Joan Lorring

Joan Lorring, born Madeline Ellis on April 17, 1926, in Hong Kong, was an American actress and singer whose career spanned radio, film, television, and Broadway. She died on May 30, 2014, in Sleepy Hollow, New York, at the age of 88. She later adopted Joan Lorring as her professional name, having been known in her early years by the nickname "Dellie."

Lorring's family departed Hong Kong in 1941 following the Japanese invasion, traveling by boat to Honolulu before arriving in San Francisco. The family subsequently relocated to Los Angeles, where Lorring began working as a child actress in radio and film, credited as "Dellie Ellis." Among her early radio roles was the title character in A Date With Judy in 1942. Her radio work continued into the mid-1940s and included the role of Alma Horrell in the Suspense episode "The Great Horrell," which aired on August 22, 1946, as well as an appearance in "The Farmer Takes a Wife."

Lorring made her film debut at age 18 in Song of Russia in 1944, followed by a role in the Oscar-nominated drama The Bridge of San Luis Rey. Her third film brought her most significant screen recognition: at age 19, she played Bessy Watty opposite Bette Davis in The Corn Is Green (1945), earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role of Bessy in a 1956 television production of The Corn Is Green, this time opposite Eva Le Gallienne as Miss Moffat. Additional film credits from the 1940s include the 1946 dramas Three Strangers, in which she played Lottie Rawson, and The Verdict, in which her character performs the song "Give Me a Little Bit." In 1947, she appeared in The Other Love alongside Barbara Stanwyck and in The Lost Moment with Susan Hayward. A supporting role in Good Sam (1948), directed by Leo McCarey and starring Gary Cooper, rounded out her major film work of that decade. Her final film role came in 1974 with The Midnight Man.

Lorring made her Broadway debut in 1950, originating the role of Marie Buckholder in Come Back, Little Sheba opposite Shirley Booth. For that performance, she received the Donaldson Award for Most Outstanding Female Debut in the 1949–1950 Broadway season, an honor considered an early equivalent of the Tony Award. The following year, she appeared in the 1951 Broadway production of The Autumn Garden, a play by Lillian Hellman. In 1954, she performed in Dead Pigeon, and her final Broadway appearance came in 1957, when she originated the role of The Young Woman in A Clearing in the Woods, written by Arthur Laurents, appearing opposite Kim Stanley as The Woman. Beyond Broadway, Lorring performed in an Off-Broadway production of Awake and Sing! in 1970, playing Bessie Berger.

Television work occupied much of Lorring's time in the early 1950s onward. In 1955, she appeared in 13 episodes of the series Norby as Helen Norby, a show that ran for one season. She also appeared in a 1956 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled "The Older Sister," portraying Emma Borden. Later television credits include recurring appearances as Anna Pavel in Ryan's Hope and a 1980 episode of The Love Boat.

Lorring was married to Martin Sonenberg, a cancer researcher who held professorships in medicine and biochemistry at Cornell Medical School and served as Chief of Endocrinology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The couple had two daughters, Santha and Andrea. Lorring stepped back from performing through the 1960s and 1970s to focus on family life and spent her later decades in retirement.