Julia Meade (1925 - 2016)
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States
New York, New York, United States
Julia Meade's Biography
Introduction
This article is about the American actress. For the film character, see Mission: Impossible (film series).
Julia Meade
Born Julia Meade Kunz
December 17, 1925
Boston, Massachusetts
Died May 16, 2016 (aged 90)
Manhattan, New York
Nationality American
Alma mater Yale School of Drama
Occupation Actress
Spouse Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr.
Children 2 daughters
Julia Meade Kunz (December 17, 1925 – May 16, 2016) was an American film and stage actress who was a frequent pitch person in live commercials in the early days of television in the 1950s.
Early years
Meade was born in Boston[1] on December 17, 1925; her father sold typewriters and her mother was Carolyn Meade, who was "the leading lady with Walter Hampden from 1923 to 1933."[
She moved with her family to Ridgewood, New Jersey when she was 10 years old and later graduated from the Yale School of Drama. Meade went to New York City and was hired as a model in 1948.
Television
Meade came to public attention in 1953 as the public face of the Lincoln division of the Ford Motor Company. She did live commercials on The Ed Sullivan Show for such products as Kodak cameras and Life magazine for years, earning recognition from TV Guide as the "favorite salesgirl" of the program's host. Meade told Life magazine in 1960 that "I tackle commercials as though I were playing the queen in Hamlet". Meade's pitch work involved doing live commercials that ran for up to five minutes, becoming most closely associated with her promotions of Lincoln automobiles, with her work for the car company described by Gerald Nachman as "part auto dealer, part chic sexpot".
Meade and Zachary Scott were co-hosts of Spotlight Playhouse, a summer anthology program on CBS in 1959. In 1969-1971, Meade hosted the syndicated program Ask Julia Meade, a daily broadcast "in which she answered ... letters from the viewers" about family matters. In the mid-1970s, she had another syndicated program, Julia Meade and Friends, on cable television. She was a regular on Club Embassy on NBC in 1952 and on The Dennis James Show on ABC, 1952-1954.
She also was a host of Playhouse 90 and appeared as a panelist on What's My Line? and Get the Message.
Meade's work on Broadway included the 1954 production of The Tender Trap, Mary, Mary in 1962 and The Front Page in 1969. She also appeared in Roman Candle and Double in Hearts. After playing the lead in Mary, Mary for six weeks on Broadway, she went with the play's national company and acted the role for a year in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1969, Meade was a member of the cast of The Front Page that was featured on a record album produced by the Theatre Guild for mail-order distribution.
Film
Meade appeared on film in the 1959 movie Pillow Talk, 1961's Tammy Tell Me True and in Presumed Innocent in 1990.
Recognition
Meade won the 1962-1963 Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Mary, Mary.
Death
Meade died at the age of 90 on May 16, 2016, in her home in Manhattan. She was married to Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr., a commercial illustrator, from 1952 until his death in 1999. They had two daughters.
Filmography
Presumed Innocent (1990) as Moderator
My First Love (TV movie) (1988) as Chris Townsend
Zotz! (1962) as Prof. Virginia Fenster
Tammy Tell Me True (1961) as Suzanne Rook
Pillow Talk (1959) as Marie
Name & aliases
Last residence
Birth details
Ethnicity & Family History
Nationality & Locations
Education
Religion
Baptism date & location
Professions
Personal Life
Military Service
Death details
Gravesite & burial
Obituary
Average Age & Life Expectancy
Memories: Stories & Photos
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Meade's work on Broadway included the 1954 production of The Tender Trap, Mary, Mary in 1962 and The Front Page in 1969. She also appeared in Roman Candle and Double in Hearts. After playing the lead in Mary, Mary for six weeks on Broadway, she went with the play's national company and acted the role for a year in Chicago, Illinois.
1959
Meade appeared on film in the 1959 movie Pillow Talk, 1961's Tammy Tell Me True and in Presumed Innocent in 1990.
1962
Mead won the 1962-1963 Sarah Siddons Award for her performance in Mary, Mary.
1969
In 1969, Meade was a member of the cast of The Front Page that was featured on a record album produced by the Theatre Guild for mail-order distribution.
2016
Meade died at the age of 90 on May 16, 2016, in her home in Manhattan. She was married to Oliver Worsham Rudd, Jr., a commercial Illustrator, from 1952 until his death in 1999. They had two daughters.
Family Tree & Friends
Julia's Family Tree
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Friends
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1925 - 2016 World Events
Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Julia's lifetime.
In 1925, in the year that Julia Meade was born, in July, the Scopes Trial - often called the Scopes Monkey Trial - took place, prosecuting a substitute teacher for teaching evolution in school. Tennessee had enacted a law that said it was "unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school". William Jennings Bryan headed the prosecution and Clarence Darrow headed the defense. The teacher was found guilty and fined $100. An appeal to the Supreme Court of Tennessee upheld the law but overturned the guilty verdict.
In 1933, by the time she was merely 8 years old, Frances Perkins became the first woman to hold a cabinet-level position, appointed by President Roosevelt to serve as Secretary of Labor. She told him that her priorities would be a 40-hour work week, a minimum wage, unemployment compensation, worker’s compensation, abolition of child labor, direct federal aid to the states for unemployment relief, Social Security, a revitalized federal employment service, and universal health insurance. President Roosevelt approved of all of them and most them were implemented during his terms as President. She served until his death in 1945.
In 1947, when she was 22 years old, in June, the Marshall Plan was proposed to help European nations recover economically from World War II. It passed the conservative Republican Congress in March of 1948. After World War I, the economic devastation of Germany caused by burdensome reparations payments led to the rise of Hitler. The Allies didn't want this to happen again and the Marshall Plan was devised to make sure that those conditions didn't arise again.
In 1954, she was 29 years old when on May 17th, the Supreme Court released a decision on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling stated that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional thus paving the way for integration in schools.
In 1971, by the time she was 46 years old, in March, Intel shipped the first microprocessor to Busicom, a Japanese manufacturer of calculators. The microprocessor has since allowed computers to become smaller and faster, leading to smaller and more versatile handheld devices, home computers, and supercomputers.
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