Great actress. RIP.
Thanks to her efforts and generosity many persons got the necessary therapy and rehab they needed. Without her behind it the place may never have been built. My wife was there for three months in early 1986. Back then there was no place else except Shepherd in Atlanta as the nearest such center.
I remember her appearance at the Academy Awards a few years after suffering a stroke.
She came out on stage from behind the curtain to a standing ovation.
What she accomplished at that time, when stroke rehabilitation was much more chancey, was amazing.
She always gave credit to her husband Roald Dahl for his persistance in encouraging her.
She was a flawed human being, as are we all, but a authentic American success story.
She was tremendous in “The Subject was Roses” with a young Martin Sheen in addition to “Hud.”
RIP Patricia Neal.
Patricia Neal was one of those few remaining “old school” actresses that I think could qualify as “great.”
My two favorite roles portrayed by Ms. Neal were “Maggie” in the movie “In Harm’s Way” along with John Wayne as “Rock,” and as “Olivia Walton” in “The Homecoming,” the original movie which served as the pilot for the series.
As a WWII Army nurse she was a natural, in command, not a “raving beauty” but a confidence that made her sensual and a compassion that made her strong. She was the perfect female lead to John Wayne’s Naval Admiral “Rock.” And the rest of the cast of that movie was phenomenal as well!
I believe it was not long after Ms. Neal finished “In Harm’s Way” that she suffered her strokes, and spent some years in recuperation. “The Homecoming” was among her first projects upon her return to the screen. It was a holiday movie, made for TV. And I think Patricia Nealjust nailed the 1930’s Virginia mountain woman — attitude, accent, socio-economic circumstances and all. My own Mom tells me she thought Ms. Neal’s accent sounded fake, but we’ve agreed to disagree. The only hint I saw of Ms. Neal’s medical issues was a slight limp in the scene as she walked to buy sugar at “Ike’s Store” early in “The Homecoming.” I still try to watch this DVD every year during the holidays. The networks ought to put it on just like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Patricia Neal was a talented woman who poured herself into her roles. She was not perfect in her personal life — but how many of us look to actors and actresses of any era as our moral compasses? By that standard, she was almost exemplary! What I saw in her was a very gifted woman who invested her life in roles that spoke to something in the audiences who viewed the movies they were a part of. They identified somehow with her. And because of that, Patricia Neal can truly be said to have been a great American actress! Ms. Neal, you shall be missed, but not forgotten.
Rest in peace. Patricia Neal was one great actress.
Rest in His Peace
Nam Vet
My favorite Christmas movie is “The Homecoming.” I watched it every year on TV as a kid and own the DVD. She played Olivia Walton perfectly with her slow Southern drawl and was believable as a mother of seven during the Depression. How she didn’t win the Emmy Award baffles me.
Patricia Neal: Lt Maggie Haynes, "In Harm's Way" ...
Rosemary Clooney: Betty Haynes, "White Christmas" ...
Now that I type it, I guess I should have married a woman with the last name of "Haynes" ...
Rest in Peace. I will remember her from, “The Fountainhead”. She was terrific!
Great actress. RIP.
Sh had a major stroke at the height of her career. Her fight to come back wa amazing She had to learn to talk/walk again. Amazing woman.
I always remember her performance in The Hasty Heart. Superb portrayal indeed of a nursing sister. It was in 1949, England still dimly realizing that the end of the war was not going to bring instant paradise.
It was made in an old Aircraft Hanger and had to simulate hospital scenes in Burma, 1945. Conditions were not the best re the cold interior. They had to wear light tropical clothing to portray Burma. Richard Todd, who played the recalcitrant Scottish soldier, doomed to stay because he had an incurable ailment with his kidneys. He left us only about ten months ago. He soldiered on until 90 years of age. He had seen wartime action.
A nice word here for Ronald Reagan, later President of the United States. He played "Yank" and was the mediator in the often breaking out of the Scotsman's anger. They had not told him the real truth. I always like to think that the quiet rational and diplomatic "Yank" was much like the actual character of Ronald Reagan.
“Hud” was a great movie. Newman and Neal were spectacular. One of my favorites.