Sudie Bond

Sudie Bond (born Sude Stuart Bond, July 13, 1923 – November 10, 1984) was an American actress whose career spanned film, stage, and television across four decades. Born one of four children to J. Roy Bond, an industrialist, and Carrie Bond, she grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. As a young person she was active in horsemanship competition, a pursuit she continued through her college years. By 1938 she had begun acting in plays. In 1940 she completed her secondary education at the Fassifern School in Hendersonville, North Carolina, after which she attended Virginia Intermont College and Rollins College, where she participated in the Rollins Student Players. Her given first name, Sude, was later changed legally to Sudie to reflect its phonetic pronunciation.

Bond's professional stage work began in 1945, when she appeared in the supporting cast of Slice It Thin! at the Blackfriars Guild. She also served as choreographer for the production From Morn Till Midnight. Her Broadway debut came in 1952 with Summer and Smoke, and that same year she appeared as Olga in Tovarich. Her Broadway career extended through 1982 and encompassed a wide range of roles: Estelle in The Waltz of the Toreadors (1957), Justine in The Egg (1962), Miss Prose in Harold (1962), Mrs. Lazar in My Mother, My Father and Me (1963), Miss Hammer in The Impossible Years (1965), Betsy Jane in Keep It In the Family (1967), Old Woman in Box / Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1968), Grandma in The Death of Bessie Smith / The American Dream (1968), Mrs. Margolin in Forty Carats (1968), Clara in Hay Fever (1970), Miss Lynch in Grease (1972), Street Lady in Thieves (1974), and Juanita in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982).

Off-Broadway, Bond compiled an equally substantial body of work. Her credits in that arena included The Shepherd's Chameleon (1960), The American Dream / The Death of Bessie Smith (1961), The Zoo Story / The American Dream (1962), The American Dream / Dutchman (1964), Home Movies / Softly Consider the Nearness (1964), The Great Western Union (1965), The Memorandum (1968), The Local Stigmatic (1969), and The Cherry Orchard (1976). Her off-Broadway performances earned her three Obie Awards, recognizing her work in The American Dream, The Endgame, and The Sandbox.

Bond's screen work included film appearances in Love Story, Silkwood, Where the Lilies Bloom, Swing Shift, Johnny Dangerously, and The Gold Bug. On television, she held the recurring role of Violet Stapleton, Rita's mother, on the daytime drama Guiding Light, and appeared on series including All in the Family, Maude, Benson, Flo, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and Television Playhouse.

Bond was found dead in her New York City apartment on November 10, 1984, at the age of 61. Her death was attributed to a respiratory ailment.