Elizabeth Hartman

Mary Elizabeth Hartman was born on December 23, 1943 in Youngstown, Ohio, the daughter of Claire Mullaly and B.C. Hartman, and grew up alongside a sister, Janet, and a brother, William. From an early age she displayed a flair for drama, winning a statewide high‑school acting award for her performance as Laura in The Glass Menagerie and appearing in productions at the Youngstown Playhouse. After graduating from Boardman High School in 1961 she pursued formal training at Carnegie Mellon University, where she met future husband Gill Dennis and spent summers with the Kenley Players. In 1964 she signed a contract for the ingénue lead in a comedy that never succeeded, yet her talent caught the eye of film producers, and she was screen‑tested by MGM and Warner Brothers. The following year she was cast opposite Sidney Poitier in the groundbreaking film A Patch of Blue, playing a blind girl named Selina D’Arcy; the role earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress at just twenty‑three, making her the youngest nominee in that category, and won her the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Hartman built a solid film résumé, appearing in Francis Ford Coppola’s You’re a Big Boy Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s semi‑documentary, the critically acclaimed The Beguiled with Clint Eastwood, and the commercial hit Walking Tall as Pauline Mullins. She also lent her voice to the title character Mrs. Brisby in Don Bluth’s animated classic The Secret of NIMH (1982), her final Hollywood role. Her later years were marked by a struggle with severe depression, leading to treatment at the Institute of Living and a gradual withdrawal from acting. After a divorce from Dennis in 1984, she worked in a Pittsburgh museum while continuing outpatient therapy. On June 10, 1987 she died by suicide, leaping from a fifth‑floor window in Pittsburgh; she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in her hometown’s suburb. The tragedy of her untimely death has cast a long shadow over a career once hailed for its raw emotional power and fearless portrayals.