Sylvia Sidney (1928)

Sylvia Sidney’s connection to the Historic Elitch Theatre spans decades. She first appeared at the theatre as a young member of the 1928 summer stock cast, where they threw her a party for her 18th birthday! 48 years later (in 1976) she would appear at the theatre again and would celebrate her 66th birthday during the run of the show!

Few stars in Elitch Theatre’s long history had a connection to Denver’s stage that spanned as many decades as Sylvia Sidney. Born Sophia Kosow in the Bronx in 1910, she came to acting as a teenager to overcome shyness, trained at the Theatre Guild School, and made her Broadway debut at just sixteen. By the time she arrived at Elitch Theatre as part of the 1928 summer stock company, she was still a rising young talent — and the Elitch company celebrated her 18th birthday with a party during that season, an early sign of the affection she would inspire among fellow performers throughout her career.

Sidney’s star rose quickly in Hollywood in the years that followed. Her breakout role in City Streets (1931) launched a string of Depression-era films in which she became famous for playing sympathetic, working-class heroines — often wrongly convicted women or the girlfriends and sisters of gangsters. She starred in landmark films of the decade including An American Tragedy, Street Scene, Fritz Lang’s Fury, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Sabotage, working opposite leading men such as Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, and Spencer Tracy. At her peak she was among the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.

Remarkably, Sidney returned to Elitch Theatre in 1976 — 48 years after her stock company debut — to star in a production of Sabrina Fair. She celebrated her 66th birthday during that run, bookending her Elitch story with two milestone birthdays nearly half a century apart. Her stage career, in fact, spanned five decades altogether, from her Broadway debut in 1926 to a run in Tennessee Williams’s Vieux Carré in 1977, with credits along the way including Auntie Mame, Enter Laughing, The Fourposter, and Barefoot in the Park. Sidney enjoyed a remarkable late-career renaissance as well. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973), delighted a new generation as the deadpan afterlife caseworker Juno in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988), for which she won a Saturn Award.

In 1990, the film Andre’s Mother premiered on PBS. It was a film in which Sidney played the grandmother of the title character, who had passed away from AIDS, and it was groundbreaking as one of the earliest films on the subject of AIDS. However, five years earlier, Sidney also appeared in An Early Frost, which was the very first major film to deal with the issue of AIDS. Sidney won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or a TV Movie for An Early Frost.

Her career — on stage, in film, and on television — ultimately spanned more than seventy years, a testament to the enduring talent Elitch audiences first glimpsed in the summer of 1928.

(The photo above is from 1976 when Sydney returned to the theatre in a production of Sabrina Fair.)

Sidney’s Bio from the 1976 Program for Sabrina Fair:

SYLVIA SIDNEY (Julia Ward McKinlock) began her acting career with the Broadway success BAD GIRL, and went on to make several of Hollywood’s most important films of the Thirties and Forties including AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, STREET SCENE, FURY, TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE, DEAD END, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, and THE SEARCHING WIND. Her most recent film success is SUMMER WISHES WINTER DREAMS for which she was nominated for an Academy Award in 1974 and voted the best supporting actress by the National Board of Review.

Miss Sidney has toured nationally in THE RIVALS, MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT, AUNTIE MAME, COME BLOW YOUR HORN, CABARET, BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. Her major dramatic television presentations include the movie DO NOT SPINDLE, FOLD, OR MUTILATE, in which she had the honor of co-starring with Helen Hayes, Myrna Loy, and Mildred Natwick.

Miss Sidney is also an expert needlepointer. Her works are collector’s items and she is much in demand as a lecturer and demonstrator of her skills. Her initial success with the popular SYLVIA SIDNEY NEEDLEPOINT BOOK followed recently by the SYLVIA SIDNEY QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK ON NEEDLEPOINT has brought her a whole new generation of fans.

[Capitalization is accurate to the Program copy.]

Seasons at the Theatre

1928
1976

Elitch Theatre Productions/Roles:

1976 – Sabrina Fair as Julia Ward McKinlock

Notable Roles, Awards, and Other Work:

Played Fantine in the 1952 film adaptation of Les Misérables, earning critical praise.
Enjoyed a Broadway career spanning five decades (1926–1977), including roles in Auntie Mame, Enter Laughing, The Fourposter, and Barefoot in the Park.
Sidney was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams in 1973.
She played Juno, a case worker in the afterlife, in Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Sidney appeared in the television production of An Early Frost for which she won a Golden Globe Award. An Early Frost is a 1985 American made-for-television film that was the first major film broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal with the topic of AIDS. It was viewed by 34 million households in its initial airing and was the highest rated show of the night, even beating Monday Night Football. It received 14 Emmy nominations, winning 3 including Best Original Teleplay, plus a Peabody Award, as well as multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Sylvia Sidney who won for Best Supporting Actress.
Sidney was in the groundbreaking AIDS film, Andre’s Mother.
Received the George Eastman Award in 1982 for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Appeared frequently on television, including Playhouse 90, Route 66, The Defenders, My Three Sons, Thirtysomething, and the 1998 revival of Fantasy Island; her final film role was in Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! (1996).

Elitch Theatre Connections:

The 1932 film, Merrily We Go to Hell, as well as the 1934 film, Good Dame, starred Sidney and alumni, Fredric March.
Gene Raymond (Elitch alum, 1962) — Sidney and Raymond appeared together in two early-1930s Paramount films: Ladies of the Big House (1931) and Behold My Wife! (1934).
Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate is a 1971 American made-for-television mystery film where Sidney starred with alumna Myrna Loy.
Sidney appeared in the pilot episode of WKRP in Cincinnati as the imperious owner of the radio station, which starred Elitch Theatre alumni, Gary Sandy.