Barbara Bel Geddes

The daughter of noted designer and producer, Norman Bel Geddes (1893–1958), Bel Geddes made her theatrical debut in 1940, her Broadway debut in 1941, and her film debut in 1947. Over the next decades, she appeared in numerous television, stage, and film roles including I Remember Mama (film, 1948), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Broadway, 1955), and Vertigo (1958), as well as writing and illustrating two children's books (1963, 1972) and designing a line of greeting cards. But it is as Miss Ellie, the Ewing matriarch on television's Dallas (1978–91) that she is best-known and loved by contemporary audiences.