Betsy Drake

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Betsy Drake September 11 1923 October 27 2015 was a Frenchborn American actress and writer She was the third wife of actor Cary Grant She began looking for work as an actress in New York City supporting herself by working as a Conover model She met the playwright Horton Foote who offered her a job as an understudy in his play Only the Heart which enabled her to join the Actors Equity Association and thus become a professional actress After coming to the attention of the producer Hal Wallis Drake was pressured by her agent to sign a Hollywood contract She hated Hollywood and managed to get herself released from the contract by declaring herself insane She returned to New York City and in 1947 read for the director Elia Kazan for the lead role in the London company of the play Deep Are the Roots Later that year Drake was selected by Kazan as one of the founding members of the Actors Studio Cary Grant first spotted her in 1947 while she was performing in London The two who both happened to be returning to the US on the RMS Queen Mary struck up an instant rapport At the insistence of Grant Drake was subsequently signed to a film contract by RKO Pictures and David Selznick where she appeared opposite Grant in her first film the romantic comedy Every Girl Should Be Married 1948 New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther called her performance foxily amusing On Christmas Day 1949 Drake and Grant married in a private ceremony organized by Grants best man Howard Hughes and deliberately chose a lowkey introspective private life They delved into transcendentalism mysticism and yoga She took up causes including the plight of homeless children in Los Angeles In 1954 they bought the Las Palomas estate in the Movie Colony neighborhood of Palm Springs California The couple costarred in the radio series Mr and Mrs Blanding 1951 They appeared together in the comedydrama Room for One More 1952 and Drake appeared in a number of leading roles in England and the US and a supporting role in the satiric comedy film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter 1957 Drake subsequently gave up acting to focus on her other interests such as writing Under the name Betsy Drake Grant her novel Children You Are Very Little 1971 was published by Atheneum Books She worked as a volunteer and studied at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and earned a Master of Education degree from Harvard University Drakes last screen appearance was in the documentary film Cary Grant A Class Apart 2005 in which she reflected on Grant and their time together and denied rumors alleging he was bisexual Description above from the Wikipedia article Betsy Drake licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia