| 1943 |
|
- Elizabeth Hartman is born to Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Hartman,
December 23, Boardman, OH.
- Her father is a building contractor, her mother a housewife.
- She has a sister Janet, a year older than her; and a few years later, a
younger brother William.
|
| 1955 |
|
- Elizabeth has written to several New York model agencies, intending to use
them as a means to get into acting.
- Her aunt takes her to the city for her appointments, but the agencies all
request that she finish school first.
|
| 1956 |
|
- Elizabeth's parents coax her to join a small theater group at age 12.
- For a couple of years, she does ushering and stage crew work.
|
| 1958 |
|
- Elizabeth takes a job as a model for a Brooks Brothers store in
Cleveland, OH.
|
| 1959 |
|
- Elizabeth joins the Youngstown Playhouse. She appears in the play
"A Clearing in the Woods."
- She "emerge[s] with a new-found will"; she now knows she will be an
actress.
|
| 1961 |
|
- Elizabeth graduates from Boardman High School, where she shined as
Emily in "Our Town."
- She goes on to study drama at Carnegie Tech, Pittsburgh, PA for a year.
But she hates school.
|
| 1963 |
|
- At Carnegie Tech, Elizabeth meets her future husband Gill Dennis, a stage
director.
- In summer school, Elizabeth appears in "Bus Stop" with Ann B. Davis and
the John Kenley Players, Warren, OH.
- Ann Davis suggests that Elizabeth try Broadway and alerts her agent to
Elizabeth's arrival.
|
| 1964 |
|
- Elizabeth leaves for New York.
- She reads and is offered parts for two Broadway shows.
She chooses the show "Everybody Out, the Castle is Sinking."
- Elizabeth's father dies.
- "Castle" fails in Boston before reaching Broadway. Elizabeth, however,
receives glowing reviews.
- Elizabeth is offered a part in a television series in Los Angeles, CA.
- She flies to Hollywood for the series, but her agent brings her to MGM to
screen-test for A Patch of Blue.
|
| |
| 1965 |
|
- A week after finishing A Patch of Blue, Elizabeth begins work on
The Group, which will require six months' filming.
- A Patch of Blue is released.
- Elizabeth becomes the second actress in 38 years to be nominated for an
Oscar in her first film.
- Elizabeth is honored at a gala hometown premiere of the film.
|
| 1966 |
|
- Elizabeth becomes the first actress in Ohio history to be written into the
Record of the state legislature hailing her Academy Award nomination.
- Youngstown, OH proclaims Oscar Day, April 18, as "Elizabeth Hartman Day."
- On April 18 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, "the
coldest night in Oscar history," Elizabeth loses the Best Actress award to
Julie Christie.
- Elizabeth wins a Golden Globe Award for A Patch of Blue.
(Most Promising Newcomer - Female)
- Critic Pauline Kael, visiting the set of The Group, loves
Elizabeth's acting but has prophetic doubts about her mental toughness
in the field.
- Elizabeth travels to NYC to begin location filming for You're a Big Boy
Now.
- The Group is released.
|
| 1967 |
|
- You're a Big Boy Now is released.
- Elizabeth receives a Golden Globe nomination for her role in this film.
|
| 1968 |
|
- The Fixer is released.
- The movie does very little business, but Elizabeth receives reviews as
enthusiastic as ever.
- After nearly six years together, Elizabeth Hartman and Gill Dennis are married.
|
| 1970 |
|
- Dennis, now a screenwriter on the rise, gets the idea of making a
film about actress life. He takes notes on Elizabeth's daily life, soon
to write the script for Intermission.
- Elizabeth stars as Emily again in a stage revival of Our Town.
- Her performance attracts Don Siegel, who will direct The Beguiled
in 1971.
|
| 1971 |
|
- The Beguiled is released.
- "The Dark Boy", a Night Gallery
episode starring Elizabeth, is released 11/24.
- Elizabeth is increasingly disillusioned with acting life. She wants a
healthier, "well-adjusted" role.
- She turns down most roles that are offered to her - sometimes regretting
it - and ends up taking a part just for money, in a film she would never
watch: the sheriff's wife in Walking Tall.
|
| 1973 |
|
- Walking Tall is released and becomes
an enormous box-office success.
- Intermission is shown at a film
festival. One review raves about it, but the movie is never released.
|
| 1977 |
|
- Elizabeth's anxieties have been worsening. After Gill Dennis leaves
for the Philippines to work on Apocalypse Now, it turns out that
the couple never live together again.
- Before he leaves, concerned for his wife's safety, Dennis sends Elizabeth
to stay with her sister in Pittsburgh, PA.
|
| 1978 |
|
- In April, Elizabeth attends the Institute of Living near Hartford, CT.
- She takes a small theatrical role in Hartford while attempting to put her
life back together.
|
| 1979 |
|
- After leaving the Institute of Living in May, Elizabeth feels ready to
work again.
- She returns to California, where Gill helps her to find an apartment.
|
| 1981 |
|
- Elizabeth does a road tour of the play "Morning's at Seven."
- Tormented by ever-mounting emotional troubles, she leaves the road
tour as it reaches Chicago.
- She returns to California to try films once again.
- Full Moon High, a low-budget comedy,
is released.
|
| 1982 |
|
- The Secret of NIMH is released. Its
classical beauty and power are bottlenecked by incompetent marketing.
- Discouraged with her luck in Hollywood this time around,
Elizabeth returns to Pittsburgh, PA on June 10.
|
| 1984 |
|
- Elizabeth and Gill are formally divorced.
|
| 1987 |
|
- On June 10, Elizabeth allegedly calls her doctor in the morning to tell
him she is depressed.
- Just before noon the same day, Elizabeth dies in a fall from her
fifth-floor Pittsburgh apartment.
- Neighbors identify her as an actress they remember having seen in a movie
once. A Pittsburgh detective labels her action "an ordinary suicide."
- Joe Don Baker, Sidney Poitier and Adam Arkin, Elizabeth's co-stars for
Walking Tall, A Patch of Blue, and Full Moon High,
comment sadly on the loss of a greatly talented actress and wonderful
person.
- On June 13, Elizabeth's co-star and friend Geraldine Page dies
of a heart attack.
- Elizabeth's funeral is held in Boardman, OH, where she is
laid to rest.
|
| 1997 |
|
- Several of Elizabeth's fans start showing up on the Web, writing of her
power to touch the soul.
|
![[EH face]](selina.gif)
TIMELINE
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