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M'el Dowd

M'el Dowd or Mel Dowd (born February 2, 1940) is an American stage and screen actress whose career has spanned over 50 years.^[1]

Life and career

Dowd was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of John J. Dowd and Catherine O'Conner Dowd. She married Henri G. Eudes in 1962 and has one son.

Making her professional debut Off-Broadway in the 1950s, Dowd soon appeared in a number of Broadway shows throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, most notably originating the role of Morgan Le Fay in the long-running musical Camelot. She also appeared in several films, TV movies and guest spots on TV episodes, including the 1986 film F/X, where she played the role of "Joyce Lehman", and in the 1977 TV movie The Prince of Homburg, with Frank Langella.^[2]

Dowd has continued to act in recent years. In Goodspeed Musicals' 2003 production of Me and My Girl, according to Variety, "Dowd in particular, charmingly partnered by Dorian's tiddly Sir John, is the cement that holds this production together."^[3] The New York Daily News wrote of her performance in 2001, "M'el Dowd [sang] the beguiling "Follow Me," as the worldweary Mme. Armfeldt, a role she plays deliciously.^[4]

Stage roles

• Macbeth – Lady Macbeth (1955; Off-Broadway, Jan Hus Theatre, NYC)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream – Titania, (1956; Off-Broadway, Jan Hus Theatre, NYC)
• Romeo and Juliet – Lady Capulet (1956; Jan Hus Theatre)
• Julius Caesar – Portia (1957; Jan Hus Theatre)
• Back to Methuselah – Lilith (1958; Ambassador Theatre and national tour)
• Royal Gambit – Katherine of Aragon, (1959; Off-Broadway, Sullivan Street Playhouse)
• Sweet Bird of Youth – Understudy for Princess Kosmonopolis (1959-60; Martin Beck Theatre)
• Camelot – Morgan Le Fey (1960-63)
• The Emperor – Agrippina (1963 The Maidman Theatre)
• A Case of Libel – Anita Corcoran (1963-64; Longacre Theatre)
• Not Even in Spring – Hattie (1965; national tour)
• The Right Honourable Gentleman – Mrs. Emilia Pattison (1965-66; Billy Rose Theatre)
• The Sound of Music – Elsa Schraeder (1967; City Center Theatre)
• The Unknown Soldier and His Wife – Woman (1967; Vivian Beaumont Theatre)
• Heartbreak House – Hesione Hushabye (1967; Arena Stage, Washington, DC)
• Everything in the Garden – Louise (1967-68; Plymouth Theatre)
• Tiger at the Gates – Andromache (1968; Vivian Beaumont Theatre)
• Dear World – Countess Aurelia (1969; Mark Hellinger Theatre)
• Not Now, Darling – Maude Bodley (1970; Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
• A Gun Play – Norma (1971; Cherry Lane Theatre)
• Ambassador – Amelia Newsome (1972; Lunt-Fontanne Theatre)
• Songs from the City Streets – Mary Cassett (1979; Manhattan Theatre Club)
• The Lady from Dubuque – Standby for Elizabeth (1980; Morosco Theatre)
• Mixed Couples – Standby for Clarice and Elberta (1980-81; Brooks Atkinson Theatre)
• The Night of the Iguana – Frau Fahrenkopf (1985; Morris Mechanic Theatre, Baltimore, MD)
• A Little Night Music – Madame Armfeldt (2001; Goodspeed Musicals)^[5]
• Me and My Girl - Maria, Duchess of Dene (2003; Goodspeed Musicals)

Film and TV roles

• The Wrong Man – Miss O'Connor (Warner Bros., 1956)
• The Adventures of Jim Bowie – Nun in "The Bounty Hunter" (1957)
• This Could Be the Night - Mrs. Flint (MGM, 1957)
• Man on Fire – Rita (MGM, 1957)
• Flipper – Amy Field in "City Boy" (1964)
• The Best of Everything – Kate Farrow (1970)
• The 300 Year Weekend – Carole (Cinerama, 1971)
• The Adams Chronicles (1975 mini-series)
• The Prince of Homburg (1977)
• F/X (1986) – Joyce Lehman
• Murder, She Wrote - Sister Margaret-Mary in "Old Habits Die Hard" (1987)
• See You in the Morning (1989) – Real Estate Lady
• Third Watch "Black and Blue" (2004)
• Law & Order – Mrs. Haiduk in "License to Kill" (2005)

Notes

References

• "M'el Dowd" (notes), IMDb, 2007, webpage: IMDb-5681-MDowd.
• Bio and list of credits at FilmReference.com
• Sprague, Arthur Colby. "Shakespeare on the New York Stage, 1955-1956" in Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1956), pp. 393-98

External links

• M'el Dowd at the Internet Broadway Database
• New York Times webpage: NYTimes-M-el-Dowd.