Cornelia Otis Skinner
Cornelia Otis Skinner | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Actress/Screenwriter |
Cornelia Otis Skinner (May 30, 1899 – July 9, 1979) was an American author and actress.
Biography
Skinner was the daughter of the actor Otis Skinner and his wife Maud (Durbin) Skinner. After attending the all-girls' Ethel Walker School, and Bryn Mawr College (1918-1919) and studying theatre at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began her career on the stage in 1921. She appeared in several plays before embarking on a tour of the United States from 1926 to 1929 in a one-woman performance of short character sketches she herself wrote. She wrote numerous short humorous pieces for publications like The New Yorker. These pieces were eventually compiled into a series of books, including Nuts in May, Dithers and Jitters, Excuse It Please!, and The Ape In Me, among others.
With Emily Kimbrough, she wrote Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, a hilarious description of their European tour after college. Kimbrough and Skinner went to Hollywood to act as consultants on the film version of the book, which resulted in We Followed Our Hearts to Hollywood. Skinner was portrayed by Bethel Leslie in the shortlived 1950 television series The Girls based Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.
In later years Skinner wrote Madame Sarah, a biography of Sarah Bernhardt, and Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals about the Belle Epoque.
She also appeared with Orson Welles on The Campbell Playhouse radio play of The Things We Have on May 26, 1939.
Quotes
"It is disturbing to discover in oneself these curious revelations of the validity of the Darwinian theory. If it is true that we have sprung from the ape, there are occasions when my own spring appears not to have been very far."
"One learns in life to keep silent and draw one's own confusions."
"To cement a new friendship, especially between foreigners or persons of a different social world, a spark with which both were secretly charged must fly from person to person, and cut across the accidents of place and time."
"Women have a special corner of their hearts for sins they have never committed."
"Women's virtue is man's greatest invention."
"That food has always been, and will continue to be, the basis for one of our greater snobbisms does not explain that fact that the attitude toward the food choice of others is becoming more and more heatedly exclusive until it may well turn into one of those forms of bigotry against which gallant little committees are constantly planning campaigns in the cause of justice and decency." [In 1950.]
Filmography
As an actress
- Kismet (1920)
- The Things We Have (1939)
- The Uninvited (1944)
- General Electric Guest House (1951), episode dated 1 July 1951 (TV Episode)
- The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955)
- Max Liebman Presents: Dearest Enemy (1955) (TV Episode)
- The Alcoa Hour (1956), "Merry Christmas Mr. Baxter" (TV episode)
- The Swimmer (1968)
As a writer
- Madame Sarah (1966), book, biography of Sarah Bernhardt
- Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944) book
- The Pleasure of His Company (1961) play
- The Girls (1950) TV series
- Edna, His Wife, play based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Margaret Ayer Barnes
- Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals book about the Belle Epoque in Paris
As herself
- Stage Door Canteen (1943)
- Toast of the Town (later The Ed Sullivan Show) TV episodes #4.7 (1950), #4.14 (1950), #5.32 (1952), and #7.8 (1953)
- What's It For? (1957) TV episode dated 12 October 1957
- What's My Line? (1959) TV episode dated 29 March 1959
- This Is Your Life (1959) Charlie Ruggles (TV episode)
Bibliography
Incomplete - to be updated
Articles
Skinner, Cornelia Otis (1950). "Those friends of his". The New Yorker. 25 (46): 27–29. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |day= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Humorous autobiographical piece.