Dodie Heath obit

Dodie Heath, Broadway actress whisked to Hollywood by Vincente Minnelli for Brigadoon – obituary

In The Diary of Anne Frank, she played Miep Gies, the brave employee of Anne’s father Otto who helped to hide the Frank family 

She was not on the list.

Dodie Heath was born on August 3, 1926 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for Brigadoon (1954), Einer frisst den anderen (1964) and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). She was married to Jack Cushingham and Richard Soames. She died on June 24, 2023 in the USA.

When Rowena was only six months old, her father sent a testimonial letter and photo of the infant to a goat milk company, praising the product she had been fed on since birth.[1] The company printed both the photo and letter in a Chicago-area newspaper advertisement, preserving the details of Heath's birth and foreshadowing her life in the public eye.

Although his patents brought him a substantial income in the 1920s, Heath's father proved a poor investor and was reduced to designing homemade games and toys for local kids in the 1930s. By this time his daughter's first name had been dropped in favor of her middle name. The family relocated to Richmond Beach, Shoreline, Washington by 1940, their fortunes recovering as Heath's father turned to selling electronics, enabling him to provide Heath with a university education.

After graduating from the University of Washington School of Drama, Heath moved to Manhattan in July 1949, where she lived at the Rehearsal Club. This social club provided safe and inexpensive accommodations for some fifty aspiring actresses at a time. Heath lived here, helped by a $75 a month subsidy from her parents, until her second Broadway stage job enabled her to get her own apartment.

Heath first appeared on the Broadway stage as a replacement in the role of "Ensign Sue Yeager" for South Pacific during late 1950. She left in February 1951 when signed for a new musical, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn., which was based more on the 1945 screen adaption than the original novel. The new show did a two week tryout in Philadelphia, then moved to Broadway. As a member of the original cast Heath was with the show for its tryout and the entire opening run from April thru December 1951. Her character "Hildy", created for the musical, was only briefly in the first act of the play.

Her next stage role was as understudy for Janet Blair in a short-lived comedy by F. Hugh Herbert called A Girl Can Tell. The show ran for only sixty performances on Broadway, from October thru December 1953. Heath, however, left half way thru the run when she caught the eye of director Vincente Minnelli, who signed her for his next MGM film, Brigadoon.

Heath was cast as forward Scottish lass "Meg Brockie", which in the stage production was a secondary lead with two songs. MGM's budget reduced the part to a couple of comic scenes with Van Johnson's character, "Jeff". Whether or not Minnelli was personally interested in Heath as gossip columnists reported, he did give her a memorable film debut.

Following production of Brigadoon, Heath returned to the Broadway stage in Oh, Men! Oh, Women! She replaced the original female lead Barbara Baxley as "Mildred Turner" during July 1954, and continued in the role until the show closed in November 1954.

Heath did her first television acting role in January 1953, on an episode of the New York based CBS mystery series The Web. Television would become Heath's mainstay from 1959 thru 1962, as she made guest star appearances in twelve different series. Aside from one brief engagement during September 1961, she never returned to the stage. The Diary of Anne Frank (in which Heath played Miep Gies) began filming in March 1958. Newspapers reported in summer 1958 that she had given up her New York apartment and would concentrate on a film career going forward. She started work on her third film, Ask Any Girl, during September 1958.

After her first marriage in late 1962, Heath seemed to forgo television as well. She dropped out of professional casting directories after 1963, but continued to do films. Late 1963 saw her in Yugoslavia, making a German crime drama called Dog Eat Dog, aka When Strangers Meet. It wasn't released in the US until 1966, by which time she had two other films, Seconds and The Fortune Cookie on the big screen. Her role in the former was minor, while she was nearly invisible as a nun in the latter. Her last performance in any medium came eight years later in 1974, when she did a minor role in a strange horror film called Welcome to Arrow Beach. It played only in the southeastern US and quickly disappeared from theaters.

Spouses

Jack Cushingham(November 1962 - July 5, 1985) (his death)

Richard Soames (divorced)

 

Made her Broadway debut in 1950 in South Pacific.

In 1954, circus owner boyfriend John Ringling North wrote a song for her called "Dodie," which was published in summer 1956 by Frank Loesser's Music Company.

Graduated from the University of Washington School of Drama.

Born as Rowena Dolores Heath to Wilfrid Paul Heath and Alice (nee Alexander) Heath. Her father was an inventor.

 

Actress

Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973)

Welcome to Arrow Beach

5.6

Felice

1973

 

Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, and Judi West in The Fortune Cookie (1966)

The Fortune Cookie

7.2

Nun

1966

 

Seconds (1966)

Seconds

7.6

Sue Bushman (as Dody Heath)

1966

 

Alfred Hitchcock in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962)

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

8.5

TV Series

Irma Dade

Sandra Purvis (as Dody Heath)

1962–1965

2 episodes

 

Jayne Mansfield and Cameron Mitchell in Einer frisst den anderen (1964)

Einer frisst den anderen

5.4

Sandra Morelli (as Dody Heath)

1964

 

Arsenic & Old Lace (1962)

Arsenic & Old Lace

7.0

TV Movie

Elaine Harper (as Dody Heath)

1962

 

Stagecoach West (1960)

Stagecoach West

7.3

TV Series

Linda Barton (as Dody Heath)

1961

1 episode

 

Don Collier, Judy Lewis, and Bruce Yarnell in Outlaws (1960)

Outlaws

7.4

TV Series

Lela Dwyer

1961

1 episode

 

Dale Robertson in Tales of Wells Fargo (1957)

Tales of Wells Fargo

7.9

TV Series

Laura Wade (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Riverboat (1959)

Riverboat

7.4

TV Series

Lovie Jennings (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959)

The DuPont Show with June Allyson

7.5

TV Series

Naomi (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone (1959)

The Twilight Zone

9.1

TV Series

Susanna Kittridge (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Overland Trail (1960)

Overland Trail

7.4

TV Series

Martha Cabel (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Abel Fernandez, Nicholas Georgiade, Paul Picerni, and Robert Stack in The Untouchables (1959)

The Untouchables

8.0

TV Series

Chicky Purcell (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Lawman (1958)

Lawman

8.1

TV Series

Beth Denning (as Dody Heath)

1960

1 episode

 

Wayde Preston in Colt .45 (1957)

Colt .45

7.3

TV Series

Calamity (as Dody Heath)

1959

1 episode

 

Alfred Hitchcock in Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

8.5

TV Series

Laura Fleming (as Dody Heath)

1959

1 episode

 

Ask Any Girl (1959)

Ask Any Girl

6.5

Terri Richards (as Dody Heath)

1959

 

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

The Diary of Anne Frank

7.4

Miep Gies (as Dody Heath)

1959

 

Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse in Brigadoon (1954)

Brigadoon

6.8

Meg Brockie (as Dody Heath)

1954

 

The Web (1950)

The Web

7.4

TV Series

1953

1 episode