Cathy O'Donnell

Born: 1923-07-06

Cathy O'Donnell (July 6, 1923 – April 11, 1970) was an American actress, best known for her many roles in film-noir movies. While under contract with Samuel Goldwyn, O'Donnell made her debut in an uncredited role as a nightclub extra in Wonder Man (1945). Her first major role in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), playing Wilma Cameron, the high-school sweetheart of double amputatee Homer Parrish, played by real-life World War II veteran/amputee Harold Russell. She was loaned out to RKO for one of her most memorable films, They Live by Night (1949) starring with Farley Granger, widely considered a classic of the noir genre and on the Guardian's list of the top ten noir films. The film was directed by Nicholas Ray. The two actors later re-teamed for another movie, Side Street (1950). Later O'Donnell starred in The Miniver Story (also 1950), as Judy Miniver and also had a supporting role in Detective Story (1951). She appeared as Barbara Waggoman, the love interest of James Stewart's character in the western The Man from Laramie (1955). Her final film role was the title character's sister Tirzah in William Wyler's 1959 Academy Award winning Best Picture Ben-Hur (1959). In the 1960s, she appeared in TV shows, playing mostly bit parts on shows such as Perry Mason, The Rebel and Man Without a Gun. Her last screen appearance was in 1964, in an episode of Bonanza. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cathy O'Donnell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


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Ben-Hur

as Tirzah
Released: 1959-11-18

In 25 AD, Judah Ben-Hur, a Jew in ancient Judea, opposes the occupying Roman empire. Falsely...

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The Best Years of Our Lives

as Wilma Cameron
Released: 1946-12-25

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally...

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The Man from Laramie

as Barbara Waggoman
Released: 1955-08-19

Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who...

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They Live by Night

as Catherine "Keechie" Mobley
Released: 1949-11-01

An escaped convict, injured during a robbery, falls in love with the woman who nurses him back...

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Detective Story

as Susan Carmichael
Released: 1951-10-24

Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective...

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The Miniver Story

as Judy Miniver
Released: 1950-10-26

The Second World War is over, and the Miniver family is trying to keep themselves together in...

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Side Street

as Ellen Norson
Released: 1950-03-23

A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of...

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The Amazing Mr. X

as Janet Burke
Released: 1948-07-29

On the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband...

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The Story of Mankind

as Early Christian Woman
Released: 1957-11-08

The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.

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The Deerslayer

as Judith Hutter
Released: 1957-09-10

After The Deerslayer, a white man reared by the Mohicans, and his blood brother Chingachgook, a...

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Bury Me Dead

as Rusty
Released: 1947-10-18

A woman watches her own funeral, then sets out with her lawyer to learn who was in the casket.

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My World Dies Screaming

as Sheila Wayne Tierney (as Kathy O'Donnell)
Released: 1958-08-20

A newlywed is terrified when her husband brings her to live in the old house that figures in her...

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Never Trust a Gambler

as Virginia Merrill
Released: 1951-07-13

A small-time gambler on the run from the law hides in his ex-wife's house.

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Mad at the World

as Anne Bennett
Released: 1955-05-13

A neighborhood is terrorized by group of young juvenile delinquents called The WolfPack. When a...

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Loves of Three Queens

as Enone (segment: The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships)
Released: 1954-12-24

At a wedding party involving three beautiful women, a young man should choose the most charming....

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The Woman's Angle

as Nina van Rhyne
Released: 1952-02-12

The organising force of a family of musical prodigies, Robert Mansell is a frustrated composer...

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Eight O'Clock Walk

as Jill Manning
Released: 1954-03-16

Only a British cabdriver's (Richard Attenborough) wife (Cathy O'Donnell) and lawyer (Derek Farr)...

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Matinee Theater

as uncredited
First aired: 1955-10-31

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of...

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Climax!

as Mona Herbert
First aired: 1954-10-07

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was...

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Perry Mason

as Norma Brooks
First aired: 1957-09-21

The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most...

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The Detectives

as uncredited
First aired: 1959-10-16

The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons,...

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Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

as Jennie Parsons
First aired: 1956-10-05

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American...

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Sugarfoot

as Angel
First aired: 1957-09-17

Sugarfoot is an American western television series that aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961. The...

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The Rebel

as Prudence Gant
First aired: 1959-10-04

The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on...

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The Rebel

as Felicity Bowman
First aired: 1959-10-04

The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on...

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Lights Out

as uncredited
First aired: 1949-07-19

Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a...

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Tate

as uncredited
First aired: 1960-06-08

Tate is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from June 8 until September 14,...

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