Nina Foch

Nina Foch
Foch in 1949
Born	Nina Consuelo Maud Fock (1924-04-20)April 20, 1924 Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications of a blood disorder of Myelodysplastic syndrome
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Occupation	Actress, drama teacher
Years active	1943–2007
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Spouse(s)	James Lipton (1954–59; divorced) Dennis Brito (1959–64; divorced) Michael Dewell (1967–93; divorced)
Children	Dirk De Brito (b. 1964)
Parent(s)	Dirk Fock (father) Consuelo Flowerton (mother)

Nina Foch /niːnə.fɑːʃ/ (born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress of film, stage, and television. After signing a contract with Columbia Pictures at age nineteen, the tall, blonde Foch became a regular in the studio's horror pictures and film noirs before establishing herself as a leading lady in the mid-1940s through the 1950s, often playing roles as cool, aloof sophisticates. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over fifty feature films and over one hundred television appearances.

She is perhaps best known for her roles in An American in Paris (1951); Robert Wise's Executive Suite (1954), which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress; Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956); and Stanley Kubrick's Spartacus (1960).

Foch also worked prominently in television, starring in a multitude of television series from 1951 until 2007. In addition to acting, Foch taught drama at the American Film Institute and at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, where she was a faculty member for over forty years until her death in 2008.

Early life

Nina Foch was born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock in Leiden, Netherlands to American actress and singer Consuelo Flowerton and Dutch classical music conductor Dirk Fock. After her mother and father divorced when Foch was a toddler, she went with her mother to the United States, settling in New York City. As Foch grew up in New York, her mother encouraged her artistic talents; Foch learned piano and enjoyed art but was more interested in acting. Foch attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and also studied method acting under Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler.

Career

After signing a contract with Columbia Pictures at age nineteen, Foch made her feature film debut in the studio's horror picture The Return of the Vampire (1943) with Bela Lugosi, subsequently appearing in Columbia's Cry of the Werewolf the next year. This was followed with a role in the biopic A Song to Remember (1945), the drama I Love a Mystery (1945); as well as a string of film noirs, including Escape in the Fog, My Name is Julia Ross (1945), Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Dark Past (1948), The Undercover Man (1948), and Johnny Allegro (1949). During this time, she was also a regular in John Houseman's CBS Playhouse 90 television series.

Foch in the film noir Johnny O'Clock (1947)

In 1951, Foch appeared with Gene Kelly in the musical An American in Paris, which was awarded the Best Picture Oscar that year. Foch appeared in Scaramouche (1952) as Marie Antoinette, and in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956) as Bithiah, the Pharaoh's daughter who finds the infant Moses in the bulrushes, adopts him as her son, and joins him and the Hebrews in their Exodus from Egypt. In 1957, Foch was honored by the Maryland State Council of the American Jewish Congress with a special award for her performance in The Ten Commandments.

Foch received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the boardroom drama Executive Suite (1954), starring William Holden, Fredric March and Barbara Stanwyck. In Spartacus (1960), starring Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier, she played a woman who chooses gladiators to fight to the death in the ring, simply for her entertainment. In 1961, she guest starred in the NBC series about the family divisions from American Civil War entitled The Americans. In 1963, she appeared on the NBC game show Your First Impression. In 1964, she played the title role in the episode "Maggie, Queen of the Jungle" of Craig Stevens's short-lived CBS drama series, Mr. Broadway.

Foch was cast as Eva Frazier in the Outer Limits episode "The Borderland". She appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke as the widowed matriarch of a lawless town, and played in an episode on Combat! titled episode "The Casket". She was also cast as the first murder victim of the Columbo mystery series starring Peter Falk, appearing in the pilot movie, Prescription: Murder (1968), with Gene Barry as her husband, a homicidal psychiatrist. In the early 1970s, she guest starred on NBC's The Brian Keith Show. In 1975, Foch appeared in the film Mahogany, starring Diana Ross.

Later in her career, Foch appeared in War and Remembrance (1988) as the seemingly-nice librarian who soon advises Jane Seymour's character that the best place for her and her uncle would be the un-aptly named "Paradise Ghetto". She also appeared as 'Frannie Halcyon' in the TV miniseries Tales of the City (1993). Another notable TV role was as the OverseerP Commander (or "Kleezantzun") in the first of the Alien Nation TV movies, Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (1994).

In her final years, she appeared on the television series Just Shoot Me, Bull, Dharma & Greg, and NCIS, the latter portraying Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard's elderly mother.

Foch taught "Directing the Actor" classes at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, classes she had taught since the 1960s up to her death. She also worked as an independent script-breakdown consultant for many prominent Hollywood directors. For her contributions to film and television, Foch has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard, and 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal life

Foch lived in Beverly Hills, California, for 40 years and married three times. Her first marriage was to James Lipton, future host of Inside the Actors Studio. She married her second husband, Dennis de Brito, in 1959; and the couple had one child before divorcing in 1963. Her third and last marriage was to Michael Dewell in 1967. The couple divorced in 1993.

Death

Foch died on December 5, 2008, at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Her only son, Dirk de Brito, told the Los Angeles Times that she died of complications from the blood disorder myelodysplasia. She had become ill the day before, while teaching at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts.

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1943	Wagon Wheels West	Jan Colburn	Short film
	The Return of the Vampire	Nicki Saunders
1944	Nine Girls	Alice Blake
	She's a Soldier Too	Tessie Legruda
	Shadows in the Night	Lois Garland
	Cry of the Werewolf	Celeste
	Strange Affair	Frieda Brenner
	She's a Sweetheart	Jeanne
1945	A Song to Remember	Constantia
	I Love a Mystery	Ellen Monk
	Escape in the Fog	Eileen Carr
	My Name Is Julia Ross	Julia Ross
	Boston Blackie's Rendezvous	Sally Brown
	A Thousand and One Nights	Harem Girl	Uncredited
	Prison Ship	Anne Graham
1947	Johnny O'Clock	Harriet Hobson
	The Guilt of Janet Ames	Susie Pearson
1948	The Dark Past	Betty
1949	The Undercover Man	Judith Warren
	Johnny Allegro	Glenda Chapman
1951	St. Benny the Dip	Linda Kovacs
	An American in Paris	Milo Roberts
1952	Young Man With Ideas	Joyce Laramie
	Scaramouche	Marie Antoinette
1953	Sombrero	Elena Cantu
	Fast Company	Mercedes Bellway
1954	Executive Suite	Erica Martin	National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress Special Jury Prize (Venice Film Festival) Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Four Guns to the Border	Maggie Flannery
1955	You're Never Too Young	Gretchen Brendan
	Illegal	Ellen Miles
1956	The Ten Commandments	Bithiah
	Three Brave Men	Lt. Mary Jane McCoy
1959	Ten Little Indians	Vera Claythorne	Television film
1960	Cash McCall	Maude Kennard
	Spartacus	Helena Glabrus
1968	Columbo: Prescription: Murder	Carol Flemming
1969	Gidget Grows Up	Bibi Crosby	Television film
1971	Such Good Friends	Julie's mother
1972	The Scarecrow	Goodie Rickby	Television film
1973	Female Artillery	Amelia Craig	Television film
	Salty	Mrs. Penninger
1975	Mahogany	Miss Evans
1976	The Great Houdini	Rev. Le Veyne	Television film
1978	Jennifer	Mrs. Calley
	Child of Glass	Lavinia Culp	Television film
1979	Ebony, Ivory and Jade	Dr. Adela Teba	Television film
1981	Rich and Famous	Literary party guest
1986	Nomads	Real estate agent
1988	Dixie Lanes	Hazel Laidlaw
	Outback Bound	Samantha's Mother	Television film
1989	Skin Deep	Alex's Mother
1992	In the Arms of a Killer	Mrs. Venible	Television film
	The Sands of Time	Ellen Scot	Television film
1993	Sliver	Evelyn McEvoy
	Morning Glory	Miss Beasly	Television film
1994	Alien Nation: Dark Horizon	Burak	Television film
1996	It's My Party	Mrs. Theis
1997	'Til There Was You	Sophia Monroe
1998	Hush	Alice Baring
	Family Blessings	Peg Miller	Television film
	Shadow of a Doubt	Sylvia Saxon
2002	Pumpkin	Betsy Collander
2003	How to Deal	Grandma Halley
2004	Back When We Were Grownups	Mrs. Holmes	Television film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse	Elizabeth	Episode: "Three Cornered Moon"
	The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre	Wife	Episodes: "Temporarily Purple", "Half an Hour"
1949-54	Suspense
1950-52	Lux Video Theatre		Episodes: "The Key", "The Magnolia Touch", "Dames Are Poison", "Mine to Have"
1951	Two Girls Named Smith
	The Nash Airflyte Theatre		Episode: "The Case of the Calico Dog"
	Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre		Episode: "The Bride from Broadway"
	Cameo Theatre		Episode: "Betrayal"
	Somerset Maugham TV Theatre		Episode: "In Hiding"
1951-52	Lights Out		Episodes: "Blood Relation", "The House of Dust"
	Pulitzer Prize Playhouse		Episodes: "The Jungle", "The Skin of Our Teeth", "The Buccaneer", "Icebound"
1952	Chesterfield Presents		Episode: "A Moment of Memory"
	Schlitz Playhouse		Episode: "World So Wide"
	Tales of Tomorrow		Episode: "Bound Together"
1952-58	Studio One in Hollywood		Eight episodes
1953	Hollywood Opening Night		Episode: "Legal Affair"
	Armstrong Circle Theatre		Episodes: "Ski Story", "Only This Night"
	The Philip Morris Playhouse		Episode: "Room 203"
1954	Justice		Episode: "Ride with Terror"
	Danger		Episodes: "See No Evil", "Hand Me Down"
	Producers' Showcase	Kaye Thorndyke	Episode: "State of the Union"
1954-60	The United States Steel Hour	Julia Walton / Grace Barlow	Four episodes
1955	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Sophia Teale	Episode: "Roberta"
1955-57	Climax!	Caroline Emmet / Emily Rone	Episodes: "Deadly Climate", "Night of Execution"
1955-59	The Loretta Young Show	Joan Rogers / Mrs. Graff	Episodes: "The Red Dress", "Reunion"
1956	The 20th Century-Fox Hour	Susan Harland / Joan Byrnes	Episodes: "One Life", "Yacht on the High Sea"
	Playwrights '56	Belle Thurmond / Mrs. Scott	Episodes: "The Undiscovered Country", "The Answer"
1956-58	Playhouse 90		Three episodes
1957	The Alcoa Hour	Brita	Episode: "A Double Life"
	Kraft Theatre		Episodes: "Nothing Personal", "A Night of Rain"
	Wagon Train	Clara Beauhaump	Episode: "The Clara Beauchamp Story"
1958	Matinee Theatre	Beatrice	Episodes: "Much Ado About Nothing, Pt. 1", "Much Ado About Nothing, Pt.2"
	Pursuit	Mrs. Claire Holden	Episode: "Ticket to Tangier"
1959	The Thin Man		Episode: "Lady Frankenstein"
	Rawhide	Madrina Wilcox	Episode: "Incident of the Judas Trap"
1960	Play of the Week	Andromache	Episode: "Tiger at the Gates"
	Moment of Fear	Sally Mellanby	Episode: "The Golden Deed"
1961	The Americans	Rose Greenbow	Episode: "The Rebellious Rose"
	Shirley Temple's Storybook	Merwitch	Episode: "The Little Mermaid"
	Checkmate	Anne Elliot	Episode: "State of Shock"
1961-64	Route 66	Samantha / Autumn Ely / Lillian Aldrich	Four episodes
1962	Bus Stop	Kitty Blaine	Episode: "Cry to Heaven"
	The Dick Powell Theatre	Ginny Thatcher	Episode: "The Seeds of April"
	Theatre '62	Mrs. Danvers	Episode: "Rebecca"
	Naked City	Kitty Lamson / Maude Hutchinson	Episodes: "The Sweetly Smiling Face of Truth", "The Fingers of Henri Tourelle"
1963	The Virginian	Frances Graham	Episode: "Vengeance is the Spur"
	Sam Benedict	Nora Hildon	Episode: "Of Rusted Cannons and Fallen Sparrows"
	Arrest and Trial	Ellen Burnham	Episode: "My Name is Martin Burnham"
	Kraft Suspense Theatre	Sarah Middleton	Episode: "The End of the World, Baby"
	The Greatest Show on Earth	Angelica Cellini	Episode: "Leaves in the Wind"
	The Outer Limits	Eva Fraser	Episode: "The Borderland"
1964	Burke's Law	Anjanette Delacroix	Episode: "Who Killed 1/2 of Glory Lee?"
	Mr. Broadway	Maggie	Episode: "Maggie, Queen of the Jungle"
1965	Dr. Kildare	Georgia Pettigrew	Episode: "My Name is Lisa, and I Am Lost"
	Combat!	Madame Carmaux	Episode: "The Casket"
1966	A Man Called Shenandoah	Marlee Cole	Episode: "Marlee"
	The Long, Hot Summer	Carlotta	Episode: "Carlotta, Come Home"
1967	I Spy	Gerta	Episode: "Child Out of Time"
	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Vera Stannard / Dee	Episodes: "A Time to Love", "And Baby Makes Five"
	Bonanza	Clarissa	Episode: "Clarissa"
1968-70	The Name of the Game	Mrs. Fredericks / Angela Morgan	Three episodes
1968-73	The Mod Squad	Mrs. Dykstra / Virginia Westphal	Episodes: "Don't Kill My Child", "Love"
1969	The Wild Wild West	Duchess Sophia	Episode: "The Night of the Cossacks"
	Gunsmoke	Agatha Corey	Episode: "Coreyville"
1970	Paris 7000		Episode: "No Place to Hide"
	The F.B.I.	Terry Simms	Episode: "The Dealer"
	To Rome with Love	Diana Masterson	Episode: "Beautiful People"
	McCloud	Police Sergeant F.J. Dameron	Episode: "Walk in the Dark"
1971	That Girl	Frances Nelson	Episode: "That Script"
	Men at Law		Episode: "Marathon"
1973	Hawaii Five-O	Marian Scott	Episode: "Little Girl Blue"
	The Brian Keith Show	Mrs. Peterson	Episode: "Sean's Midas Touch"
	The Wide World of Mystery	Nellie	Episode: "A Little Bit Like Murder"
	Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law	Sylvia Mitchell	Episode: "A Lesson in Loving"
1973-76	Barnaby Jones	Myra Westmore / Eleanor DeRoche	Episodes: "The Stalking Horse", "Divorce - Murderer's Style"
1974	The Magician	Irene Denore	Episode: "The Illusion of the Stainless Steel Lady"
	The ABC Afternoon Playbreak	Ceil	Episode: "Oh Baby, Baby, Baby"
1975	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Madame Trevi	Episode: "The Trevi Collection"
1977	"McMillan" (formally McMillan and Wife	Marietta Galway	Episode: "Phillip's Game"
1979	Lou Grant	Mrs. Polk	Episode: "Hollywood"
1985-86	Shadow Chasers	Dr. Juliana Moorhouse	Three episodes
1986	Trapper John, M.D.	Julie Luden	Episode: "Play Your Hunch"
	Comedy Factory	Hannah Kingsley	Episode: "Chameleon"
	The New Mike Hammer	Mildred Hoftsteder	Episode: "The Golden Lady"
1988	War and Remembrance	Comtesse de Chambrun	Mini-series
1990	Room for Romance		Episode: "A Midsummer Night's Reality"
	L.A. Law	Camille Carlton	Episode: "Smoke Gets in Your Thighs"
	Hunter	Gloria Morrell	Episode: "Acapulco Holiday"
	Dear John	Mrs. Lacey	Episode: "Homeward Bound"
1991-94	Murder, She Wrote	Rebecca Kinkaid / Katie Emhardt	Episodes: "Death in Hawaii", "Tainted Lady"
1992	Reasonable Doubts	Carmela Kaufman	Episodes: "Lifelines, Pt. 1", "Lifelines, Pt. 2"
1993	Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City	Frannie Halcyon	Five episodes
1994	Missing Persons	Bernice	Episode: "If You Could Pick Your Own Parents..."
1999	Dharma & Greg	Beatrice	Episode: "Death & Violins"
2000	Bull	Madeleine	Eight episodes
	Just Shoot Me!	Catherine DuChamp	Episode: "Dial 'N' for Murder"
2005-06	NCIS	Mrs. Victoria Mallard	Episodes: "Untouchable", "The Meat Puzzle"
2007	The Closer	Doris Donnelly	Episode: "The Round File"

Stage credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	John Loves Mary	Lilly Herbish	Broadway; 423 performances
1949	Twelfth Night	Olivia	Broadway
1950	King Lear	Cordelia
	A Phoenix Too Frequent
1955	Measure for Measure	Isabella	American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford
	The Taming of the Shrew	Katharine

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1952	Cavalcade of America	"The Nurse Who Forgot Fear"
1952	Philip Morris Playhouse	"The Room Beyond"
1952	Theatre Guild on the Air	The Unguarded Hour
1953	Theatre Guild on the Air	Cass Timberlane
1953	Broadway Playhouse	Plan for Escape

External links

• Nina Foch at the Internet Movie Database
• Nina Foch at the Internet Broadway Database
• Nina Foch at Find a Grave
• http://ninafochproject.com/
• Nina Foch on Facebook
• Portraits of Nina Foch from A Song to Remember, 1944 by Ned Scott