- Natalie Schafer
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Natalie Schafer 
in the film Dishonored Lady (1947)Born November 5, 1900
Red Bank, New Jersey, U.S.Died April 10, 1991 (aged 90)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.Occupation Actress Years active 1927–90 Spouse Louis Calhern (1933-42) (divorced) Natalie Schafer (November 5, 1900 – April 10, 1991) was an American actress, best known as Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell on CBS's sitcom Gilligan's Island (1964-67).
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Early life and career
Born to a Jewish family in Red Bank, New Jersey, Schafer began her career as an actress on Broadway before moving to Los Angeles in 1941 to work in films.
Schafer appeared on Broadway in seventeen plays between 1927 and 1959, often playing supporting roles. Most of these appearances were in short-run plays, with the exceptions of Lady in the Dark (1941-1942), The Doughgirls (1942-1944), and Romanoff and Juliet (1957-1958). She was also seen in a revival of Six Characters in Search of an Author, directed by Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1955-1956). She also appeared in stock and regional productions of plays.
Schafer appeared in many films, usually portraying beautiful sophisticates, including The Body Disappears (with Jane Wyman, 1941), Reunion in France (starring Joan Crawford, 1942), Marriage is a Private Affair (with Lana Turner, 1944), Keep Your Powder Dry (opposite Agnes Moorehead, 1945), Molly and Me (with Gracie Fields, 1945), Wonder Man (with Danny Kaye, 1945), Masquerade in Mexico (with Dorothy Lamour, 1945), The Other Love (starring Barbara Stanwyck and David Niven, 1947), Dishonoured Lady (with Hedy Lamarr, 1947), Repeat Performance (1947), Secret Beyond the Door... (directed by Fritz Lang, with Joan Bennett, 1947), The Time of Your Life (with James Cagney, 1948), The Snake Pit (opposite Olivia de Havilland and Celeste Holm, directed by Anatole Litvak, 1948), Caught (with James Mason, and directed by Max Ophüls, 1949), Payment on Demand (starring Bette Davis, 1951), Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), The Law and the Lady (1951), Callaway Went Thataway (1951), Just Across the Street (1952), The Girl Next Door (1953), Casanova's Big Night (with Bob Hope and Sir Basil Rathbone, 1954), Female on the Beach (with Crawford, 1955), Forever, Darling (with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, 1956), Anastasia (with Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brenner, and Helen Hayes, 1956), Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (with Ginger Rogers and Tony Randall, 1957), Bernardine (1957), Back Street (with Susan Hayward, 1961), Susan Slade (with Troy Donahue, 1961), 40 Carats (opposite Liv Ullmann, 1973), The Day of the Locust (with Donald Sutherland, directed by John Schlesinger, 1975), and Beverly Hills Brats (with Martin Sheen, 1989).
Schafer is best known for the situation comedy Gilligan's Island, playing the role of the millionaire's wife, Eunice "Lovey" Wentworth Howell. She reprised her role in the made-for-TV spin-off films that were made after the show's demise, along with the animated spinoff, Gilligan's Planet, in 1982. Originally written as a humorless grande dame, Schafer worked with the writers to create a character not unlike the scatterbrain roles played in 1930s films by Mary Boland and Billie Burke. Schafer specifically suggested that the writers read the George S. Kaufman-Marc Connelly play Dulcy for its dizzy title-character.
She was a guest star on many television series, including The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse (The Sisters, with Grace Kelly, 1951), I Love Lucy (1954), Producers' Showcase (The Petrified Forest, with Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and Henry Fonda, 1955), The Beverly Hillbillies (1964), Mayberry RFD (1970), The Brady Bunch (1974), and Phyllis (1976). In 1971-72, Schafer joined the cast of the CBS daytime-serial, Search for Tomorrow. Her final performance was given in 1990, in the television film I'm Dangerous Tonight, opposite Anthony Perkins and Corey Parker.
Personal life
Schafer was married to actor Louis Calhern from 1934 to 1942; they had no children. Long after their divorce, the two appeared together in the 1956 film Forever, Darling. During much of the 1940s and 1950s she was romantically linked to author and playwright George S. Kaufman.
Schafer was legendarily discreet about her age, never even telling Calhern. 1912 was generally given as her birth year for many years, which few believed, yet her actual year of birth (which was not discerned until after her death) of 1900 shocked even her intimate friends.
Her investments, particularly in real estate, made her a multi-millionaire. Differing sources state that most of this fortune was bequeathed to either her Gilligan's Island co-star, Dawn Wells, or to care for her dogs. (Miss Wells has not commented.) The Los Angeles Times reported that Schafer bequeathed two million dollars to the Motion Picture and Television Hospital; the money was used to renovate the Hospital's outpatient wing, which was renamed the "Natalie Schafer Wing."[1]
Death
Natalie Schafer died of cancer at home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 90.[2] She was cremated; her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean, off San Pedro's Point Fermin Light, in California.
References
- ^ "Hospital Marks Opening of Wing" by Frank Manning, Los Angeles Times, December 14, 1994.
- ^ "Natalie Schafer, 90, Actress Who Played In 'Gilligan's Island'". The New York Times. April 13, 1991. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/13/obituaries/natalie-schafer-90-actress-who-played-in-gilligan-s-island.html. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
External links
- Natalie Schafer at the Internet Movie Database
- Natalie Schafer at the Internet Broadway Database
- Natalie Schafer at the TCM Movie Database
- Natalie Schafer at AllRovi
Categories:- 1900 births
- 1991 deaths
- American film actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American Jews
- Jewish actors
- People from Red Bank, New Jersey
- People from New York City
- People from Beverly Hills, California
- Cancer deaths in California
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