b. 29 April 1919, New York City, New York, USA. Well educated in the USA and Europe, Holm took acting and dance lessons and studied drama at the University of Chicago. While still in school, she appeared on stage with a stock (repertory) company in Pennsylvania. Soon afterwards, she went to New York where she appeared from 1938 onwards in several productions. Among these was Return Of The Vagabond (1940), which was George M. Cohan’s last play. Her breakthrough came when she won the plum role of Ado Annie in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Oklahoma! (1943). In 1944 she played Evelina in Bloomer Girl and soon after this was signed to 20th Century-Fox and swiftly became a successful film actress. Her film roles showed her seemingly boundless versatility and included Three Little Girls In Blue (1946), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947, for which she won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress), All About Eve (1950), The Tender Trap (1955), singing the duet ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ with Frank Sinatra in High Society (1956), Bachelor Flat (1962), Tom Sawyer (1973), Bittersweet Love (1976), and Three Men And A Baby (1987). Holm had never abandoned the stage, and in 1952 took over the lead in The King And I; in 1967 she did the same thing in Mame. In 1979 she was in Utter Glory Of Morrisey Hall. In that same year Holm received a special and unusual honour. Her father had been an emigrant from Norway and she was invited to that country where she was knighted by King Olav V. In 1982 she was appointed to the National Council for the Arts and in 1983 became chairman of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Development Commission. In addition to her stage and film work, Holm also played leading roles in daytime television soap operas. Despite suffering a stroke in 2002, Holm continued performing concerts and making special appearances.