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 previous reporting attributed to her son Dirk Smillie, the reason for loss of life 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 conflict drama Coming Residence 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 Lady, Trendy Household and Prison Minds.
On the music video aspect 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 loss of life. Most 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 completely different theater firms within the Metropolis of Angels, together with the Mark Taper Discussion board, Globe Theater, LAAT and the Norris Theater. She acquired the Street Theatre’s Greatest Supporting Actress award for her function in The Ballad Hunter and the Group Rep’s Greatest Actor Award for Pleased Finish.
In a 2011 LA Stage Occasions profile, “Gwen Van Dam Takes A Journey,” a reviewer famous that, within the lead function of Carrie Watts in The Journey to Bountiful, “Gwen Van Dam has huge 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 function. 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 faculty, 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 advised she contact her husband, producer Richard Aldrich; he solid 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 season 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 provided a display screen take a look at for the forthcoming manufacturing of From Right here to Eternity (the 1953 romantic conflict drama movie) and a 7-year performing contract with Columbia Footage. Fellow pupil Montgomery Clift (who paradoxically ended up starring within the aforementioned movie) cautioned Van Dam towards the deal: “Are you certain you need to transfer to Hollywood? It might 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 bins landed him one-man reveals at museums just like the Guggenheim. Cornell produced a shadow field for Van Dam, “An Owl for Gwendolyn,” and went on to provide 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 occasion at their residence, drawing a energetic mixture of trade 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 probably be held in early February in Hollywood.
