Broadway Should Dim Its Lights Soon, For This Great Character Actress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                "Keep it down; you're scaring the kids!"
                                                  --Elizabeth Wilson as Helen Carter, in
                                                Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" (1963)


                           It is hard to conceive Elizabeth Wilson is gone. But, on May 9, 2015, she passed away, in New Haven, Connecticut, at the age of 94.

                            Who could forget her as Helen Carter, the waitress at The Tides Diner, in Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic, "The Birds?"   Where she shares the scene with Doreen Lang, with her historic hysterics. Doreen's, not Elizabeth's.

                              Elizabeth was a much  more subtle actress. From Dustin Hoffman's mother in "The Graduate," to Barnard Hughes' wife on the TV series, "Doc," not to mention stage work in such vehicles as "Picnic" (playing one of Eileen Heckart's spinster teacher cronies, a role she also repeated, in the 1955 film version),  David Rabe's 1972 "Sticks And Bones," for which she won a TONY Award,  the 1976 revival of "The Threepenny Opera," with Raul Julia, at the Vivian Beaumont, where she played Mrs. Peachum, and, of course, as  sister Aaronetta Gibbs in the first, 1980 revival of "Morning's At Seven."  I saw Wilson in the last two, plus the 1996 revival of "A Delicate Balance," and the 1983 revival of "You Can't Take It With You."

                               But my favorite Elizabeth Wilson memory concerns an Easter Sunday, thirty years ago, this year. On that April day, back in 1985, left to my own devices, I decided to go into the city, and see a play at the Public Theater, "Salonika," starring two of my favorite actresses, Jessica Tandy and Elizabeth Wilson. Also in the cast was the young actor, Maxwell Caulfield.

                               I was probably the only one in town who was not aware that Caulfield appears throughout the entire play in the nude. When he came out to the sand covered round set, I thought,"Well........"  Sitting next to me was a little girl, with a woman, whose face looked familiar.
Upon intermission, I saw the little girl was the mother's daughter--who turned out to be Maxwell's wife, actress Juliet Mills.  We struck up a conversation, and Juliet was so gracious. I was so overwhelmed I forgot to mention my adoration of sister Hayley, whom I still want to have tea with, this year.  But then, the little girl said, "What did you think of my Daddy?", and as I turned red faced and verbally implausible, Juliet graciously said, Um, dear, let's allow the young man to enjoy the play on his terms!"

                              Now that was class!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So, too, was Elizabeth Wilson. Her kind will never be seen again. She could take the smallest part, and make something of it!

                                Here is the famous diner scene in "The Birds," with Doreen Lang!  It is her big
scene, but watch how Elizabeth conveys so much, with just a look! That is called acting, darlings!!!!!!!!!

                                  Rest In Peace, Elizabeth! You deserve to have the Broadway lights dimmed in your honor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!