Gwen Van Dam, a veteran character actress of seven many years whose 140 credit spanned tv, movie and the Los Angeles stage, died Dec. 19 at her dwelling in West LA. She was 96.
Per earlier 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 warfare 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 collection like Days of Our Lives, Gilmore Women, Knots Touchdown, ER, Moonlighting, The Brady Bunch, Maude, Owen Marshall, New Woman, Trendy Household and Prison Minds.
On the music video facet of issues, she appeared in visible works for U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Panic! On the Disco and heavy metallic band Mastodon.
Van Dam carried out till her loss of life. Most lately, she appeared in two episodes of the Apple TV+ collection 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 Finest Supporting Actress award for her function in The Ballad Hunter and the Group Rep’s Finest Actor Award for Comfortable Finish.
In a 2011 LA Stage Instances 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 large sneakers 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 belongings and experiences. She brings a sweetness and vulnerability to the function. You’ll love … touring this essential journey together with her.”
Born Gwendolyn Greta Van Dam in San Francisco, she found her love of appearing in faculty, graduating with a B.A. from San Jose State College in 1950. She left dwelling for New York after writing a letter to Broadway and West Finish performer Gertrude Lawrence for recommendation on touchdown roles in New York, who prompt she contact her husband, producer Richard Aldrich; he forged 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 collection and summer season inventory theater within the Northeast and studied with appearing trainer Mira Rostova on the Herbert Berghof (HB) Studio in New York. At this level, she was supplied a display check for the forthcoming manufacturing of From Right here to Eternity (the 1953 romantic warfare drama movie) and a 7-year appearing contract with Columbia Footage. Fellow scholar Montgomery Clift (who mockingly ended up starring within the aforementioned movie) cautioned Van Dam in opposition to the deal: “Are you positive you need to transfer to Hollywood? It may destroy you.” She later admitted it was the worst mistake of her profession.
Amongst her New York buddies within the Nineteen 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 12 months’s Day, Van Dam and her husband (additionally a veteran actor, who died in 2003) hosted an annual vacation celebration at their dwelling, drawing a energetic mixture of trade buddies, 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 might be held in early February in Hollywood.
