Social Entertainment / People

Fay Bainter

Acting · Born December 7, 1893 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Fay Okell Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. MGM persuaded her to try films and her movie debut was in This Side of Heaven (February 1934), the same year she appeared in Dodsworth on Broadway and in the film It Happened One Day (July 1934). Bainter quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the first performer nominated in the same year for both the Academy Award for Best Actress, for White Banners (1938), and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel (1938), winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year. In 1940 she played Mrs. Gibbs in the film production of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. In 1945 she played Melissa Frake in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical State Fair. She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children's Hour (1961). Finally, in 1962, Fay appeared as a guest star on The Donna Reed Show.

Movies with Fay Bainter

• The Children's Hour (1961) — Amelia Tilford
• Woman of the Year (1942) — Ellen Whitcomb
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) — Mrs. Mitty
• June Bride (1948) — Paula Winthrop
• Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) — Anita Cooper
• Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983) — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Jezebel (1938) — Aunt Belle Massey
• Quality Street (1937) — Susan Throssel
• The Virginian (1946) — Mrs. Taylor
• The President's Lady (1953) — Mrs. Donaldson
• The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) — Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyne
• The Soldier and the Lady (1937) — Strogoff's Mother