“Giant,” “All the Kings Men,” and the voice of the demon in 1973’s “The Exorcist” are just some of the films actress Mercedes McCambridge starred in and lent her voice to during her long Hollywood career.

She of the strong and often fierce voice, played manly, cruel-minded women was a 5-foot 3-inch powerhouse who starred with the best of them from Joan Crawford to Elizabeth Taylor.

After many difficulties, McCambridge died at the age of 85 of natural causes in La Jolla on March 2, 2004.

“One of the most destructive things in my life was the kind of parts I played in pictures. I studied Shakespeare and the classics, and I ended up shooting Joan Crawford and killing a horse that Elizabeth Taylor was in love with. I’m serious. I played the worst harridans, the most hard-bitten women, the absolute heavies, and it just about did me in,” she said, according to IMDb.

EARLY DAYS

Charlotte Agnes Mercedes McCambridge was born to Irish Catholic immigrant parents on March 16, 1916, in Joliet, Ill. Named Carlotta by her mother, McCambridge would later be known as Mercedes early in her childhood and nicknamed “Mercy.”

She attended St. Thomas Apostle High School on the south side of Chicago and after a year at Rosary College, now Dominican University, she transferred to Mundelein College as a theatre major.

Mundelein College, founded and operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM), provided education to women from 1930 until 1991, when it was affiliated with Loyola University Chicago. She would later donate her papers to the Women and Leadership Archives in her will. The papers were sent to the archives by the executor of her estate, Mark Mandell, on March 14, 2005. (WLA 2006.87).

While at Mundelein she performed in many of the college’s theatre productions including “Twelfth Night” and found a mentor and what she described as her “guardian angel” in Sister Mary Leola Oliver BVM.

At the time, the Sister was head of Mundelein’s drama department and became McCambridge’s “most influential person in her life,” the actress said in the Women and Leadership Archives archival collection papers at Loyola.

“… She was very petite, and her eyes were the most outstanding feature, They sparkled constantly, and they probed incessantly. She wore over, … no, underneath the blouse kind of … her habit, the part that came up from her waist – she always had little notes pinned under her blouse. … Sister was a, for me, very hard teacher, a taskmaster, But I think my best teachers have always been the ones who have been hardest on me … Sister made me think that I was something …”

She looked up to the Sister so much so that when McCambridge won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in “All the King’s Men” in 1949 she sent the award to the Sister at Holy Family School in Milwaukee who put it on display at a local theater, according to the archival collection.

Among those oral history papers, she recorded for the Mundelein College archival collection in her home on Oct. 27, 1998, [“Mercedes McCambridge, Solo Interview, 1998,” 1998.], McCambridge said during her freshman year when traveling to River Forest, Ill. “… I would think about that dynamic little nun who was in charge of the scholarship examinations there at Mundelein that day. She haunted me I ever were to become a nun, I thought, that’s the kind I’d like to be. I would like to be that one …”
RADIO WAVES

“After being invited to perform on the radio in McCambridge’s senior year, the Mundelein College Verse Speaking Choir was signed to a one-year contract to perform weekly on the radio with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.” (“Mercedes McCambridge Papers, 1935-2004, undated – Loyola University Chicago”) They went down to NBC to record one of their poems into the microphones; “…We’d never seen microphones before” … she surmised in the archival collection of oral history papers.

After the appearance, McCambridge, the choir’s soloist, was signed to a five-year contract with NBC. She played parts in radio programs such as “I Love a Mystery” (1939-1953), “One Man’s Family” (1932-1950), “Lights Out” (1934-1947), and “Abie’s Irish Rose” (1942-1944).

Her performances on radio led Orson Welles to credit her as “the world’s greatest living radio actress.” After graduating from Mundelein College in 1937, McCambridge moved to New York to further her acting career in theatre.

She starred in plays such as “The Mad Woman of Chaillot” (1948-1950), and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1962). Later in her career, she had a successful run as the grandmother in the award-winning play by Neil Simon, “Lost in Yonkers” (1991).

HELLO, HOLLYWOOD

Her early stage work led her to Hollywood where as noted, McCambridge won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut performance in “All the King’s Men,” which also won the award for Best Picture.

Her filmography also includes a leading role in the cult classic “Johnny Guitar” (1954), an Oscar-nominated role in “Giant” (1956), and a supporting role in “A Farewell to Arms” (1957), among many others.

It’s been noted in various outlets that she and Crawford fought on and off the set during the filming of “Johnny Guitar.” “One night, in a drunken rage, Crawford scattered the costumes worn by McCambridge along an Arizona highway. The cast and crew had to collect the outfits,” according to the trivia section on IMDb.

In her memoir, “The Quality of Mercy,” McCambridge called Crawford “a mean, tipsy, powerful, rotten-egg lady.”

McCambridge published her autobiography in 1981 and was also an accomplished, although unpublished, poet.

ENTER THE EXORCIST

Although she continued to regularly perform throughout the 1960s, McCambridge would gain widespread recognition when she portrayed the voice of the demon in “The Exorcist,” which led to more offers of roles in film and television.

McCambridge attended the “70th Annual Anniversary Academy Awards” in 1998 along with many other Oscar winners. She made a special appearance to talk about her role in “The Exorcist” at the 30th anniversary of the film’s release.

Some reports suggest McCambridge became a cult figure due to the strong voice-over for the demon child, which cemented her place in movie history.

Interestingly, she sued Warner Bros. over her being uncredited for the role, which was the most important part of the film. Director William Friedkin said she would be credited but wasn’t and an appeal by her to the Screen Actors Guild rectified the issue. A new print of the film was made with her name in the credits.

Except for her time on Broadway in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” She said that “The Exorcist” was the most difficult role she ever had and made in the same papers she left for college:

“…She was given a small trailer and subjected herself to grueling conditions to capture the sound she wanted. Her role in the film was kept secret to build mystery and create suspense once the film was released. She was often too exhausted to return home after a recording and was forced to sleep in a motel near the set…”

From her memoir: “A lifelong struggle with bronchitis served Mercy in the role as she used her naturally occurring wheezing to supply the sounds of the demon breathing [Mercedes McCambridge, The Quality of Mercy, (New York: Times Books,1981).

FIGHTING MORE DEMONS

After years of battling alcoholism, McCambridge reached sobriety with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the 1970s, she became involved with organizations such as The National Council of Alcoholism and The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

In January 1970, McCambridge was announced the honorary chair of Alcohol Information Week and in December 1970 was named honorary chair of the National Council of Alcoholism.

Because of her dedication to the cause of eradicating alcoholism, she received numerous awards and was honored at the White House for her humanitarian work.

MARRIAGE, CHILDREN

She had one son, John Lawrence Fifield who was later adopted by his stepfather Fletcher Markle and took his last name. On Nov.16, 1987, he killed his wife, his children, and then himself in Little Rock, Ark. after being fired from his job for an embezzlement scheme involving accounts belonging to his mother, according to various reports.
DEATH IN LA JOLLA

When not acting, McCambridge spent her time educating the public about alcoholism and rehabilitation, fundraising for a San Diego homeless shelter, reminiscing about Hollywood, and sharing her struggles with alcoholism.

McCambridge has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.