Gwen Van Dam, a veteran character actress of seven a long time whose 140 credit spanned tv, movie and the Los Angeles stage, died Dec. 19 at her residence in West LA. She was 96.
Per earlier reporting attributed to her son Dirk Smillie, the reason for dying was a recurrence of most cancers.
All through her long-tenured profession, Van Dam appeared in 1978’s Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis, 1994’s Star Trek Generations with Patrick Stewart, the romantic battle drama Coming Dwelling that includes Jane Fonda and Jon Voight and the Sidney Poitier-helmed Gene Wilder pic Stir Loopy.
Amongst her tv credit are illustrious sequence like Days of Our Lives, Gilmore Ladies, Knots Touchdown, ER, Moonlighting, The Brady Bunch, Maude, Owen Marshall, New Woman, Trendy Household and Legal Minds.
On the music video facet of issues, she appeared in visible works for U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Panic! On the Disco and heavy steel band Mastodon.
Van Dam carried out till her dying. Most just lately, she appeared in two episodes of the Apple TV+ sequence Inside Chinatown. In 2018, she appeared within the first 5 episodes of Amazon’s Homecoming, the thriller starring Julia Roberts and Janelle Monáe. Earlier, she was in Netflix’s Grace and Frankie.
The actress was additionally prolific on stage, showing in productions at 14 totally different theater corporations within the Metropolis of Angels, together with the Mark Taper Discussion board, Globe Theater, LAAT and the Norris Theater. She obtained the Highway Theatre’s Greatest Supporting Actress award for her position in The Ballad Hunter and the Group Rep’s Greatest Actor Award for Completely happy Finish.
In a 2011 LA Stage Instances profile, “Gwen Van Dam Takes A Journey,” a reviewer famous that, within the lead position of Carrie Watts in The Journey to Bountiful, “Gwen Van Dam has large footwear to fill – Geraldine Web page (the movie) and Lillian Gish (the play). Ms. Van Dam chooses rightly to make her personal path and use her personal property and experiences. She brings a sweetness and vulnerability to the position. You’ll love … touring this necessary journey together with her.”
Born Gwendolyn Greta Van Dam in San Francisco, she found her love of performing in school, graduating with a B.A. from San Jose State College in 1950. She left residence for New York after writing a letter to Broadway and West Finish performer Gertrude Lawrence for recommendation on touchdown roles in New York, who prompt she contact her husband, producer Richard Aldrich; he forged her in a touring present, The Guardsman, the place she met her future husband Invoice Smillie, then the present’s property supervisor.
She clinched early roles in TV sequence and summer time inventory theater within the Northeast and studied with performing trainer Mira Rostova on the Herbert Berghof (HB) Studio in New York. At this level, she was supplied a display screen check for the forthcoming manufacturing of From Right here to Eternity (the 1953 romantic battle drama movie) and a 7-year performing contract with Columbia Photos. Fellow scholar Montgomery Clift (who paradoxically ended up starring within the aforementioned movie) cautioned Van Dam in opposition to the deal: “Are you certain you wish to transfer to Hollywood? It may destroy you.” She later admitted it was the worst mistake of her profession.
Amongst her New York mates within the Sixties was the artist Joseph Cornell, whose surrealist shadow packing containers landed him one-man exhibits at museums just like the Guggenheim. Cornell produced a shadow field for Van Dam, “An Owl for Gwendolyn,” and went on to supply a brief, experimental movie that includes Van Dam and her sister Jeanie.
Each New Yr’s Day, Van Dam and her husband (additionally a veteran actor, who died in 2003) hosted an annual vacation celebration at their residence, drawing a full of life mixture of business mates, together with Len Lesser (Seinfield‘s Uncle Leo), Marvin Kaplan (who as soon as labored with Charlie Chaplin) and Tina Louise (Ginger on Gilligan’s Island).
Van Dam is survived by her daughter, Claudia Tumas; son Dirk Smillie; and grandchildren Lorelei, Amanda and Crystal. A service will likely be held in early February in Hollywood.
