Mercedes McCambridge

Birthday: 16 March 1916, Joliet, Illinois, USA

Birth Name: Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge

Height: 160 cm

Mercedes McCambridge is a highly-talented radio performer who won a best supporting Actress Oscar for her film debut.Mercedes McCambridge was born in Joliet, Illinois, to Marie (Mahaffry) and John Patrick McCambridge, a farmer. She was of mostly Irish (with a small amount of English and German) ancestry. Despite a career full of supporting roles, she later became something of a cult figure. Her memorable voice-over for the demon child in The Exorcist (1973) has secured her place in movie history. Ironically, she took Warner Bros. to court over her being uncredited for the role, which was probably the most important in the film.Mercedes enjoyed a quiet retirement starting from the early 1980s. She was a special guest star at the 70th Annual Anniversary Academy Awards in 1998 along with many other Oscar winners. Mercedes also made special television appearances to discuss her role in The Exorcist (1973) at the 30th Anniversary of the films release.She died in La Jolla in California on 2nd March 2004 from natural causes. Show less «

No it wasn't. Finish your popcorn.

[on Johnny Guitar (1954)] When you are as big a star as Joan Crawford was in those days, you don't a...Show more »

[on Johnny Guitar (1954)] When you are as big a star as Joan Crawford was in those days, you don't allow anybody to photograph you outside. Not in harsh light, and only in long, long, long shots. If you are a cameraman and you think you are going to get any closer than the length of a football field to take pictures of Miss Crawford, in anything but elaborately diffused interior light, you had better get out of show business, and a few of them had to. Show less «

[on Nicholas Ray]: I think his films probably showed his great restlessness, his moroseness, his vul...Show more »

[on Nicholas Ray]: I think his films probably showed his great restlessness, his moroseness, his vulnerability, the rawness of his nature, the occasional tenderness, which was very profound - but that that's just my observation of watching a man walk around the set. Show less «

[on Joan Crawford] She was a mean, tipsy, powerful, rotten-egg lady.

One of the most destructive things in my life was the kind of parts I played in pictures. I studied ...Show more »

One of the most destructive things in my life was the kind of parts I played in pictures. I studied Shakespeare and the classics, and I end up shooting Joan Crawford and killing a horse that Elizabeth Taylor was in love with. I'm serious. I played the worst harridans, the most hard-bitten women, the absolute heavies, and it just about did me in. Show less «

Mercedes McCambridge

Mercedes McCambridge's FILMOGRAPHY

Mercedes McCambridge'S roles

Feedback about this page?