Julie Haydon American theater and film actress Date of Birth: 10.06.1910 Country: USA

1. Early Life and Theater Career
2. Film and Broadway Success
3. Triumph in "The Glass Menagerie"
4. Later Career
5. Death and Legacy

Early Life and Theater Career

Donatella Donaldson, known professionally as Julie Haydon, was born on December 4, 1894, in Oak Grove, Illinois. She began her acting career at the age of 19, touring with the company of Minnie Maddern Fiske, one of the leading American stage actresses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Film and Broadway Success

In 1931, Haydon made her film debut in "The Great Meadow," a historical Western. She signed a contract with RKO in 1932 and landed her first major role in "The Conquerors" that same year. Her breakthrough performance came in 1935 with her starring role in "The Scoundrel," opposite British actor and playwright Noel Coward.

Despite a new contract with MGM in 1937, Haydon's brief film career ended after four more films. She returned to the stage in 1935 for the Broadway production of "Bright Star," which was unsuccessful. However, her subsequent Broadway performance in "Shadow and Substance" was more successful, running for nine months.

Triumph in "The Glass Menagerie"

In 1945, Haydon achieved her greatest Broadway success as Laura in the original production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." She performed her last Broadway role in 1947.

Later Career

After her husband's death in 1958, Haydon taught drama and appeared in student and community theater productions. She read from Nathan's books, edited two collections of his writings, and wrote articles about her experiences working with famous actors.

In the 1960s, Haydon recorded two albums for Folkways Records: "George Jean Nathan's The New American Credo" and "Colette's Music Hall." She left New York and spent a decade as a resident actress at the College of St. Teresa in Minnesota before returning to New York in 1980 for an Off-Broadway performance.

Death and Legacy

Julie Haydon died of pancreatic cancer on December 24, 1994, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, at the age of 84. She was buried next to her husband in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in New York. Her and Nathan's papers are housed at the La Crosse Public Library.