GERALDINE PAGE: Eccentricities of a ‘Method’ Actress

Geraldine Page plays ruthlessly self-involved film star Alexandra Del Lago and handsome Paul Newman her stud gigolo Chance Wayne in Tennessee Williams’ SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1962)
The eighth time’s a charm as Geraldine Page finally won an Oscar for her portrayal of elderly Carrie Watts, here with bus companion Rebecca De Mornay in Horton Foote’s THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (1985)

Films of the Golden Age,
Issue Number 110,
Fall 2022

“I didn’t want to be a Hollywood actress who every so often does a Broadway play. I want to be a Broadway actress who every so often does a movie.”

One of the most influential artists of her time and dubbed “The First Lady of the American Theatre,” GERALDINE PAGE (1924-1987) came to the forefront via the Actors Studio’s’ “Method” school of thought. Celebrated early for her intensely neurotic stage work in the plays of Tennessee Williams, she was Oscar nominated for her very first credited film opposite John Wayne in HONDO (1953). Blacklisted for several years, she returned triumphantly after transferring her exalted Williams heroines to film (SUMMER AND SMOKE (1961) and SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1962)). Gracing 30 films and earning seven Oscar nominations, she copped the award late in life with a touching perf in A TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (1985).

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