babs connect on Dallas that way.

Of course Sada Thompsontplayed Mrs. Gibbs and Barbara Bel Geddes played Mrs. Webb in a version of Our Town.

BBG was a real salt-of-the-earth in real-life. She smoked like a chimney and had a sailor's mouth. She was credited with really being the glue of the entire cast. Larry Hagman said the only reason he agreed to do Dallas was to work with her.

As an actress, she was subtle and commanding. Actors could learn a thing or two from her. There was a scene in season two (I think) between Miss Ellie and J.R. that was just brilliant. She slowly took the scene over and drew you in as Miss Ellie regretted having given her eldest son over to his "daddy" too early, that perhaps with a little more time with him, she could have molded him a little more before he became a man and he would have turned out differently. She was the real backbone of that show.

This scene (Miss Ellie coming to terms with Jock's death) always breaks my heart:

Tale of Two Miss Ellie's and what happened is all explained in this True Hollywood YouTube Clip

Nothing against Ms Reed, but she was all wrong for the part. She turned Miss Ellie into a kind of 50s nuclear wife airhead/fashion plate.

More on the Miss Ellie switcheroo (I personally thought that Larry Hagman was a bit of a loon):

Both actresses were great (though I voted for BBG.)

BBG willingly left the role. No one forced her out. If she had consulted Reed before making the decision, then it's a different story. She may have created the role, but when you willingly give it up, and someone else occupies it, you show some respect towards that person.

Reed may have been wrong for the role, but Hagman didn't want her period. He was never going to warm to her regardless of how good she was. It's been well reported that he was a tyrant on the set of DALLAS, so his behavior towards Reed was not out of the ordinary.

Reed got the settlement, but I doubt saw any of it, due to the cancer that took her life.

It was just a shitty thing to do to someone who had been in the business for decades and was a well known star.

Just a matter of personal preference, but I always found Sada Thompson insufferable.

Looking beyond "Dallas" for a second -

Before that show, BBG was a highly-respected stage and film actress, who originated the role of Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway (Tennessee didn't like her - he wanted Kim Stanley in the part), and was terrific in "Vertigo" as Jimmy Stewart's plain-Jane unrequited lover.

Who or what did Sada Thompson do before her mid-life emergence as an actress? She burst onto the scene as a harridan in the original NY cast of "Man in the moon Marigolds", then won her Tony for "Twigs", then did "Family" on TV. Was she ever a YOUNG actress? No.

How much did she do after "Family" ? Not much - that Terrence McNaly "Andre's Mother" on PBS, then she retired.

BBG worked her whole life, starting as an ingenue and ending as a character actress. For longevity and a varied career alone, BBG is a name people will remember long after Sada's.

[quote] It's been well reported that he was a tyrant on the set of DALLAS

Link please.

[quote] you show some respect towards that person.

She did show some respect. BBG told the press it was unfair what happened, and called Reed to tell her how sorry she was what happened. Reed never blamed BBG. When Reed was in the hospital, BBG sent flowers.

As Susan Howard said in the You Tube clip, it was unfair, but that is Hollywood. People get fired all the time.

"Link please"

R30 already provided you a link. Listen to how Hagman refers to Reed as "The lady who played her part" and "This is the way it is going to be." when discussing how he would have handled BBG's salary negotiations. He didn't even try to place nice with Reed.

I apologize if BBG did show Reed the respect she was entitled to. But Hagman and the others clearly did not. It may happen all the time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still wrong. Reed was well liked in the industry, and the producers sought her out. Things should have been handled much better.

Reed is NOW considered an iconic actress who co-starred in one of the most beloved films of all time, but I can see how they thought they could get away with treating her like crap back then. Hagman's behavior toward her was ungentlemanly at best.

Yeah, I can see Hagman doing that.

These big stars on top shows -- that's all they are.

Their identity and money are all wrapped up in the show; Reed, by being miscast, threatened that.

No link is necessary on providing evidence that Hagman believed he was the boss of the Dallas set. That is very well-known. He has always been a self-inflated walking ego. The link at r30 can show how self-important he thought he was ("Barbara should have come to me, I would have fixed everything"????).

This is the type of guy who would impose his beliefs on others, like the whole anti-smoking thing he had going, taking a little hand-held out of his pocket and blowing it in the face of someone who lit a cigarette, going on and on about how they were going to die. Hypocrisy breeds lousy karma. His excessive drinking through the years led to liver cancer years later. He also had some eccentric quirks, like not uttering a word on Sundays. That's just a minor example of what a difficult self-absorbed person he could be.

The fame he experienced during the Who Shot J.R.? phenomenon went to his head. The superstardom hurt the show, I think. J.R. was actually a more conflicted person in the pre-shot years, and the show was not all about him. After the worldwide recognition, J.R. became more and more cartoonish - and predictable - every successive year until the stories were getting tired and almost campy. Duffy left (but foolishly came back at Hagman's hardwon maneuverings and tarnished the show's earthy credibility forever), Principal left, Gray left, Bel Geddes left again (this time forever). Hagman was by then a producer of the show and thought he could go on without the major female stars, thinking they could easily be replaced by dumb blonde bimbos and turn the show into an old man's porn fantasy. It was his stupid decision to stunt cast Barbara Eden as a ruthless oil baron who took over Ewing Oil!!! It was one of television's strongest ensemble casts during its heydey, and when they all started to drop like flys, he couldn't accept the inevitable and dragged Dallas into the dregs with its last couple of seasons.

It's been very well-known that Hagman did not want Reed from the start. For him, it was either Bel Geddes or his mother Mary Martin (who, granted, would have been interesting in the role). He did treat her like an intruder on the set. He ended up treating Dack Rambo the same way because of Rambo's homosexuality. If he didn't like you, he worked until you were out.

Thanks R39. Boy I'd love some dirt on the old Knots Landing cast. Maybe Constance McCashin could dish if her fingers aren't too fat to type.

We'll never see the likes of Bel Geddes or Thompson again on TV, will we?

Do actors even bother being trained in theatre anymore?

two-thirds polled say Sada is the better actress!

"Doug, I'm worried about Barbara..."

Are there any eldergays on this thread who remember Donna Reed as fondly as I do as America's Perfect Mother on The Donna Reed Show?

Plus, Carl Betz who played her husband Dr. Alex Stone was The Hottest Daddy of 1950s TV.

Donna Reed was also a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and of nuclear power.

I was a vocal opponent of Donna Reed's.

-anyone else?

Just saw the Family DVD last night.

Sada what an actress.

Donna Reed had a dress wardrobe on Dallas. BBG not so much.

It was laughable when BBG as Ellie with breast cancer, was tossing out low cut gowns (like when would she have ever worn them?) saying she couldn't be a woman any more!

When Sada was starring on Broadway in Twigs, she would ride the Q32 bus home to Jackson Heights.

[quote]We'll never see the likes of Bel Geddes or Thompson again on TV, will we?

Never.

Sada.

Because of this scene if nothing else.

[quote]Buddy (Kristy McNichol) has run away after overhearing Kate (Sada Thompson) admit she once considered aborting her. Their little reconciliation scene:

Sada Thompson and Louis Edmonds (Langley AMC) had a torrid, passionate love affair while they were in acting school together.

Miss Ellie could never pull off Virginia McMartin.

Barbara Bel Geddes was an awful actress.

Amazing scene from Family with Sada Thompson

"Sometimes Women Just Want Out!" Real truths are revealed here.

Well we are comparing now on DL

Both of them always look constipated. As does Miss Peggy Lee.

Barbara Bel Geddes was Maggie in the original Cat On A Hot Tin Roof directed by Elia Kazan, Katrin in the first Broadway production of I Remember Mamma. She had the lead in Caught directed by Max Ophuls and as Jimmy Stewart's GF in Vertigo.

Me Saw-Da

WTF? We have a Sada Thompson Troll from 2011?

I saw Barbara Bel Geddes on Broadway in the comedy "Mary, Mary" and the drama "Silent Night, Lonely Night" with Henry Fonda. And I saw her on "Dallas" also. Exceptionally good actress.

Mary Marton was a much bigger Broadway star, but she seems wrong for Miss Ellie on TV.

I quite liked Bel Geddes' work when she played Donna Reed. Streepian in the power of her transformation.

Sada Thompson also was marvelous opposite James Whitmore in the national tour of "On Golden Pond". They certainly elevated the material.

Why did Bel Geddes always get screwed when her stage triumphs hit the big screen? She photographed well and though she played "plain" in VERTIGO, she was a nice looking woman.

me- Sada

Here they are TOGETHER in a scene from "Our Town" with a bonus scene featuring Charlotte Rae

Thanks, R67!