Rosalind RussellFilmography

Born:: June 4, 1907 in Waterbury, CT
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: A witty and stylish lead actress of stage and screen, Russell tended to play successful career women who were skilled in repartee. She trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, then began her stage career in her early '20s. She debuted onscreen in 1934 and immediately had a very busy film...Read More

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Life is a Banquet

Actors: Rosalind Russell

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell may be best known for her iconic roles in films such as The Women, Auntie Mame, and His Girl Friday, but the star shined off screen as well. Life is a Banquet explores the career and philanthropic work of the four-time Oscar nominee, from starting the USO to her later work as an Read More

2009
Hollywood Bloopers

Synopsis: It's nice to know that some of the greatest of the movie stars, while doing some of the most famous and best of Hollywood movies, have feet of clay like the rest of us. This set of outtakes lets us see the human side of celebrities like Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Kirk Douglas, Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney Read More

1980
The Crooked Hearts

Synopsis: A million-dollar cast was assembled for this high-gloss TV movie. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Rosalind Russell play a pair of ageing con artists, plying their trade with the members of a lonely hearts club managed by Maureen O'Sullivan. Complicating the schemes of the tricky duo is the presence of a Read More

1972
Mrs. Pollifax -- Spy

Crew: Screenwriter

Synopsis: A widow finds her life unbearably dull and so becomes a volunteer CIA agent. She is sent to Mexico City for her first assignment and though her intentions are good, she ends up tossed into a jail. This was one of actress Rosalind Russel's final films and is sadly, considered among her very worst. Read More

1971
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Stella Stevens, Binnie Barnes, Mary Wickes, Dolores Sutton, Susan Saint James

Synopsis: Mother Simplicia (Rosalind Russell) is the head nun at an all-girl school. Aided by the young Sister George (Stella Stevens), the two try to convert the wayward girls to prim and proper ladies with a solid religious foundation. Rosabelle (Susan St. James) and Marvel Ann (Barbara Hunter), are the Read More

1968
Rosie!

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Sandra Dee, Brian Aherne, Audrey Meadows, James Farentino

Synopsis: Rosie! is directly based upon Ruth Gordon's play A Very Rich Woman, which was itself based upon a French play by Philippe Heriat, but the indirect source for all three versions is Shakespeare's King Lear. Rosalind Russell has the Lear part, here transformed from a powerful king into a rich, madcap Read More

1967
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Barbara Harris, Hugh Griffith, Jonathan Winters

Synopsis: A domineering mother and her sheltered son fly face first into love, murder, and the meaning of family in this black comedy based on Arthur Kopit's Broadway play. Wealthy Madame Rosepettle (Rosalind Russell) and 25-year-old Jonathan (Robert Morse) arrive at the Port Royal Hotel on a tiny Caribbean Read More

1967
The Trouble With Angels

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Hayley Mills, Binnie Barnes, Gypsy Rose Lee, Camilla Sparv, June Harding

Synopsis: The Trouble With Angels opens on the first day of school for a new batch of students at St. Francis Academy, run by a very strong-willed Mother Superior (Rosalind Russell). She is used to having things her way, but she may have met her match in the headstrong and independent Mary Clancy (Hayley Mills Read More

1966
Gypsy

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace, Betty Bruce, Ann Jillian

Synopsis: This Stephen Sondheim/Jules Styne/Arthur Laurents musical comedy Gypsy had been a Broadway smash with Ethel Merman in the lead. Based on the autobiography of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, it centers on the antics of Mama Rose (here played by Rosalind Russell), the Stage Mother from Hell who Read More

1962
Five Finger Exercise

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, Maximilian Schell, Richard Beymer, Annette Gorman

Synopsis: A distinguished cast highlights this film adaptation of a stage drama by Peter Shaffer. Stanley Harrington (Jack Hawkins) is a self-made businessman incapable of expressing his emotions or compromising with others; his wife Louise (Rosalind Russell) imagines herself an intellectual, though her Read More

1962
A Majority of One

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, Ray Danton, Madlyn Rhue, Mae Questel

Synopsis: This standard love story adapted by Leonard Spigelgass from his stage play was acclaimed when it was released for probing into the nature of prejudice. Rosalind Russell plays Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow living in Brooklyn whose daughter Alice (Madlyn Rhue) is married to Jerome (Ray Danton), a U.S. Read More

1961
Auntie Mame

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne, Fred Clark, Roger Smith

Synopsis: Auntie Mame began as a novel by Patrick Dennis (aka Ed Fitzgerald), then was adapted into a long-running Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. This 1958 film version permits Rosalind Russell to recreate her stage role as Mame Dennis, the flamboyant, devil-may-care aunt of young Read More

1958
The Unguarded Moment

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Esther Williams, George Nader, Les Tremayne, John Saxon, Edward Andrews

Synopsis: Esther Williams essays her first dramatic, nonswimming role in The Unguarded Moment. Written by actress Rosalind Russell, the film is a remarkably prescient tale of sexual harassment at the workplace. Williams plays high-school music-teacher Lois Conway, who inadvertently arouses the libido of Read More

1956
Picnic

Actors: William Holden, Rosalind Russell, Kim Novak, Betty Field, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson

Synopsis: One of the biggest box-office attractions of the 1950s, Picnic was adapted by Daniel Taradash from the Pulitzer Prize-winning William Inge play. William Holden plays Hal Carter, a handsome drifter who ambles into a small Kansas town during the Labor Day celebration to look up old college chum Alan Read More

1955
The Girl Rush

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fernando Lamas, Eddie Albert, Gloria de Haven, Marion Lorne

Synopsis: In this comedy sequel to Wonderful Town (a popular Broadway musical), Kim, a museum worker from Providence, Rhode Island, inherits half ownership of a Las Vegas hotel when her father dies. She and her Aunt Clara go there to learn more about it. Unfortunately, just before they arrive, the other Read More

1955
Never Wave at a WAC

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Paul Douglas, Marie Wilson, William Ching, Arleen Whelan

Synopsis: Self-centered Washington socialite Rosalind Russell joins the WACS in order to be near her boyfriend William Ching, a GI stationed in Paris. Russell is certain that her DC connections will enable her to get out of the service as easily as she got in. Unfortunately for her, Russell's ex-husband Paul Douglas Read More

1952
A Woman of Distinction

Actors: Ray Milland, Rosalind Russell, Edmund Gwenn, Janis Carter, Mary Jane Saunders

Synopsis: A Woman of Distinction serves as a tailor-made vehicle for Rosalind Russell. The star is cast as Susan Middlecott, a highly respected college dean. As can be expected, Susan is too busy for romance -- at least until handsome professor Alec Stevenson (Ray Milland) enters the picture. At first, the Read More

1950
Tell It to the Judge

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Robert Cummings, Gig Young, Marie McDonald, Harry Davenport

Synopsis: Though divorced from attorney Robert Cummings, Rosalind Russell continues hoping that she can arrange a reconciliation. This proves difficult due to Cummings' fascination with curvaceous Marie McDonald. Contriving to arouse Cumming's jealousy, Russell pretends to be married to feckless Gig Young. Read More

1949
The Velvet Touch

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Leo Genn, Claire Trevor, Sydney Greenstreet, Leon Ames

Synopsis: Based upon a story by William Mercer, The Velvet Touch stars Rosalind Russell as Valerie Stanton, a celebrated Broadway actress whose latest smash comedy is coming to the end of its successful run. The play's producer, Gordon Dunning, has produced all of Stanton's hits for the last decade, and Read More

1948
The Guilt of Janet Ames

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Sid Caesar, Betsy Blair, Nina Foch

Synopsis: In this drama, a soldier's widow, whose husband died a hero in WW II, begins a quest to find the five men whose lives were saved when her husband sacrificed his own life by taking the brunt of a hand grenade blast. Her search begins two years after the war's end, and is an attempt to see if the Read More

1947
Mourning Becomes Electra

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Katina Paxinou, Leo Genn

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell stars in this marathon adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play. The O'Neill original transposed Euripides' Agamemnon/Clytemnestra legend to post-Civil War New England. Russell plays the daughter of a returning war hero (Raymond Massey), who comes home to find his wife (Katina Paxinou Read More

1947
Sister Kenny

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Philip Merivale, Beulah Bondi

Synopsis: We prefer Rosalind Russell when she's making us laugh; judging by such films as Mourning Becomes Electra and The Velvet Touch, Russell preferred herself in heavy dramatics. In Sister Kenny, Rosalind Russell is all grim determination and pursed lips as Elizabeth Kenny, tireless battler of infantile Read More

1946
She Wouldn't Say Yes

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell plays yet another independent career woman in She Wouldn't Say Yes. This time she's a psychiatrist who sees no need for a man in her life. Her resolve weakens a bit when she meets Lee Bowman, a dashing combat sketch artist suffering from wartime emotional problems. Bowman falls in Read More

1945
Roughly Speaking

Actors: Ray Collins, Kathleen Lockhart, Ann E. Todd, Andy Clyde, Rosalind Russell, Robert Hutton

Synopsis: This odd combination of roughneck comedy and serious domestic drama was adapted by Louise Randall Pierson from her own autobiographical novel. Rosalind Russell is cast as young Louise Randall, the headstrong daughter of a New England merchant. Inheriting her father's business, Louise intends to Read More

1945
Flight for Freedom

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Herbert Marshall, Walter Kingsford

Synopsis: Flight for Freedom was an "a clef" version of the Amelia Earhart story. Rosalind Russell plays the Earhart-like aviatrix Tonie Carter, who spends the early part of the film fighting against the aviation industry's prejudice against woman pilots. Tonie establishes a reputation as "the Lady Read More

1943
What a Woman!

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Willard Parker, Alan Dinehart, Edward Fielding

Synopsis: In his book on "screwball" comedies, the late William K. Everson described What a Woman as "indistinguishable from a dozen other big-business comedies, but a pleasant and zany time-killer." Once again, Rosalind Russell is cast as a high-pressure female executive, in this instance liteary agent Read More

1943
Take a Letter, Darling

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Constance Moore, MacDonald Carey, Robert Benchley

Synopsis: Take a Letter, Darling is from the "boss lady" school of 1940s comedies. Fred MacMurray is Darling (that's his last name), an unsuccessful artist who advertises for a position as male secretary. He is hired by female advertising executive Rosalind Russell, who is all business--during business Read More

1942
My Sister Eileen

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias, Richard Quine, June Havoc, Allyn Joslyn

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell plays aspiring Ohio journalist Ruth Sherwood, who heads for New York to seek her fortune, accompanied by her sister, Eileen (Janet Blair), an aspiring actress. The girls take a basement apartment in Greenwich Village, which becomes a gathering place for several oddball characters Read More

1942
They Met in Bombay

Actors: Clark Gable, Rosalind Russell, Peter Lorre, Reginald Owen, Matthew Boulton, Jessie Ralph

Synopsis: They Met in Bombay is a typical MGM star vehicle, in which the leading players are called upon to carry a pencil-thin plotline on the force of sheer personality. Clark Gable and Rosalind Russell play Gerald Meldrick and Anya Von Duren, a pair of rival jewel thieves at large in India. Both parties Read More

1941
Design for Scandal

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Bowman, Jean Rogers, Mary Beth Hughes, Edward Arnold

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell stars as a no-nonsense judge who dabbles in sculpting in her spare time. Walter Pidgeon costars as a reporter assigned to discredit Rosalind after she rules against his boss (Edward Arnold) in a divorce case. Pidgeon plans to frame the judge in a compromising situation, then Read More

1941
The Feminine Touch

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Don Ameche, Kay Francis, Van Heflin, Donald Meek

Synopsis: An expert cast of farceurs goes through its customary paces in MGM's The Feminine Touch. Don Ameche plays college professor-turned-author John Hathaway, who hits upon a potential best-seller with his book on marital jealousy. He heads to New York with his lovely wife Julie (Rosalind Russell) Read More

1941
No Time for Comedy

Actors: James Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Genevieve Tobin, Charlie Ruggles, Allyn Joslyn

Synopsis: S.N. Behrman's hit Broadway show about a guy who writes hit Broadway shows comes to the screen in this comedy. Gaylord Esterbrook (James Stewart) is a reporter from Minnesota who writes a play about life in New York City -- a place he's never visited. To his surprise, a Big Apple producer wants to Read More

1940
His Girl Friday

Actors: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Porter Hall, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns

Synopsis: The second screen version of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, His Girl Friday changed hard-driving newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson from a man to a woman, transforming the story into a scintillating battle of the sexes. Rosalind Russell plays Hildy, about to foresake journalism Read More

1940
This Thing Called Love

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Melvyn Douglas, Binnie Barnes, Allyn Joslyn, Gloria Dickson, Lee J. Cobb

Synopsis: This Thing Called Love extracts its laughs from the prehistoric concept of sexual frustration. Business partners Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas marry, but only on a trial basis. Russell wants to prove that a married couple can function merely as friends, and to that end she denies her husband Read More

1940
Hired Wife

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley, John Carroll

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne go through their customary farcical paces in the formula romantic comedy Hired Wife. Russell plays Kendal Browning, the superefficient secretary of business executive Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne). When Dexter is legally obliged to put his business and its assets Read More

1940
The Women

Actors: Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard

Synopsis: Based on the Clare Booth Luce play of the same name, this MGM comedy is justly famous for its all-female cast and deft direction by George Cukor. The plot centers on a group of gossipy high-society women who spend their days at the beauty salon and haunting fashion shows. The sweet, happily wedded Read More

1939
Fast and Loose

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Reginald Owen, Ralph Morgan, Etienne Girardot

Synopsis: Fast and Loose was the second of MGM's brief "B" series based on Harry Kurnitz' husband-wife team of bookdealing sleuths, Joel and Garda Sloane. In Fast Company, the first of the series, Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice played the Sloanes; in this second entry, the characters are portrayed by Robert Montgomery Read More

1939
Four's a Crowd

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Rosalind Russell, Patric Knowles, Walter Connolly

Synopsis: A standard-issue "screwball comedy" of the 1930s, Four's a Crowd starred a quartet of Warner Bros' biggest stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, Rosalind Russell and Patric Knowles. Flynn plays a publicity agent hired to stir up "good press" for a nasty millionaire (Walter Connolly). Errol Read More

1938
The Citadel

Actors: Robert Donat, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison, Emlyn Williams

Synopsis: Robert Donat stars as Dr. Andrew Manson in this adaptation of A.J. Cronin's best-selling novel. Manson devotes himself to treating the residents of a poverty-stricken Welsh mining community. Tuberculosis runs rampant in the village, and Manson is determined to help stem its tide and bring good Read More

1938
Man-Proof

Actors: Myrna Loy, Franchot Tone, Rosalind Russell, Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson

Synopsis: Based upon the book The Four Marys, by Fanny Heaslip Lea, Man-Proof involves members of the smart and sophisticated set of Manhattan, circa 1938. Mimi Swift (Myrna Loy), the daughter of a successful romance novelist, is having no luck in getting the man she loves. Although she has made her Read More

1938
Live, Love and Learn

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Robert Benchley, Helen Vinson, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Starving artist Robert Montgomery could care less if his paintings sell, so long as he's happy. Montgomery falls in love with Rosalind Russell, an heiress who's gone "slumming" in Greenwich Village. Russell becomes Montgomery's patroness as well as his wife, urging him to make his paintings more Read More

1937
Night Must Fall

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty, Alan Marshal, Merle Tottenham

Synopsis: Emlyn Williams' theatrical horror piece Night Must Fall was filmed by MGM without the usual studio-imposed happy ending. Robert Montgomery stars as Danny, a wickedly charming Irish bellhop who wins the confidence of an elderly invalid (Dame May Whitty). The old woman's niece (Rosalind Russell) is Read More

1937
Trouble for Two

Actors: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Frank Morgan, Reginald Owen, Louis Hayward

Synopsis: Though its title and cast suggests a lighthearted romantic comedy, Trouble for Two is actually a fairly faithful adaptation of three of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Suicide Club" stories. Robert Montgomery stars as incognito Prince Florizel, who is lured to a gathering of strange characters devoted Read More

1936
Under Two Flags

Actors: Ronald Colman, Claudette Colbert, Victor McLaglen, Rosalind Russell, Gregory Ratoff

Synopsis: Two silent film versions preceded this 1936 Hollywood adaptation of the 19th century novel by the writer Ouida Bergere. It is set in Saharan Africa but was filmed in the Arizona desert. Ronald Colman is Corporal Victor, a man who has taken the rap for a crime committed by his younger brother. Read More

1936
It Had to Happen

Actors: George Raft, Rosalind Russell, Leo Carrillo, Arline Judge, Alan Dinehart

Synopsis: Italian immigrant George Raft uses his wits and his fists to rise to prominence in a local political machine. He falls in love with Rosalind Russell, the wife of a prominent banker, but discreetly hides his feelings even as he and Russell are thrust together by social circumstances. The banker Read More

1936
Craig's Wife

Actors: Rosalind Russell, John Boles, Billie Burke, Jane Darwell, Dorothy Wilson

Synopsis: After several light comedy roles, Rosalind Russell proved her salt as a dramatic film actress in this 1936 adaptation of George Kelly's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Craig's Wife. Russell plays Harriet Craig, whose obsession with keeping her house and its furnishings spotless has driven away most of Read More

1936
West Point of the Air

Actors: Wallace Beery, Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan, James Gleason

Synopsis: Big Mike (Wallace Beery) is a tough Army flyer who longs to see his son Little Mike (Robert Young) take to the air like himself. Little Mike's excessive attraction to Dare (Rosalind Russell) strains his relationship with his father, but eventually he finds the right woman -- Skip (Maureen Read More

1935
The Casino Murder Case

Actors: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell, Arthur Byron

Synopsis: S. S. Van Dine's intelligent, insufferable amateur sleuth Philo Vance is the protagonist of The Casino Murder Case. Paul Lukas plays Vance, who is brought to the mansion of a wealthy, eccentric widow (Alison Skipworth) by a mysterious unsigned letter. Several murders are committed in the elderly Read More

1935
China Seas

Actors: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: China Seas proved that the recently imposed Hollywood production code had little if any effect on the popularity of MGM sex symbols Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Gable plays the captain of a tramp steamer chugging between Singapore and Hong Kong. Harlow is Gable's ex-main squeeze, a "woman of the Read More

1935
Reckless

Actors: Jean Harlow, William Powell, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Rosalind Russell, Ted Healy, Mickey Rooney

Synopsis: Reckless is a delightfully breezy screwball comedy from the same director (Victor Fleming) and star (Jean Harlow) responsible for the celebratedBombshell (itself a film à clef loosely based on Clara Bow) -- with the added appeal of William Powell. One can readily see the chemistry between the two Read More

1935
The Night Is Young

Actors: Ramon Novarro, Evelyn Laye, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel, Edward Everett Horton

Synopsis: Based on a story by Vicki Baum, the Sigmund Romberg-Oscar Hammerstein operetta The Night is Young is set in Vienna during the Franz Josef era. To cover up an affair with the married Countess Rafay (Rosalind Russell), Archduke Gustave (Ramon Novarro), the emperor's nephew, feigns a romance with Read More

1935
Rendezvous

Actors: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: This espionage thriller with romantic comedy touches was loosely based on the book American Black Chamber by the real-life head of the U.S. Secret Service during World War I, Herbert O. Yardley. Bill Gordon (William Powell) is a newspaper puzzle editor who becomes a lieutenant in 1917 when he Read More

1935
Forsaking All Others

Actors: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery, Charles Butterworth, Billie Burke

Synopsis: For 20 years, Jeff Williams (Clark Gable) has been in love with his childhood playmate Mary Clay (Joan Crawford). Alas, Jeff has never said as much, thus Mary becomes engaged to another childhood friend, Dill Todd (Robert Montgomery). Returning from a trip to Spain for the purpose of proposing to Read More

1935
The President Vanishes

Actors: Janet Beecher, Paul Kelly, Peggy Conklin, Rosalind Russell

Synopsis: Based upon a novel anonymously written by Rex Stout, The President Vanishes has as its title character a peace-loving man with distinct anti-interventionist views. As the picture opens, President Stanley Craig (A.S. Byron) finds himself in a bit of a bind: he fervently believes that the United Read More

1934
Evelyn Prentice

Actors: Myrna Loy, William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Una Merkel, Harvey Stephens

Synopsis: Filmed between the original Thin Man and the first of its sequels, Evelyn Prentice re-teamed William Powell and Myrna Loy as another husband-and-wife team knee deep in a murder mystery. In this one, Powell is John Prentice, a prominent lawyer with an eye for women other than his own wife. His Read More

1934

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