Mary Caswell Orr (December 21, 1910 – September 22, 2006) was an American actress and author whose

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

"The Wisdom of Eve", published in the May 1946 issue of ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', was the basis of the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning film ''

All About Eve ''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of E ...

'' (1950). In private life, Orr used her married name, Mary Orr Denham.

Early life

Orr was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. She and her family relocated to

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in Stark County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, eighth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 70,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Canton–Massillo ...

when she was a girl. She studied at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Career

According to Orr's obituary in the ''New York Times'', "The Wisdom of Eve" was loosely based upon an unnamed woman who had been the secretary of

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Viennese classicism * Viennese coffee house, an eating establishment and part of Viennese ...

actress Elisabeth Bergner. Orr wrote a radio adaptation that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in 1949, and that led to the movie being made. While she did not receive screen credit for ''All About Eve'' (she had sold the story to

Twentieth Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

for $5,000), she did receive a

Screen Writers Guild The Screen Writers Guild was an organization of Hollywood screenplay authors, formed as a union in 1933. A rival organisation, Screen Playwrights, Inc., was established by the AMPP, film studios and producers, but after an appeal to the National ...

award for her original story. An alternative hypothesis to the Ruth Hirsch (later known as Martina Lawrence)- Elisabeth Bergner origin was the rivalry between

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 ...

and Lizabeth Scott (her understudy) during the production of

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'', and a U. ...

's '' The Skin of Our Teeth''. Broadway legend had it that Bankhead was being victimized by Scott, who was, supposedly, the real-life Eve Harrington. In 1964, Orr and her husband,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Reginald Denham Reginald Denham (10 January 1894 – 4 February 1983) was an English writer, theatre and film director, actor and film producer. Biography Reginald H. F. Denham was born in London, England, in 1894. He spent a good part of his career dire ...

, adapted the short story into a play of the same name, which was produced

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in 1979. In 1970, a hit Broadway musical, '' Applause'', was based on ''All About Eve'' and gave a credit to Mary Orr for the original story. She wrote a sequel to "The Wisdom of Eve" titled "More About Eve," which was published in ''Cosmopolitan'' in July 1951. In addition to ''Applause'', Mary Orr and Reginald Denham had four plays that opened on Broadway. Their first and most successful, '' Wallflower'', ran for 192 performances in 1944. ''Round Trip'' was presented in 1945, while '' Dark Hammock'' started its performances in 1946. The fourth, ''Be Your Age'', made its Broadway appearance in 1953. She also acted in Broadway plays, including two of her own: ''Wallflower'' and ''Dark Hammock''. The film version of '' Wallflower'' was released in 1948. Alone or with her husband, Orr wrote five books and forty television scripts.

Death

Orr died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in Manhattan in 2006, aged 95. She was predeceased by her husband, who died in 1983.

Works

* ''Diamonds in the Sky'' (1957) * ''A Place to Meet'' (1961) * ''The Tejera Secrets'' (1974) * ''Rich Girl, Poor Girl'' (1975) * ''Lucky Star'' (1986)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, Mary 1910 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni American stage actresses Deaths from pneumonia in New York City Novelists from New York (state) Writers from Brooklyn Syracuse University alumni 21st-century American women