Carolyn Nye McGeoy (October 14, 1936 – July 14, 2006), known professionally as Carrie Nye, was an American actress. In her career spanning 32 years, she was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

in 1965, a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

in 1980, and a

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

in 1981.

Early life

Nye was born Carolyn Nye McGeoy in

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the rive ...

, the only child of Frank Rice McGeoy, president of a local bank, and Emma Evelyn (Reddett) McGeoy. She attended

Stephens College Stephens College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Timeline of women's colleges in the United States#First and oldest, the second-oldest women's educa ...

in Columbia, Missouri, then attended the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 1959. She met Dick Cavett at Yale. They married in 1964.

Career

Most of Nye's work was on the stage. She joined the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1955 and portrayed a number of roles at the festival through the 1960s and 1970s. Among her credits were the leads in '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' and ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...

''. She was in the American Shakespeare Festival that performed ''

Troilus and Cressida ''The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida'', often shortened to ''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ), is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602. At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forc ...

'' at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

during the Kennedy administration. She made her debut on Broadway in 1960 in ''A Second String''. The following year she portrayed Tiffany Richards in the original cast of '' Mary, Mary''. She received a

nomination in 1965 for her portrayal of Helen Walsingham in '' Half a Sixpence''. She appeared in two more productions on Broadway during the 1960s, ''A Very Rich Woman'' (1965) and ''Cop-Out'' (1969). Nye made her feature film debut in '' The Group'' (1966), the film adaptation of Mary McCarthy's novel. Other film appearances included '' The Seduction of Joe Tynan'' (1979), the classic horror film '' Creepshow'' (1982), '' Too Scared to Scream'' (1985), and the Shelley Long comedy '' Hello Again'' (1987). Nye was featured in a number of television movies during the 1970s, including ''Screaming Skull'' (1973) and '' The Users'' (1978). She also acted in the television movie '' Divorce His, Divorce Hers'' (1973), which starred

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

and

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...

. Nye wrote a humorous essay that year published in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' about the experience. In 1978, Nye was a semi-regular panelist on the PBS quiz show ''We Interrupt This Week''. She received a

nomination in 1980 for her portrayal of

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lifeboat (194 ...

in the television film '' The Scarlett O'Hara War''. That same year she returned to Broadway to perform the role of Lorraine Sheldon in a revival of '' The Man Who Came to Dinner''. She was nominated for a

for her performance. In 1984, Nye was cast on the daytime soap opera ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...

'' as Susan Piper, an unscrupulous real estate agent going to great lengths, including murder, trying to reclaim a cottage that harbors a deep secret. Her portrayal of the villainous character proved popular for some time, culminating in a location shoot in Barbados, ending with a memorable death scene where she fell into quicksand. When Nye's friend

Ellen Weston Ellen Weston (born Ellen Weinstein) is an American actress, producer, and writer. Early years Born in New York City, Weston is the daughter of educators; her mother was a teacher, and her father was a superintendent of schools. She attended Pe ...

became head writer of ''Guiding Light'' in 2003, she created another character for Nye, the mysterious Caroline Carruthers. Despite acclaim for Nye's performance, this storyline was unpopular, changing history for several of the show's core characters (whom she had crossed paths with in her first stint) and Nye's character was written off after six months.

Personal life

Nye was married to Dick Cavett, from June 4, 1964, until her death. They met at Yale and had no children. Nye and Cavett bought Tick Hall, a house in Montauk, New York, designed by

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses ...

. It burned down in 1997, but with the assistance of architects and preservationists, she and Cavett built an exact replica of the house. Their accomplishment became the subject of a documentary film '' From the Ashes: The Life and Times of Tick Hall'' (2003). Nye died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

on July 14, 2006, aged 69, at home in Manhattan.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nye, Carrie 1936 births 2006 deaths Actresses from Mississippi American film actresses American soap opera actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) People from Greenwood, Mississippi Stephens College alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women