Mercedes McCambridge

Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge (March 16, 1916 – March 2, 2004) was an American actress of radio, stage, film, and television. Orson Welles called her "the world's greatest living radio actress." She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for All the King's Men (1949) and was nominated in the same category for Giant (1956). She also provided the voice of 'The Demon' in The Exorcist (1973). 2Early life McCambridge was born in Joliet, Illinois, the daughter of Irish American Roman Catholic parents Marie (née Mahaffry) and John Patrick McCambridge, a farmer. She graduated from Mundelein College in Chicago before embarking on a career. 2Career 3Radio She began her career as a radio actor during the 1930s while also performing on Broadway and continued through the 40s and 50s. In 1941, she played Judy's girl friend in A Date with Judy. She had the title role in Defense Attorney, a crime drama broadcast on ABC in 1951-52. Her other work on radio included: episodes of Lights Out (including "It Happened", 5/11/38; "Execution", 4/27/43 and "The Word", 9/14/43) episodes of Inner Sanctum (including "Blood of Cain", 1/29/46, "Death's Old Sweet Song", 11/4/46, "But the Dead Walk Alone" (December 2, 1946). and "'Til Death Do Us Part", 10/27/47) episodes of the Bulldog Drummond radio series episodes of Gang Busters episodes of Murder at Midnight (including "The Man with the Black Beard", 5/8/50) episodes of Studio One (including "Anthony Adverse", 10/14/47; "Kitty Foyle", 11/4/47 and "The Thirty-Nine Steps", 3/28/48) episodes of Screen Directors Playhouse (including "Spellbound", 1/25/51 and "Only Yesterday", 7/5/51) episodes of Ford Theater (including "The Horn Blows at Midnight", 3/4/49) "Rosemary Levy" on Abie's Irish Rose "Peggy King Martinson" on This is Nora Drake (1948) various characters on the radio series I Love A Mystery in both its West Coast and East Coast incarnations (most notably as "The Stewardess" and "Charity Martin" in The Thing That Cries in the Night, "Nasha" and "Laura" in Bury Your Dead, Arizona, "Sunny Richards" in both The Million Dollar Curse and The Temple of Vampires and "Jack 'Jacqueline' Dempsey Ross" in The Battle of the Century) She frequently did feature roles on the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, and was an original cast member on The Guiding Light (before the Bauers took over as the central characters