Nina Consuelo Maud Fock is a Dutch American actress with over 50 feature films and 100 television appearances. She is known for her roles in the films "An American in Paris" and "Executive Suite" and others.
Biography
Nina Foch was born on April 20, 1924 in Leiden, Holland, the son of American actress and singer Consuelo Flowerton and Dutch classical music conductor Dirk Fock. Her parents divorced when she was a toddler, and Nina moved with her mother to the United States, settling in New York. Foch was a very talented teenager. She played various musical instruments, drew well, and was also passionate about the theater, which served to develop the artist's career. Mother encouraged her daughter's creative endeavors in every possible way.
The first educational institution for young Nina Foch was "New Lincoln School". This school was considered experimental because of its program: students studied in depth social science and English. Foch then enrolled in The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and also studied Acting Techniques under Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. It was a range of training and rehearsal techniques designed to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances articulated by a range of different theatrical practitioners.
Personal life
Nina Foch's personal life was complex and ambiguous. The actress was married three times and all three marriages ended in divorce. Foch's first companion was the American actor, writer and dean emeritus of Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University, James Lipton. The relationship lasted from 1954 to 1959, and then the couple broke up.
The next lover was Dennis de Brito. The couple had a child in 1963, but unfortunately the couple also could not get along together. The third and last was his marriage to Michael Duel, which also ended in divorce in 1993.
Career
Nina Foch began her professional career as an actress at the age of 19, signing a contract with the American film studio, Columbia Pictures. The first work was the film "The Return of the Vampire" starring White Lugosi. At the start of her career, she successfully participated in many works, especially the actress succeeded in the role of cold, arrogant and proud women.
This is followed by roles in various productions such as the biopic "A Song to Remember", the drama "I Love a Mystery", where Foch played the heroine Helene Monach, confined to a wheelchair, and a number of film noir. Between 1943 and 1949, she appears regularly in the television anthology of John Houseman's series, Playhouse 90.
In 1951, there was a musical with Gene Kelly "An American in Paris", which was awarded the "Best Picture Oscar". Nina appeared in this film as a lonely socialite, and later in the production of "Scaramouch" as the French queen Marie Antoinette. Cecil B. Demil's work, The Ten Commandments, follows. Nina Foch successfully played the image of Bethia, the daughter of Pharaoh, who found the baby Moses in the reeds and adopted him. For this picture, the actress was awarded an award by the American Jewish Congress.
In 1954, Foch was able to participate in Ernest Lehmann and Cameron Hawley's production "Executive Board," which tells the story of a civil war over control of a furniture company following the unexpected death of its CEO. Nina played the late director's secretary, Erica Martin, for which she received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
1960 was marked by work on the film "Spartacus", which starred Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Nina Foch played a woman who chooses gladiators to fight in the ring for fun. The film won four Oscars and became the largest single source of income in Universal Studios history. In 2017, it was selected to be retained by the National Film Registry as a "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" film.
In 1961, Foch starred in the NBC production The Americans. The dramatic television series focused on two brothers fighting each other during the American Civil War. In 1963, she appeared on the game show "Your First Impression", where she tried to guess the identities of the mysterious guests from the prompts of the hosts. This is followed by participation in the short series "Mr. Broadway", episodes "Outer Limits", films "Prescription: Murder", "Mahogany", etc.
Later in her career, Nina Foch worked on the role of librarian in the production of "War and Remembrance". Herman Vuk's novel tells the story of the Jastrow family. She also appeared as Frannie Halcyon in the television miniseries Tales of the City, and another notable television role is the overseer in Alien Nation: Dark Horizon. In recent years, the acclaimed actress has starred in the television series Just Shoot Me, Bull, Dharma & Greg and NCIS, which portrays Dr. Donald Mallard's elderly mother.
Nina Foch, in addition to her professional career, taught courses "Directing the Actor" at the School of Motion Picture Arts at the University of California. She has also worked as an independent screenwriting consultant for many Hollywood directors. She has stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood.
Foch died on December 5, 2008 at the age of 84 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles from complications associated with myelodysplasia (a circulatory disorder). She fell ill the day before while teaching at the USC School of the Arts.
