Biographie

She was not shown in the so-called Memorial Tribute during the telecast of The 78th Annual Academy Awards (2006), in which the Academy pays tribute to artists who passed away since the previous year's show, although she had been nominated for an Academy Award in 1940 and played roles in memorable movies.

Due to her combative nature and refusal to appear in several Warner Bros. pictures, studio head Jack L. Warner would not allow her to take on the Mary Astor role in the classic Le faucon maltais (1941) starring Humphrey Bogart.

First husband Edward Lindsay-Hogg was an aristocrat who aspired to be a songwriter. The couple moved to New York from England in 1938 to further his ambitions. Second husband Stuart Scheftel was the grandson of Isador Straus, the co-owner of the R.H. Macy Co. who went down on the Titanic in 1912 along with Scheftel's grandmother. Scheftel, a baby at the time, was scheduled to sail with them, but caught a cold and was left behind in England with his nurse. He grew to become a prosperous businessman whose accomplishments include co-founding New York's Pan-Am Building. He first got a crush on Fitzgerald when he saw her on screen in Wilson (1944) and persuaded a mutual friend, actor / director Martin Gabel, to arrange an introduction.

Was a redhead when she first went to Hollywood, but her hair photographed dark, so people have always assumed she was a brunette. In her only early color film, Wilson (1944), her hair was turned brown for her portrayal of Edith Wilson, so the public never saw her natural red hair.

Founded the Everyman Street Theater with B. Jonathan Ringkamp, which utilized children from all walks of life as street performers. Known for her liberal sense, she staged several street shows that were all-black productions.