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Sylvia Sidney

Sylvia Sidney

Highest Rated: 100% Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)

Lowest Rated: 44% Used People (1992)

Birthday: Aug 8, 1910

Birthplace: Bronx, New York, USA

During the Great Depression, actress Sylvia Sidney was said to possess the saddest eyes in Hollywood. The native New Yorker had only just debuted on Broadway when the movies lured her westward, where she cornered the market playing little ladies with big problems in "City Streets" (1930) and "An American Tragedy" (1930). (The actress once joked that Paramount paid her by the tear.) In time, she enjoyed more varied roles, among them "Madame Butterfly" (1932), while Fritz Lang made expressionistic use of her in "Fury" (1936) and "You Only Live Once" (1937). Sidney also found sanctuary on the stage, performing with the Group Theatre on Broadway and touring as Jane Eyre and Eliza Doolittle. Sidney was later drawn out of retirement to play Joanne Woodward's elderly mother in "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams" (1973), for which she received an Oscar nomination. The attention propelled Sydney towards a comeback, in which the diminutive yet wholly indomitable actress was a bracing presence in such films as "Damien: Omen II" (1978), "Beetlejuice" (1988), "Used People" (1992), and "Mars Attacks!" (1998). A lifelong smoker, Sydney succumbed to throat cancer in 1999, her death capping the picaresque career of a leading lady whose star shone bright.

Highest rated movies

100% 78% You Only Live Once
100% 62% Merrily We Go to Hell
94% 89% Fury
92% 69% The Woman Alone
90% 72% Street Scene
86% 62% You and Me
83% 82% Beetlejuice
83% 65% Cop Killers

Filmography

Movies

Credit
56% 53% Mars Attacks! Grandma Florence Norris (Character) $37.8M 1996
44% 38% Used People Becky (Character) $17.1M 1992
No Score Yet No Score Yet Andre's Mother Unknown (Character) - 1990
No Score Yet 50% The Witching of Ben Wagner Grammy (Character) - 1990
83% 82% Beetlejuice Juno (Character) $73.5M 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet Pals Fern Stobbs (Character) - 1987
No Score Yet 74% An Early Frost Beatrice McKenna (Character) - 1985
83% 65% Cop Killers Margaret Smith (Character) - 1984
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Brass Ring Grandmother (Character) - 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet Having It All Marney (Character) - 1982
77% 62% Hammett Donaldina Cameron (Character) - 1982
No Score Yet No Score Yet Come Along With Me Mrs. Flanner (Character) - 1981
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Small Killing Sadie Ross (Character) - 1981
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Shadow Box Felicity (Character) - 1980
50% 48% Damien: Omen II Aunt Marion (Character) - 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet Siege Lillian Gordon (Character) - 1978
No Score Yet 64% Raid on Entebbe Dora Bloch (Character) - 1977
No Score Yet 24% Snowbeast Mrs. Carrie Rill (Character) - 1977
No Score Yet 36% Death at Love House Clara Josephs (Character) - 1976
80% 51% God Told Me To Elizabeth Mullin (Character) - 1976
No Score Yet No Score Yet Winner Take All Anne Barclay (Character) - 1975
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Secret Night Caller Kitty (Character) - 1975
No Score Yet 19% Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams Mrs. Pritchett (Character) - 1973
No Score Yet No Score Yet Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate Elizabeth Gibson (Character) - 1971
No Score Yet No Score Yet Behind the High Wall Hilda Carmichael (Character) - 1956
80% 67% Violent Saturday Elsie Braden (Character) - 1955
No Score Yet 43% Les Misérables Fantine (Character) - 1952
No Score Yet No Score Yet Love From a Stranger Cecily Harrington (Character) - 1947
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mr. Ace Margaret Wyndham Chase (Character) - 1946
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Searching Wind Cassie Bowwman (Character) - 1946
80% 35% Blood on the Sun Iris Hilliard (Character) - 1945
No Score Yet 30% The Wagons Roll at Night Flo Lorraine (Character) - 1941
No Score Yet No Score Yet One Third of a Nation Mary Rogers (Character) - 1939
86% 62% You and Me Helen Dennis (Character) - 1938
83% 77% Dead End Drina Gordon (Character) - 1937
100% 78% You Only Live Once Joan Graham (Character) - 1937
No Score Yet 53% The Trail of the Lonesome Pine June Tolliver (Character) - 1936
94% 89% Fury Katherine Grant (Character) - 1936
92% 69% The Woman Alone Mrs. Verloc (Character) - 1936
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mary Burns, Fugitive Mary Burns (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet Behold My Wife Tonita Storm Cloud (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet No Score Yet Accent on Youth Linda Brown (Character) - 1935
No Score Yet 67% Thirty Day Princess Nancy Lane/Princess Catterina (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet Good Dame Lillie Taylor (Character) - 1934
No Score Yet No Score Yet Jennie Gerhardt Jennie Gerhardt (Character) - 1933
No Score Yet No Score Yet Pick-Up Mary Richards (Character) - 1933
100% 62% Merrily We Go to Hell Joan Prentice (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet No Score Yet Madame Butterfly Cho-Cho San (Character) - 1932
No Score Yet 54% An American Tragedy Roberta "Bert" Alden (Character) - 1931
90% 72% Street Scene Rose Maurrant (Character) - 1931
No Score Yet No Score Yet Ladies of the Big House Kathleen Storm McNeil (Character) - 1931
80% 84% City Streets Nan Cooley (Character) - 1931
No Score Yet No Score Yet Confessions of a Co-Ed Patricia Harper (Character) - 1931
No Score Yet No Score Yet Five Minutes From the Station Carrie Adams (Character) - 1930

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fantasy Island Unknown (Character) 1998-1999
83% No Score Yet thirtysomething Rose Waldman (Guest Star) 1989
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Equalizer Judge (Guest Star) 1989
No Score Yet No Score Yet Dear John Unknown (Guest Star) 1988
No Score Yet No Score Yet Trapper John, M.D. Unknown (Guest Star) 1984
No Score Yet 95% Magnum, P.I. Elizabeth Barrett (Guest Star) 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet WKRP in Cincinnati Unknown (Guest Star) 1978
No Score Yet No Score Yet Eight Is Enough Unknown (Guest Star) 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet Starsky and Hutch Unknown (Guest Star) 1976
No Score Yet No Score Yet My Three Sons Unknown (Guest Star) 1969
No Score Yet No Score Yet Route 66 Unknown (Guest Star) 1961
No Score Yet No Score Yet Climax! Unknown (Character) 1955 1957
No Score Yet No Score Yet Showcase 39 Unknown (Character) 1953
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tales of Tomorrow Unknown (Character) 1952