Why Didn't Mercedes McCambridge Become A Major Star Instead f A Cult Figure?

Because she had bad hair?

She had a face like an old cunt?

[quote] "The Exorcists,"

Is that a sequel to The Exorcist?

She had bad taste in blouses?

And worse taste in earrings.

She was a character actress, OP, she wasn't ever leading lady material.

She reminds me of Jo Van Fleet, a character actress who played strong women and who overshadowed the leading players in a film with her excellent performances.

Because she wasn’t a major star.

I asked my 88-year old dad what his favorite radio shows were as a kid and he said, "'I Love a Mystery' with Mercedes McCambridge". I thought it kind of odd that he would remember her as his favorite.

OP, you forgot her turn as Luz in Giant.

You are right R8. Jo Van Fleet major actor never got her due. At least Kazan used her.

[quote]Jo Van Fleet major actor never got her due

They gave her an Oscar, r12.

[quote]Why Didn't Mercedes McCambridge Become A Major Star?

The mustache. It always comes down to the fucking mustache.

There was an unspoken limit to how many terminal canefaces the studios were willing to promote back then.

Grating voice . Picked dykey fights with Joan. Hard pass.

She didn't suck Orson Welles's dick

She couldn't find Orson Welles's dick.

She was a nasty old bulldyke!

Well deserved Oscar in just her second film

She fucked around with a more powerful witch.

Fuck around and find out.

Loved her voice - deep and sexy.

This is the story of her son's familicide. The letter he wrote his mom is damning. The newspaper had to sue to get the case files and letter released. It's a very sad story. One sort of amusing note (to me) is the family name: Markle(!)

For reasons that are well-known to her.

Marty introduces...

Interesting (to me, anyway as I find coincidences interesting) the house where her son murdered his wife and two daughters was a block from the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, where the Clintons were living during his second term.

No offence if you’re from Little Rock but the Google Street View pics look fairly bleak.

I always thought she was fabulous in her guest turn as Carlotta on "Bewitched".

She reminds a little of Geraldine Brooks who did get a buildup by Warners in the late 1940s but never really made it as a star either.

She was in more episodes of the CBS Radio MysteryTheatre than any other actress. She refused to be in the final season when Tammy Grimes took over as host. I guess they had history or something.

She was more 'voice' than looks. At that time, male actors who were also had great voices / bad bodies were hired all the time - William Conrad, Raymond Burr.

Her voice is so distinctive and a little of it goes a long way.

She was a terrible alcoholic. She went off the wagon to do The Exorcist. She wanted to sound and act as wild as possible.

Stop trying to make Mercedes McWhatsherface happen.

In her autobiography she wrote that Marlene Dietrich sent her some of her own evening dresses to pick from for when McCambridge was to present at the Oscars, saying, “You do not have to look as bad as you do.”

[quote]She was in more episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre than any other actress.

She had a voice made for radio. And, unfortunately for her career, a face made for radio, also.

She insisted and being tied up in The Exorcist so she could really struggle like the character.

Her name had too many syllables. It was fake-sounding, weird mix of Spanish and Scottish.

Her columella was half an inch too long. She looked like Minnie Castavet.

Her face had Angry Revenge written all over it; she looked like a gun-toting Gale Sondergaaard.

[quote]In her autobiography she wrote that Marlene Dietrich sent her some of her own evening dresses to pick from for when McCambridge was to present at the Oscars, saying, “You do not have to look as bad as you do.”

That was some high-quality reading for filth.

She's great in Giant and Johnny Guitar. She and Joan really hate each other and it makes for terrific drama.

R39 but there's also some amazing lez sexual tension right under the surface.

[quote]R39 She's great in Giant

I’m surprised when people say that, and that she was nominated for an Oscar in that role. She’s fine, of course, but her character hardly does anything.

In Giant she embodied that character. Pauline Kael described it as “flooding” a character in performance and by that I think she meant that the actor fully realized the character in performance. McCambridge fully realized the character of the spinster, big sister, lady of the house and of her time and period.

She was an alcoholic who drove her son to suicide when he embezzled money from her and instead of dealing with it privately, she made it clear she was only interested in her own reputation and didn't give a damn for his.

She also ridiculed Joan Crawford openly after their first movie together and Joan had it in for MM for the rest of her career.

Not a nice person. A really good actress though.

[quote]r42 McCambridge fully realized the character of the spinster, big sister, lady of the house and of her time and period.

Yes, but what are her big scenes? I mostly just remember her intoning, “I was afraid this would happen,” when Leslie faints.

[quote]R43 She also ridiculed Joan Crawford openly after their first movie together

Who wouldn’t ridicule the late period Joan Crawford? She was a demonically alcoholic diva with increasingly dubious behavior.

Staunch liberal Democrat, who campaigned for Adalai Stevenson. A big plus from me.

I really wish I could have seen her version of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. I bet she was ferocious.

She had a reputation by 1987?

?

She was in the replacement cast of Woolf on Broadway? I would have loved to have seen that.