Lee Remick, 55, an actress who portrayed amazingly complicated women with both enormous sense and almost innocent sensuality, died of cancer yesterday at her home in Los Angeles.
Another of her highly acclaimed film roles was that of a rape victim in the 1959 film "Anatomy of a Murder." In it, she seemed a victimized young wife one minute and a sultry temptress the next. That movie, a brilliant and affecting courtroom drama that starred James Stewart, George C. Scott and Ben Gazzara, was named best picture of the year by Film Daily. As a Venice Film Festival entry, it won international acclaim for Miss Remick.
Miss Remick appeared in more than 25 films, with such leading men as Paul Newman, Orson Welles, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, Rod Steiger, Yves Montand and Frank Sinatra.
She played a wide range of parts: a neurotic wreck in "The Women's Room," a tyrannical piano teacher in "The Competition," a pathetic nymphomaniac in "The Detective," a tormented rape victim in "The Letter," and a southern belle in "The Long Hot Summer." Her other picture credits included "Sanctuary," "Experiment in Terror," "Telefon" and "The Omen."
Throughout her career, Miss Remick seemingly glided effortlessly from film to stage to TV screen. To her, the play was the thing.
"I just look for the stuff that interests me. And I don't like to repeat," she said in a 1988 interview with the Associated Press. "That's the nature of the biz. Once you've done something well, they think, 'Ah, that's what she does,' and they keep sending you the same script over and over again."
She said in that interview that she was doing television roles because "I haven't been offered anything in a feature in a few years that has come close to giving me that kind of fertile ground to play with."
Miss Remick made her acting debut in summer stock and appeared on Broadway before going to Hollywood. In 1964, she was back on Broadway, cast alongside Angela Lansbury in Stephen Sondheim's musical, "Anyone Can Whistle." Her performance in the 1966 Broadway play "Wait Until Dark" brought her a Tony Award nomination.
She also had appeared in such classic television series as "Playhouse 90," "Studio One," "Armstrong Circle Theatre," "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Philco Playhouse," the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" and "American Inventory."
In 1960, she played "Miranda" in an NBC-TV production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," which also starred Richard Burton and Maurice Evans. In more recent TV productions, she had portrayed First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Randolph Churchill. She also had appeared in television productions of "The Blue Knight" and "Ike."
In 1987, in the television movie "Nutcracker: Money, Madness, Murder," Miss Remick played the real-life role of Frances Schreuder, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the slaying of her 76-year-old father.
Of that role she said: "I could not say no to such an intriguing part. She is such an outrageous character."
Most recently, Miss Remick starred as the unfeeling mother to Marlee Matlin in the 1989 television movie "A Bridge to Silence."
Miss Remick was born Dec. 14, 1935, in Boston. She grew up in New York, where she attended private schools and studied ballet. In 1952, she lied about her age and got a part at a summer stock theater in Hyannis, Mass., beginning what she later maintained was rigorous and effective training in drama.
In January 1953, she made her Broadway debut in a soon-closed and forgotten play. Later that year, she spent a semester at Barnard College before leaving school to devote her life to acting. Seemingly successful from the start, she worked steadily in television drama until Kazan "discovered" her and cast her in a feature role for his film "A Face in the Crowd."
Miss Remick, who never formally studied acting, prepared for the part by living with a poor Arkansas family and taking baton-twirling lessons. She also hung out with southern teenagers to study their mannerisms and attitudes. She continued such research for later roles. She attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for "Days of Wine and Roses," and stayed at the Lighthouse for the Blind before playing a terrorized blind woman in the Broadway production of "Wait Until Dark."
After "A Face in the Crowd," she played the flirtatious wife of Tony Franciosa in the 1958 film "The Long Hot Summer," and appeared in "Anatomy of a Murder" the next year.
These early roles seemed to be leading her down the path of other actresses, as a blonde, blue-eyed sex symbol. The press printed pictures of her, portraying her haunting beauty, and movie publicists hailed her as "America's Answer to Brigitte Bardot." But her career did not head in that direction.
Miss Remick recalled, "I had no plans to become a sex kitten."
She also said, "I like to portray women so seemingly in control, but so out of control in their passions. If fans are disappointed or confused, that is the way it goes." She added, "I'm an actress and I have no interest in playing the same character over and over again."
Miss Remick married Bill Colleran in 1958. They divorced in 1969. She then married Kip Gowans in 1970, living with him in England for 11 years before moving to Los Angeles. In addition to her husband of 21 years and two children from her first marriage, survivors include her mother and two stepdaughters.
ALMON R. WRIGHT
State Department Historian
Almon R. Wright, 87, a retired State Department historian, died of pneumonia June 23 at his home in Alexandria.
Dr. Wright was born in Roseville, Ohio. A graduate of Denison University, he received a master's degree in history from Harvard University and a doctorate in history from the University of Illinois.
He had worked more than 20 years as a State Department historian until his retirement in 1966, and had specialized in Latin American issues. He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and for several years wrote the entry on Panama. He was author of a history of Panama.
Dr. Wright had lived in the Washington area since 1933, and had worked at the National Archives before joining the State Department.
He was a poet and author of a collection of historically based poems, "Tales of Now and Then and Near and Far."
Survivors include his wife of 62 years, Irene Wright of Alexandria; a daughter, Charlotte Edwards of McLean; and a granddaughter.
FRANCIS L. GRAGNANI
First Winthrop Chairman
Francis L. Gragnani, 74, an area resident since 1974 who was a former Coca-Cola franchise owner in Japan and chairman emeritus of a Boston-based real estate company, died of cancer June 16 at his home in University Park.
He was a native of Fall River, Mass., and a 1940 graduate of Providence College. He was active in raising funds for the school at the time of his death. He served with the Army Air Forces in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II.
After the war, Mr. Gragnani was vice president for sales for Coca-Cola in Japan and South Korea, and then owned and operated his own Coca-Cola bottling franchise in Japan for 12 years before selling it in 1974. He then founded the First Winthrop Corp., a real estate company that has properties here, and retired as its chairman emeritus in 1987.
Survivors include his wife, Charlotte, whom he married in 1954, of University Park; and a brother and two sisters, all of Massachusetts.
MARGUERITE L. MANGUM
Government Stenographer
Marguerite L. Mangum, 85, a member of St. Thomas Moore Catholic Church in Arlington who was a government senior stenographer from 1934 to 1944, died of a heart ailment June 28 at her home in Arlington.
Mrs. Mangum was a native of Corinth, Miss., and attended Bowling Green College in Kentucky. She came to the Washington area in 1934 and worked for the Federal Trade Commission and Agriculture Department before spending 1944 in Florida as a civilian employee of the Army Air Forces. She then returned to the Washington area.
Her husband, Robert M. Mangum, died in 1980. Survivors include a daughter, Peggy Mangum of Arlington; and three sisters, Gladys Evelyn Lauer of Nutley, N.J., and Freddie Landfair and Helen Naylor, both of Orlando, Fla.
EILEEN H. GATZ
Nurse and Medical Care Manager
Eileen Helen Gatz, 51, a former nurse and medical care manager, died of cancer June 26 at Howard County General Hospital.
Mrs. Gatz was born in Bloomington, Ind., and graduated from St. Vincent's School of Nursing and Marion College in Indianapolis. She was a nurse in Indianapolis and Madison, Wis., before moving to the Washington area in 1973.
From 1973 to 1985, she lived in Fairfax. She was a nurse at Commonwealth Hospital and with USAA Insurance in Fairfax until the early 1980s, when she started her own business. It involved contracting with insurance companies to provide medical management and health-care guidance for people with medical insurance claims. She moved to Ellicott City in 1985 and operated her business there.
Mrs. Gatz worked as a volunteer at St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville.
Survivors include her husband, Robert Gatz of Ellicott City; four children, Diane Botset of Chester, Va., Cindy Rexford of Fairfax, Douglas Gatz of Annandale and Cathy Kaufman of Richmond; two brothers, John Coonrod of Dayton, Ohio, and Donald Coonrod of Frankfort, Ky.; two sisters, Sister Michael Mary Coonrod of Bethlehem, Conn., and Alice Meluski of Helena, Mont.; and three grandchildren.
WILLIAM E. WILSON SR.
Printing Company Officer
William E. Wilson Sr., 75, vice president for research and development of Flint Ink Corp. in Washington, died June 30 at Millsboro Nursing Home in Millsboro, Del., of complications after a stroke.
Mr. Wilson, who lived in Annapolis, was born in Philadelphia.
He worked for the Frederick-Levy Ink Co. there for 35 years before moving to Washington in 1969 to work for Capital Printing Inc. The company later became Flint Ink. Until shortly before his death, Mr. Wilson was working there two days a week.
Survivors include his wife, Helen M. Wilson of Annapolis; and a son, William E. Wilson Jr. of Silver Spring.
