Whither Ruth Warrick?

It’s June 29, and having already written about such June 29 Birthday Children as Richard Lewis, Fred Grandy, Nelson Eddy, Joan Davis, Slim Pickens, Ed Gardner (Duffy’s Tavern), and Coney Island amusement pioneer Capt. Paul Boyton, I turn my attention ever so briefly to actress Ruth Warrick (1916-2005). NB: her surname is not the more common “Warwick”, which is, I am sure, a common mistake. I know, because it’s one I used to make!

Originally from St. Joe, Missouri, young Ruth Warrick won a state-wide essay writing competition, the prize for which included a trip to New York City. She used the opportunity to remain, and broke into radio as a singer. This is how Orson Welles first met her in 1938. It was Welles who have Warrick her first, and far away her best movie role, that of the protagonist’s wife in Citizen Kane (1941). She is so bloody good in it that one naturally assumes that she was a seasoned stage and screen star with more acting experience under her belt than she possessed. Welles was naturally a huge fan. He also cast her in Journey Into Fear (1943) and episodes of his radio show, and wanted to cast her in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), presumably in the Dolores Costello role, but Warrick was pregnant at the time.

Even most classic movie buffs only know that much about her, despite the fact that she has upwards of 60 screen credits, and half of those were for movies. The reason being that most of those films did not prove to be enduring classics. The best known of them, Disney’s Song of the South (1946) has not been available for many decades due to its controversial racial content. Some of her other moderately well-remembered films include Daisy Kenyon (1947), the Fred Astaire–Betty Hutton musical Let’s Dance (1950), and the 1968 Man from U.N.C.L.E. movie How to Steal the World. From 1961 to 1962 she co-starred with Leon Ames in the sit-com based on Father of the Bride.

A certain sector of our readership may know Warrick best from soaps, a suitable employment for an actress who had gotten her start in radio. She was a regular on The Guiding Light (1953-54), As the World Turns (1956-60), Peyton Place (1965-69), and All My Children (1970-2005).

By the way, there is another star named Ruth Warrick. It is located in the constellation of Cancer. The celestial body was officially named for the actress in 1988.