The Actress

Based on Ruth Gordon's play Years Ago about her childhood, The Actress is a good and uplifting tale about a young girl following her dream. Young Ruth Gordon Jones living in a Boston suburb dreams about going on stage. She doesn't get too much encouragement from her parents, Spencer Tracy and Teresa Wright.

That does not stop our Ruth. She's determined to make it in the theater, but there is a matter of cash.

Spencer Tracy is a former seaman who now works at a lowly factory job and needs every dime to support wife, daughter, and a cat that's not particularly fond of him. This is not one of Tracy's better known roles and that's a pity because it's one of his best performances.

He downplays his daughter's ambitions almost until the very end of the film. I won't reveal any more, but there is an interesting dinner scene which is the key to the film. Very similar to the breakfast scene with Adolphe Menjou and Kate Hepburn in State of the Union where he tells them of his ideas for when and if he becomes president. Only here he tells the family the reasons for why believes as he does.

Although Jean Simmons was well beyond being a senior in high school she's a good enough actress to make it believable. It was certainly a more innocent time.

The Actress is a fine production from MGM and director George Cukor, pity it isn't out on VHS or DVD.

"The Actress" is Jean Simmons playing the great Ruth Gordon herself (real name Ruth Gordon Jones) in this 1953 film also starring Spencer Tracy, Teresa Wright, and Anthony Perkins. Simmons is out of her teen years but not by much - she was 24 - and manages to pull off being a 17-year-old who falls in love with theater after seeing Hazel Dawn in "The Pink Lady." Determined to become an actress, she writes to Ms. Dawn and when Hazel answers, Ruth is heady with excitement. This doesn't sit well with her beau (Perkins) or her mother (Wright) - and it wouldn't sit well with her irascible father either, except that he knows nothing about it. Yet.

The Massachusetts family home is lovingly depicted here, complete with a cat that is supposedly a big nuisance to all of them - Clinton Jones (Tracy) complains about him constantly, as he complains about everything, but yet has taught the cat a couple of tricks. You can see he's one of the family and that Clinton isn't as tough as he appears to be. The excellent Wright has what is often the maternal role in a family - that of go-between. And for the time being, she advises Ruth to keep her mouth shut. The funniest scene in the film is Clinton showing off his athletics with his group at the YMCU - he's a riot as his daughter squirms in embarrassment.

This is not a big movie; it's one about a short girl who desperately wants to be on the stage. As I was one of those teens once, I can say that the acting and directing capture this perfectly. Simmons is clearly a girl who can't be dissuaded by any negativity and who sees her goal as the only thing that matters, and it's one of pure bliss. She has no sense of limitation or reality - nor should she at that age. Time gives us that soon enough. It was a brave step in those days to refuse a marriage proposal and want to go off to a city to live on your own. Ruth Gordon did it and made good.

It's clear from the story how much Gordon loved her parents and how proud she was of her beginnings. She is one whose dreams came true, even if she had to wait until the age of 72 to become a movie star. There was plenty of a marvelous stage and writing career before that. "The Actress" shows us where it all began.

This movie is so much more than a sentimental reminiscence. I'm not much at all for those "I remember..." mom or dad or whatever memory movies. Also, there are so many, many plays and movies about a family's career aspirations for a son, aspirations that get challenged because of what the son wants to do instead. Here we have a story set after the turn of the 20th century, about a working class father's career aspirations for his DAUGHTER - a career that will provide her with financial stability but isn't at all what she wants to do. Spencer Tracy plays a curmudgeon, working-class, not-at-all refined father in a role I've never seen him in before - and he's AMAZING. The dialogue has some one linters that are, at times, hysterical - any person who has every been embarrassed by their parents, or every had a parent say something like, "Why did you ever have to be so different?" will warm to this movie immediately. And the Mary Wickes moment is why she makes every movie better even if she's in it for less than 20 seconds.

Thought I had seen all of Spencer Tracy films and this is one I thought he gave an outstanding performance as a man who was a seaman and has settled down with his wife and daughter. Clinton Jones, (Spencer Tracy) settled for a very low income working at a food company in the local town and is always complaining about the cost of things and at the same time has to deal with a family cat which keeps eating the families Boston Ivy. Annie Jones, (Teresa Wright) plays the role as the wife of Clinton and she does a great job as trying to please her husband and at the same time wants to help her daughter, Ruth Gordon Jones, (Jean Simmons) to become an actress which she desperately wants to do in her life no matter what happens. Anthony Perkins, (Fred Whitmarsh) gave a great supporting role in one of his very first films in his long career of stardom. Ruth Gordon, wrote the story and screen play and she also is known for a great role she had in "Rosemary's Baby" '68. There is lots of great comedy and Spencer Tracy was outstanding.

Delightful turn-of-the-century comedy captures the silly, head-in-the-clouds flush of adolescence. Dreaming of the glamour and magic of the theatre, small-town romantic Jean Simmons waltzes around the decidedly earthbound household of her Papa: grizzled, opinionated sea-captain Spencer Tracy, who spends his time resisting the coming of the telephone. Anthony Perkins makes a charming screen debut as her beau in a raccoon coat [although the actor preferred to downplay it]. Director George Cukor lavishes warmth and affectionate detail on Ruth Gordon's fine script as he guides the cast through some of the most satisfying ensemble playing on the screen.