Acclaimed Actress Barbara Bel Geddes Dead at 82

Acclaimed actress Barbara Bel Geddes died on August 8 at her home in Northeast Harbor, Maine. She was 82, according to the Associated Press.

Bel Geddes was born in New York on October 31, 1922. She made her Broadway debut in 1941 in the play Out of the Frying Pan. She later appeared on the Great White Way in Little Darling, Nine Girls, Mrs. January and Mr. X, Deep Are the Roots which earned her a Theatre World Award, Burning Bright, The Moon is Blue and The Living Room before landing her big break, the role of Maggie in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She was nominated for her 1956 Tony Award work in the play. Her subsequent Broadway credits include The Sleeping Prince, Silent Night, Lonely Night, Mary, Mary for which she received another Tony nomination, Luv, Everything in the Garden and Finishing Touches.

Bel Geddes also made a name for herself on both the big and small screens. She was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting turn in I Remember Mama, but it is probably her role in television's Dallas for which she will be most remembered. She played Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth Ewing Farlow on the show and received three Emmy nominations and one Emmy Award for her work. She also won a Golden Globe for her work on Dallas. Bel Geddes wrote and illustrated two children's books, I Like to Be Me and So Do I.

Bel Geddes is survived by two daughters. While The San Francisco Chronicle reported that she had lung cancer, no official cause of death has been released.