"lloyd bridges" "dorothy bridges",Dorothy Bridges, 'the hub' of an acting family, dies at 93

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Lloyd Bridges' wife for 59 years, she was the mother of actors Beau and Jeff Bridges. She is remembered as the creative force behind them.
February 21, 2009|Dennis McLellan
Dorothy Bridges, the widow of actor Lloyd Bridges and the mother of actors Beau and Jeff, has died. She was 93.

Bridges died Monday of age-related causes at home in Holmby Hills, where she and her late husband raised their two sons and their artist daughter, Lucinda, her family announced.

An occasional actress who appeared in several film and television productions with family members, Bridges was married for 59 years to Lloyd, who gained fame in the late 1950s as the star of the TV series "Sea Hunt" and later had roles in the movie comedies "Airplane!" and "Hot Shots!" He died in 1998.

Throughout their long marriage, Dorothy Bridges wrote poems and celebrated each Valentine's Day with a love poem to her husband.


In 2005, at age 89, she collected them in the book "You Caught Me Kissing: A Love Story," which chronicled their life together, with accompanying family photos and commentary by her and her children.

"She was the hub" of the family, Jeff Bridges told The Times on Friday. "My dad was sort of the front man: He was out there getting public attention. But my mom was behind the scenes, sort of holding the whole thing together, and she did that with her own particular brand of verve."

She also was her children's first drama teacher.

"She was such a creative person and inspired us all to be creative," said Jeff, recalling that while he and his brother and sister were growing up, their mother devoted an hour a day to each of them to do whatever each child wanted to do -- from "making each other up like clowns" to "playing spaceships."

"During those times, we got to play 'pretend' with mom, which is basically the basis of acting," he said, adding that both of his parents had studied with acclaimed acting teacher Michael Chekhov, "and a lot of things my mom learned with him were passed down to all of us."

Born Dorothy Louise Simpson on Sept. 19, 1915, in Worcester, Mass., she moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was 2.

She was a student at UCLA when she appeared in a small theatrical production in which her leading man was upperclassman Lloyd Bridges. They were married in New York City in 1938 and returned to Los Angeles in the early 1940s when Lloyd landed a contract with Columbia Pictures.

Over the years, Dorothy Bridges appeared on screen with family members in "Sea Hunt," the 1986 TV movie "The Thanksgiving Promise," the 1989 movie "See You in the Morning" and the 1994 TV movie "Secret Sins of the Father."

In addition to her three children, Bridges is survived by her brother, Frederick Simpson Jr.; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Instead of flowers, her family suggests that donations be made in her memory to Oceana, the Environmental Defense Fund or CARE.

Services will be private.

Lloyd Bridges
Actor
Born Lloyd Vernet Bridges II on Jan. 15, 1913 in San Leandro, CA
Died March 10, 1998 of heart condition in Los Angeles, CA
Lloyd Bridges was the athletic actor who made skin diving popular in his underwater 1950s television series "Sea Hunt."
He made more than 100 motion pictures, and his most memorable roles were in supporting parts. He played a soldier in a 1949 film about racial prejudice in the Army, "Home of the Brave"; a deputy refusing to aid Gary Cooper's sheriff in the 1952 classic "High Noon"; and the gruff, hard-drinking controller in the 1980 spoof "Airplane!" and its 1982 sequel.
In his later years, Bridges frequently acted with sons Beau and Jeff (whom he first put before the camera in "Sea Hunt") in films and television productions.
On stage since the late 1930s, Bridges became a household face and name as Mike Nelson, ex-Navy frogman and freelance underwater investigator in television's "Sea Hunt." The innovative series, filmed largely in a tank at the now-defunct Marineland of the Pacific on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, ran from 1957 to 1961 and appeared in syndication through the 1960s.
Although he was an avid lifelong tennis player and swimmer and played basketball, baseball and football in his high school and college years, Bridges admitted that he had never tried skin diving until he landed the part.
He made his professional stage debut in Berkeley as Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew," and in 1937 made his Broadway debut in a bit part in Shakespeare's "Othello."
On Broadway, he appeared in such plays as "Night Must Fall," "Stage Door," "Death Takes a Holiday," "A Doll's House" and "One Sunday Afternoon."
Spotted by a Columbia Pictures talent scout, Bridges moved to Hollywood and made his screen debut in 1941 in "The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance."
— Myrna Oliver in the Los Angeles Times March 11, 1998


Source:latimes