Shirley Booth (1968)

An Oscar, two Emmys, and THREE Tonys! Shirley Booth achieved the Triple Crown of Acting!

Shirley Booth stands among the most celebrated performers ever to grace the Historic Elitch Theatre stage. One of only a small handful of actors to achieve the “Triple Crown of Acting,” Booth won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Tony Awards over a stage and screen career that spanned more than five decades. She began performing as a teenager in stock companies and made her Broadway debut in 1925 opposite Humphrey Bogart in Hell’s Bells — launching a career built as much on the rigors of summer stock and touring companies as on the bright lights of New York.

Booth’s greatest triumph came with Come Back, Little Sheba. Her performance as the wounded, hopeful Lola Delaney won her a Tony Award on Broadway in 1950, and when she reprised the role for the 1952 film version opposite Burt Lancaster, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress — becoming the first actress in history to win both a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. That same performance also earned her the Golden Globe, a Cannes Film Festival award, and honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review. She would go on to earn a third Tony for her performance in The Time of the Cuckoo (1953), alongside acclaimed stage work in Three Men on a Horse, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and By the Beautiful Sea.

Booth brought that same star power to Denver in 1968, when she appeared at the Historic Elitch Theatre in Desk Set, playing Bunny Watson — the very role she had originated in the show’s original Broadway production. By this point in her career, Booth was already a household name across the country as the star of the hit sitcom Hazel, for which she won two Emmy Awards, making her Elitch engagement a genuine summer-season coup for the Gardens’ theatre and its audiences. Her appearance reflected the caliber of star that Elitch Theatre regularly attracted even late in its storied history as a summer stock destination.

Beyond Elitch, Booth’s legacy includes her origination of the role of Miss Duffy on the popular radio program Duffy’s Tavern, her Tony-winning turn in Goodbye, My Fancy, and her later, celebrated television performance in The Glass Menagerie. In 1979 she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, cementing her place as one of the defining stage and screen actresses of the twentieth century — and one of the true stars who once walked the Elitch boards.

Booth’s bio from the 1968 program of The Desk Set:

Shirley Booth is perhaps best known to all America for her long-time role (which won her an Emmy) as Hazel, TV’s irrepressible maid. Prior to that her voice was familiar to radio listeners for years from her fine characterization of Miss Duffy on Duffy’s Tavern. Her performance in the film, Come Back, Little Sheba, won the Critics’ Award, an Oscar, Golden Globe Award, and an award at the Cannes Film Festival, and for her stage appearance in the play, she received a Tony. Other films she has made include About Mrs. Leslie, Hot Spell and The Matchmaker. On stage she has been seen in Hell’s Bells, Three Men On a Horse, Philadelphia Story, Hollywood Pinafore, Tomorrow the World, Goodbye My Fancy, My Sister Eileen, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, By the Beautiful Sea, and Time of the Cuckoo-the latter three winning her Tony awards, and Time of the Cuckoo also meriting the Sarah Siddons award. She starred in the original production of Desk Set on Broadway in the role she recreates for Elitch audiences this week.
[Historic Elitch Theatre, Desk Set, 1968.]

Seasons at the Theatre

1968

Elitch Theatre Productions/Roles:

1968 – Desk Set as Bunny Watson

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

1925 – Debuted on Broadway in the play Hell’s Bells, with Humphrey Bogart, on January 26, 1925.
1935–1937 – Broke through as the female lead in the Broadway hit Three Men on a Horse
1940 – Originated the role of Ruth Sherwood in the Broadway production of My Sister Eileen
1941–1943 – Starred as Miss Duffy on the radio series Duffy’s Tavern
1949 – Goodbye, My Fancy (play): Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
1950 – Come Back, Little Sheba (play): Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1951 – A Tree Grow in Brooklyn (musical): Tony Nominee
1952 – Come Back, Little Sheba (film): Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress (becoming the first performer to win both a Tony and an Oscar for the same role)
1953 – The Time of the Cuckoo (play): Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play
1954 – Broadway musical By the Beautiful Sea
1958 – Starred in the film The Matchmaker and Hot Spell
1961–1966 – Title role in the television sitcom Hazel. Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
1966 – Critically acclaimed television performance in The Glass Menagerie
1974 – Voice of Mrs. Claus in the animated television special The Year Without a Santa Claus
1979 – Inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame

Elitch Theatre Connections:

This was an easy one: Ray Fulmer — Booth’s co-star in the theatre’s production of The Desk Set — also appeared with her in her TV show, Hazel! (However, in Hazel he played her younger and married employer, and in Desk Set he played her love-interest.)
Hot Spell (1958) Eileen Heckart played a supporting role opposite Booth.
The Glass Menagerie (CBS Playhouse) TV movie, Pat Hingle Co-starred as “the Gentleman Caller” opposite Booth’s Amanda Wingfield.
On Hazel, John Astin appeared as “Mr. Woods,” Season 1 Episode 1 (“Hazel and the Playground”)
On Hazel, Victor Jory appeared as “Woods” in an episode where Hazel wins a dinner for two.
On Hazel, Pat O’Brien guest-starred as Barbara’s visiting uncle.
On Hazel, Mala Powers among the show’s notable recurring/guest performers.
The Year Without a Santa Claus TV special in 1974 Mickey Rooney co-starred (voice) as Santa Claus opposite Booth’s Mrs. Claus/narrator.
Hay Fever (Broadway revival 1970) – Carole Shelley co-starred as “Jackie Coryton” opposite Booth’s “Judith Bliss” — Booth’s final Broadway role.
Harvey (revival, Blackstone Theater, Chicago, national tour) 1971 Gig Young Co-starred as Elwood P. Dowd opposite Booth’s Veta Louise Simmons.
Best of Friends (Cape Playhouse, Dennis, MA) 1970 — Donald Woods co-starred in this regional (non-Broadway) production with Booth.