And The Name Is Patricia Neal!

She has been in films, television and stage for more than sixty years...
...and even in smaller, character parts (like"Breakfast At Tiffany's") she steals every scene she's in...
...which is why it's great to see how other actors raise their game when she's in a scene with her, like Andy Griffith, giving the great dramatic performance of his career in "A Face In The Crowd" (Nov. 1st @ 2:30am et on TCM, with an interview to follow).

The thing I love about Neal is her incredible voice and the way that, no matter what character she plays, one gets the idea the character has some baggage. And has lived. And probably has a passing acquaintance with the ways of the world. And alcohol. And cigarettes. And guys.

I don't know if she could ever pull off a spinster aunt or nun. Unless they had come to their positions late in life. After a lot of, let us say, adventures.

Not only an incredible actress, Patricia Neal miraculously survived both death and several massive strokes in the mid-sixties. She came back three years later in "The Subject Was Roses" and went on to have as successful career as she did before. Her survival also resulted in the creation of "The Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center" which helps patients come back from stroke, spinal cord and brain injuries.

Here's their bio of Neal...



Patricia Neal: A Biography

"Patricia Neal, 39, last year's Oscar-winning best actress who copped five prizes for her first Broadway performance in 1947, died at midnight last night at UCLA Medical Center." This was the front-page banner headline in the February 22, 1965 issue of Variety. Although the newspaper editors, and many others, were convinced Patricia Neal had died, she refused to let that be her fate. She remained in a coma for 21 days following three massive strokes, refusing to give up.

"I think I was born stubborn, that's all," she says. "I almost died many times from broken hearts…when my daughter Olivia died, when my baby son Theo was hit by a car, and when I had my strokes. There were many who didn't think I would pull through. I had to have an operation that lasted seven hours, and I know very well my doctor thought I would conk out in the middle of it; but as I told him later, we Tennessee hillbillies don't conk that easy, so I stayed alive."

Patsy Louise Neal was born January 20, 1926. Even in her youth, growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, she recognized her interest in acting and frequently recited monologues at church and other gatherings. As a Christmas present from her parents, she was given acting lessons when she was 12. Her teacher was Emily Mahan Faust of Knoxville.

Following graduation from high school, she enrolled in speech and drama at Northwestern University. After two years, she joined her drama coach, Alvina Krause, for summer theatre in Eaglesmere, Pennsylvania. At the summer's end, she packed a suitcase, caught a train, and headed for New York.

After only two-and-a-half months of knocking on doors and working odd jobs, she got her first job as understudy for the two main female parts of Voice of the Turtle. Now calling herself Patricia instead of Patsy Louise, she was cast by the Theatre Guild in the summer theatre production of Devil Take the Whistler, where she was seen by Lillian Hellman, Richard Rodgers, and Eugene O'Neill. Shortly thereafter, she accepted an offer from Miss Hellman to play in Another Part of the Forest, for which she received several awards; among them the Tony (Antoinette Perry) and the Drama Critics Award for Best New Actress. She had become a star, and she was not yet 20.

Her triumphant stage success in 1946 led to many offers from Hollywood where Miss Neal signed with Warner Brothers and proceeded to make 13 movies in the next four years, including John Loves Mary and The Hasty Heart with Ronald Reagan, The Fountainhead and Bright Leaf with Gary Cooper, Diplomatic Courier with Tyrone Powers, and Operation Pacific with John Wayne. While continuing to appear in films, both in Hollywood and England, she returned intermittently to the stage, where she did The Children's Hour, A Room Full of Roses, Suddenly Last Summer, and The Miracle Worker. She met author Roald Dahl during this time, and they were married on July 2, 1953.

But tragedy was to strike three times. A taxi struck their infant son, Theo, while in his carriage and caused severe injuries, requiring him to undergo extensive rehabilitation. The eldest of five children, Olivia, contracted measles encephalitis and died at the age of seven. Resolving to go on with life, Miss Neal continued her acting career and won an Oscar as Best Actress in 1964 for her performance with Paul Newman in Hud, and made In Harm's Way with John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, and Larry Hagman. At the peak of her success, when she had started work with director John Ford, Anne Bancroft, and Eddie Albert on MGM's Seven Women, tragedy struck again. On February 17, 1965, when she was three months pregnant, she suffered a series of strokes which left her partially paralyzed. Undaunted, Miss Neal began a successful struggle through years of rehabilitation. Her fifth child, Lucy was born healthy. Her two other daughters, Tessa and Ophelia, along with Theo and Lucy are grown now and living in the U.S. and England.

Miss Neal returned to her career and received an Academy Award nomination for The Subject Was Roses with Martin Sheen. Distinguished television roles including The Homecoming, The Lou Gehrig Story, and All's Quiet on the Western Front garnered three Emmy nominations.

In 1978, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center dedicated the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since then the center has served almost 20,000 inpatients and more than 30,000 outpatients, as they re-learn to walk, talk, eat and live independently following stroke, traumatic injury and disease. Miss Neal has been tireless in her commitment to developing the center into the finest rehabilitation facility in the Southern Appalachian region. She has become a champion in the rehabilitation field and a worldwide symbol of hope and victory to stroke victims and others with disabilities.

Miss Neal continues her acting career in addition to traveling and lecturing extensively. She is a regular participant in the Theatre Guild's Theatre-At-Sea programs, which have taken her to many exotic ports-of-call. Her autobiography, As I Am, was published in 1988 by Simon & Schuster and has been reprinted all over the world. Her recent work, major motion picture Cookie's Fortune with Glenn Close, was released to rave reviews in April of 1999.
Miss Neal resides in New York and spends the summer season at her home in Martha's Vineyard. She visits Knoxville and the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center several times each year.