English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips > Special Speed News VOA慢速

Patricia Neal 1926-2010: actress had great success and personal tragedy

[ 2011-02-28 13:09]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

Patricia Neal 1926-2010: actress had great success and personal tragedy

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I'm Shirley Griffith.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I'm Christopher Cruise with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Patricia Neal, a famous actress who reached the top of her profession but had many personal tragedies.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In the 1940s and 1950s, one American actress could be identified by listening to her speak just a few words:

PATRICIA NEAL: "I didn't want to be tied to anything. I wanted to destroy it rather than let it be part of a world where beauty and genius and greatness have no chance."

That was Patricia Neal in the 1949 film "The Fountainhead."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: She was named Patsy Louise Neal when she was born in 1926 in Packard, Kentucky, a coal-mining camp. Her father was a manager at a coal mine. Packard no longer exists. It disappeared, as mining camps often do, and few people remember it. But Packard's most famous daughter is remembered for her great beauty, success, talent, bravery and activism.

Later the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. Patricia began acting as a teenager. She studied drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for two years but left to go to New York City. In 1947 she won a Tony award the first year the awards were given for her first Broadway performance. She played a teenage girl in "Another Part of the Forest" written by Lillian Hellman. Her success on Broadway quickly brought offers from Hollywood filmmakers.

By the age of 21, Patricia Neal was on the cover of Life magazine. Being on the cover meant you were a star. Millions of Americans read the magazine every week.

Patricia Neal 1926-2010: actress had great success and personal tragedy

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Soon after Patricia Neal arrived in Hollywood, she met Gary Cooper, one of the most famous movie stars of the time. They starred together in "The Fountainhead" in 1949. It was the film version of Ayn Rand's famous book.

GARY COOPER (AS HOWARD ROARK): "Come in...I expected you to come here."

PATRICIAL NEAL (AS DOMINIQUE FRANCON): "I didn't know your name. You knew mine, but you haven't tried to find me in all these months."

GARY COOPER: "I wanted you to find me and have to come to me."

PATRICIA NEAL: "If it gives you pleasure to know that you are breaking me down I'll give you a greater satisfaction...I love you, Roark. Would it please you to hear that I've lived in torture all these months? Hoping never to find you again and wishing to give my life just to see you once more. But you knew that, of course – that's what you wanted me to live through."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Gary Cooper was 48 years old and married. Patricia Neal was just 23. But they soon became lovers. Their three-year love affair ended when Cooper refused to leave his wife and daughter for Neal, even after Neal became pregnant with his child. This hurt Patricia Neal terribly. She had an illegal abortion. She suffered an emotional collapse. She left Hollywood and moved to New York City.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In 1953, she met and married the British writer Roald Dahl. More than 30 years later, she said in an interview that she did not love Dahl when she married him. But she wanted very much to be a mother.

PATRICIA NEAL: "So I thought, well, I will marry him because he will give me divine children, and I wanted children so much - you have no idea how much I wanted children. And that, that is really why I married Roald Dahl because I thought I would never be deeply in love again because I had been deeply in love with Gary Cooper."

They moved to England where they had five children. In the 1950s Patricia Neal again appeared on Broadway. In 1957 she returned to film and starred in "A Face in the Crowd" directed by Elia Kazan. But two tragedies happened to Neal and Dahl in the 1960s. Their infant son Theo suffered brain damage when a car hit him in New York City. Their seven-year-old daughter Olivia died from the disease measles.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal lived in England with her husband and children, but she continued to make movies in Hollywood. In 1964, she received an Academy Award for best actress. She won the award for her performance as Alma the housekeeper in the movie "Hud," starring Paul Newman.

Patricia Neal 1926-2010: actress had great success and personal tragedy

PATRICIA NEAL (AS ALMA): "Don't you ever ask?"

PAUL NEWMAN (AS HUD): "Well, the only question I ever ask any woman is 'What time is your husband comin' home?'"

PATRICIA NEAL: "Must say I've been asked with a little more finesse in my time."

PAUL NEWMAN: "I'll bring ya a two-pound box of candy and maybe a bottle of perfume from the drugstore."

PATRICIA NEAL: "No thanks. I done my time with one cold-blooded bastard. I'm not lookin' for another."

PAUL NEWMAN: "It's too late, honey, you already found him."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In 1965, a year after she won the Oscar, Patricia Neal suffered three strokes. She was 39 years old and three months pregnant with her fifth child. She was unconscious for three weeks. When she woke up, she was blind and could not speak. And she was unable to move parts of her body.

She was in such terrible condition that Variety, a national entertainment newspaper, reported that she had died.

PATRICIA NEAL: "I've read about my death in the paper."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The report read: "Patricia Neal, 39, last-year's Oscar-winning best actress who won five prizes for her first Broadway performance in 1947, died last night at UCLA Medical Center."

The report was wrong, but not by much. She was near death. It was three months before she was able to walk again and speak a little. Her husband forced her to improve. But every day was difficult. She said she hated life. "I wanted to commit suicide," she said, "but I didn't know how." Six months after the strokes, she gave birth to a healthy daughter named Lucy. She believes the strokes kept her from becoming a major star.

PATRICIA NEAL: "I'd just won the Academy Award. I was going to go sensational. I was gonna get the most heavenly parts in the world. I would win Oscar after Oscar after Oscar."

INTERVIEWER: "You were 39 years old – at the beginning, in fact, of a career."

PATRICIA NEAL: "And it was killed."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: But by 1968 she was back in the movies. The strokes affected her brain so much that it was very difficult for her to remember her lines. But she worked hard. And she received an Academy Award nomination for her role in "The Subject Was Roses."

She played an angry mother who uses her son as a weapon against her husband.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In 1978, she dedicated the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. The center helps people who have had strokes. Patricia Neal raised money for children and adults who had suffered brain injuries. She showed that a brain injury did not mean the end of life or the end of joy. She said: "I can't see from one eye. I've been paralyzed. I've fallen down and broken a hip. Stubbornness gets you through the bad times. Don't give in."

Patricia Neal 1926-2010: actress had great success and personal tragedy

In 1983, Patricia Neal suffered another personal tragedy. She learned that her husband had been having a long relationship with her closest friend. After 30 years in England, she ended her marriage and returned to the United States.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal was 84 when she died of lung cancer in 2010. She had made almost 40 movies.

They include "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's." She had worked with the most famous actors of her time.

She also appeared in many television programs. She had had a productive career, but it was not everything she had wanted it to be. She wished she had become a great star.

A friend remembered her as one of the most extraordinary women of our time. "She was constantly inspiring everyone for her courage and dedication. Whether on stage, in motion pictures or in her personal life, she maintained her unique beauty and personality."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Jennie Morrow raises money to support the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center. She said Patricia Neal faced severe problems with such style and grace. "She was so inspirational to the patients. She stopped to hear their stories, held their hands and applauded their success. And she knew about the value of applause."

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Patricia Neal struggled back to a productive life after many personal and professional problems. She helped others who were recovering from strokes. But one writer said after she died: "She wished to be remembered not for gossip, or for her personal life, but for her performances on stage and screen."

In 2005, Patricia Neal said: "I am an actress, and I will take any good part as long as I can stand up. And when I can no longer do that, I will take them lying down."

After she died, the New York Times newspaper wrote that her life moved back and forth between victory and tragedy. A book about her is called "Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life." That seems like a good way to describe the life she lived.

PATRICIA NEAL: "I've loved being here..."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written by Christopher Cruise and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Shirley Griffith.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I'm Christopher Cruise. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

measle: 麻疹

Related stories:

Hooray for Hollywood!

Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit

King Kong heroine is dead at 96

All-American artist inspires Lucas, Spielberg

(来源:VOA 编辑:崔旭燕)

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn