#Fact1Niece of Writer, Joseph Gollomb.2Is One of 22 Oscar-Winning Actresses to Have Been Born in the State of New York. the Others Are Alice Brady, Teresa...
Her father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. Her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant.
6
Was the 35th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Born Yesterday (1950) at The 23rd Academy Awards on March 29, 1951.
Worked briefly as a switchboard operator for Orson Welles' Mercury Theater.
9
Died on Dean Martin's birthday, her costar in Bells are Ringing.
10
Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999]
11
Following her divorce, she became involved with jazz musician Gerry Mulligan. After learning she had breast cancer and stopped filming, she began writing songs with him. He wrote the music and she wrote the lyrics. . Some of these songs appear on the album "Holliday With Mulligan" which they recorded together in 1961. It was not released until 1980.
12
Her performance as Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday (1950) is ranked #96 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
13
To help build up Holliday's image, particularly in the eyes of Columbia Pictures chief Harry Cohn, Katharine Hepburn deliberately leaked stories to the gossip columns suggesting that her performance in Adam's Rib (1949) was so good that it had stolen the spotlight from Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. This got Cohn's attention and Holliday won the part in Born Yesterday (1950).
14
Won Broadway's 1957 Tony Award as best actress in a musical for Bells Are Ringing, a role that she recreated in the film version of Bells Are Ringing (1960).
Lived in the building where John Lennon was murdered.
17
Gave birth to her only child at age 31, a son Jonathan Oppenheim on November 11, 1952. Child's father was her husband, David Oppenheim.
18
Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 217-218. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
19
An only child.
20
During the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing, she had a brief fling with co-star Sydney Chaplin, the son of Charles Chaplin.
21
According to biographer Gary Carey, in its search for subversives in the film industry, the House Un-American Activities Committee was flummoxed by Holliday. She essentially playing her Billie Dawn character on the witness stand. She ended up being the only person ever called before HUAC who was neither blacklisted nor compelled to name names.
22
Listed by Madonna as one of her biggest influences.
23
Despite her image as a "dumb blond", she had an IQ of 172. She often said that it took a lot of smarts to convince people that her characters were stupid.
