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54 CURRENT BIOGRAPHY DOBBS, MATTIWILDA - Continued commented: "She is a new star of the first magnitude. A voice of often miraculous beauty . . . fascinating ease and uncanny accuracy." The young soprano makes her headquarters in an apartment in Madrid, Spain, but still considers Atlanta, Georgia her home. The stunning gowns which Miss Dobbs wears at her concerts have great elegance, and are designed for her by Spanish dressmakers whom she considers "the best in the world." References Mlle 40:63 Ja '55 por Newsweek 44:54 Jl 12 '54 por Time 61:54+ Mr 16 '53 por Grove, G. Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Blom, E., ed.) (1954) DUNNOCK, MILDRED Jan. 25, (?)- Actress; teacher Address: b. c/o The Playwrights' Company, 1545 Broadway, New York 36; h. 26 E. 81st St., New York 28 Despite a creditable number of appearances in successful Broadway plays and Hollywood pictures, Mildred Dunnock still considers herself more of a school teacher than an actress, since her teaching has been "continuous" over two decades. Drama critics and audiences have come to expect from her consistently excellent performances as in her role of Big Mama in Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Cat on a Hot Tin roof, which opened on Broadway on March 24, 1955. Among her most notable stage characterizations have been that of Linda Loman in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and as Lavinia Hubbard in Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest. Television audiences have seen her on major network shows, notably in Studio One, Kraft Television Theatre, and Philco Playhouse productions. Her motion picture appearances were in The Corn Is Green and Death of a Salesman. Her teaching career began in Baltimore, Maryland at the Friends School there, and she has continued it over the years at the Friends School, Brooklyn, New York; at the Masters School, Dobbs Ferry, New York; at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, and at the Brearley School in Manhattan. In September 1954 she began teaching classes in oral interpretation of literature and drama at Barnard College in New York, where she has the rank of associate in English. Mildred Dunnock was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Walter Dunnock, president of the Dumari Textile Company, who is now retired, and Florence (Saynook) Dunnock. She received her early education at Public School 59 in Baltimore, and then at Western High School. She attended Goucher College, Baltimore, and received her A.B. degree, having majored in English. She was "burned by a footlight fire," she admits, when she played leading men in college productions. She wanted to set out for New York and a stage career, but her father objected, and she accepted his dictum and took a teaching position at the Friends School in Baltimore. In her spare time she acted with the Vagabond Players and also with the Johns Hopkins University players. With the latter group she played opposite John Van Druten in one of his plays, The Return Half. Moving to New York, she taught school and studied at Columbia University for her M.A. degree, and took part in several plays produced by the Morningside Players. One of these plays, Life Begins, was later produced on Broadway by Joseph Santley, who invited Miss Dunnock to appear in the role of Miss Pinty, a nurse. The play, a hospital drama by Mary Macdougal Axelson, opened at the Selwyn Theatre on March 28, 1932, but lasted only eight performances. Miss Dunnock taught English at the Friends School in Brooklyn, and later at the Spence School in Manhattan. She was general understudy for the women's roles in Franz Werfel's spectacle, The Eternal Road, staged by Max Reinhardt, at the Manhattan Opera House. The play opened on January 7, 1937, and ran for 153 performances. Miss Dunnock coached some of the cast in speech, having been recommended by Rosamond Pinchot. Her next Broadway appearance was in the role of Agnes Riddle in Lulu Vollmer's play, The Hill Between, which opened at the Little Theatre on March 11, 1938 and ran for eleven performances. Gertrude Macy of the Guthrie McClintic office recommended her for a role in Katharine Cornell's expensive 1938 failure, Herod and Mariamne, which closed in Pittsburgh. She appeared in summer stock as Prossy in George Bernard Shaw's Candida, which starred Laurette Taylor. Miss Dunnock acted the leading role of a Welshwoman in a play, The Comedy of Good and Evil by Richard Hughes presented on April 7, 1938 at the West 20th Street Theatre by the Playroom Club; the play was brought to Broadway as Miss Minnie, starring Josephine Hull, and Miss Dunnock's performance was seen by producer-director Herman Shumlin. He asked her to try out for the role of Birdie in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, but her marriage and the birth of her daughter in 1939 prevented her from appearing in the play. However, the next season, she visited Shumlin and asked if she could read for the role of the fluttery Welsh schoolteacher, Miss Ronberry, in Emlyn Williams' play, The Corn Is Green, which starred Ethel Barrymore. Shumlin gave Miss Dunnock the part, and the play opened at the National Theatre on November 26, 1940, and ran for 477 performances. When Warner Brothers made the film version of The Corn Is Green, with Bette Davis in the starring role, Miss Dunnock repeated her stage portrayal. At the Brearley School she taught English and elocution, and among her pupils were the daughters of actor Frederic March, composer Irving Berlin and composer Richard Rodgers. While playing in The Corn Is Green Miss Dunnock maintained her teaching schedule, from 8:30 A.M. to 4:35 P.M. except on two matinee days. At noon she went home to be with her young daughter, Mary Melinda
