Alfred lunt lynn fontanne biography for kids

American actor

Alfred David Lunt (August 12, – August 3, ) was an American actor and director, best known for his long stage partnership with his wife, Lynn Fontanne, from the s to , co-starring in Broadway and West End productions. After their marriage, they nearly always appeared together. They became known as "the Lunts" and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although they appeared in classics including The Taming of the Shrew, The Seagull and Pygmalion, and dark comedy by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Lunts were best known for their stylish performances in light comedies by Noël Coward, S. N. Behrman, Terence Rattigan and others, and romantic plays by writers such as Robert E. Sherwood. Lunt directed some of the couple's productions, and staged plays for other managements. Though they rarely acted for the camera, The Lunts each received an Emmy Award and were nominated for an Academy Award.

The Lunts retired from the stage in , and lived at their home in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Lunt died in and Fontanne in

Life and career

Early years

Alfred David Lunt Jr., was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 12, , the son of Alfred David Lunt and his wife Harriet Washburn née Briggs. Alfred senior was a prosperous lumberman and land agent. He died in , leaving more than $, to his family. His widow, an eccentric and willful woman, gradually lost all the money, and the family moved to Waukesha, where they ran a boarding house. From an early age, Lunt had a fascination with the theatre. He began acting in high school and at Carroll College in Waukesha. Considering a career as an architect, he transferred to Emerson College, Boston, in His biographer Jared Brown writes that Lunt "rarely attended classes, having found a job as a minor actor and assistant stage manager with the Castle Square Theatre in Boston". He made his first professional stag

Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December – 30 July ) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and West End productions over the next four decades. They became known as "The Lunts", and were celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic.

Fontanne was born in what is now the London suburb of Woodford, and received her first training as an actress from Ellen Terry. After building up an acting career in Britain she worked extensively in the US, first appearing in New York in Although she appeared in classics including The Taming of the Shrew and The Seagull, experimental drama by Eugene O'Neill, and dark comedy by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Fontanne and her husband were best known for their stylish performances in light comedies by Noël Coward, S. N. Behrman, Terence Rattigan and others, and romantic plays by writers such as Robert E. Sherwood.

The Lunts retired from the stage in , and lived at their home in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, where, after outliving her husband by six years, Fontanne died at the age of

Life and career

Early years

Fontanne was born Lillie Louise Fontanne in Woodford, Essex (now London), on 6 December She was the youngest of the three daughters of Jules Pierre Antoine Fontanne (–) and his wife Frances Ellen, née Thornley (–). She was educated in London, after which a family friend introduced her to the leading actress Ellen Terry, who sometimes gave lessons to promising young players. Partly as a result of Terry’s training and influence, Fontanne was given roles in plays in London and on tour throughout England from to She made her first appearance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, at Christmas , in the chorus of the pantomime, Cinderella, and subsequently "walked on" (i.e. was a non-speaking extra) in productions in London starring Lewis Waller, Sir Herbert Tree, Lena Ashwell and o

Alfred David Lunt Jr., was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August 19, , the son of Alfred Lunt Sr., and Harriet (Hattie) Washburn Briggs Lunt. The senior Lunt, a native of Orono, Maine, arrived in northern Wisconsin in to make his fortune in the lumber business. His wife, born in Hortonville, Wisconsin, was a graduate of Lawrence College. At the time of their marriage in , the groom was 60 years old; the bride was Their first child, Inez, died in Two years after the birth of Alfred Junior, the senior Lunt died of a stroke. After Lunt's death, his widow and son continued to reside in the family's palatial stone mansion at Grand Avenue, Milwaukee.

Mrs. Lunt loved the theater and took Alfred to see whatever show came to town. By age six he was keeping a scrapbook of his favorite actors and actresses, including Ellen Terry (who eventually became Lynn Fontanne's mentor). In , the “Lunt Stock Company” produced Alfred's version of Rip Van Winkle, with Alfred as scenic designer, director, general manager, and star. When he was seven, Alfred's mother married Carl Sederholm, a cultured physician who spoke Finnish, Swedish, and German.

It was he who instilled in Alfred a lifelong love for the opera. Dr. Sederholm, however, engaged in stock speculation, and in a short time, all of the money left by the senior Lunt had been lost. The mansion was sold and Sederholm became ill; in , he took Alfred on an extended trip to Scandinavia. Four years later, Dr. Sederholm died unexpectedly in Helsinki, with Alfred at his side.

In Mrs. Sederholm, then a poor widow with three small children, insisted that Alfred attend Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She rented a large home three blocks away and ran a boarding house, although Alfred did most of the cooking. At Carroll College, Alfred came under the influence of drama professor May Rankin, who starred him in each of her six annual productions. By his second year at college, Alfred had worked up a comedy routine and was perform

Lynn Fontanne - British-born American-based actress; was born on 6 December in Woodford, London, England, but married Wisconsinite, Alfred Lunt in Fontanne had a long-time professional partnership with her husband and is considered one of the great leading ladies of the 20th century.

Fontanne became celebrated for her skill as an actress in high comedy, excelling in witty roles written for her by Noël Coward, S.N. Behrman, and Robert Sherwood. However, she enjoyed one of the greatest critical successes of her career as Nina Leeds, the desperate heroine of Eugene O'Neill's controversial nine-act drama Strange Interlude

Fontanne and her husband, Alfred Lunt, whom she married on May 26, , in New York City, were the pre-eminent Broadway acting couple. They appeared together in more than twenty plays and were featured, posthumously, on an American postage stamp. In , Fontanne appeared in Chekhov's The Seagull (in which she played Arkadina, Lunt played Trigorin, and fellow Wisconsinite, Uta Hagen made her Broadway debut in the role of Nina at the age of )

For most of her career, Fontanne acted exclusively in vehicles also starring her husband. Among their greatest theater triumphs were Design for Living (), The Taming of the Shrew (–36), Idiot's Delight (), There Shall Be No Night (), and Quadrille (). Their last performance on Broadway was at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre where they starred in performances of The Visit.

The Lunts starred in four television productions in the s and s with both Fontanne and Lunt winning Emmy Awards in for The Magnificent Yankee,

Awards and nominations include:

• Academy Award Nomination, Best Actress in a Leading Role, The Guardsman
• Tony Award nominaton for Best Actress (Dramatic) for "The Visit."
• Lunt and Fontanne were presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
• Winner Primetime Emmy, Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainme