SYLVIA SIDNEY BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Sylvia Sidney was born on August 8th, 1910 in the Bronx, New York with the birth name Sophia Kosow to a Russian father and a mother from Rumania.  Soon after she was born they divorced and her mother remarried.  As a young girl, she had aspirations of pursuing a career as an actress and with her parents support she was enrolled at the Theater Guild's School for Acting.
 
When she performed in a school production on a Broadway stage and earned great reviews from a New York Times critic she was offered a number of other roles in various professional stage productions.  
 
She soon was offered her first film debut in 1927 on the film, "Broadway Night" and then returned to stage work but not receiving as much success as the beginning of her stage career, Sylvia made another career switch and chose to join a traveling stock company in Colorado. 
 
After completing her touring, she did a number of other stage productions and then returned to work in the film industry appearing in such films as, "The Different Eyes", "Five Minutes From the Station" and "City Streets" which was very successful and helped boost her career to stardom.
 
In 1931 she was cast in the film, "Ladies of the Big House" followed by, "Merrily We Go To Hell" (1932) and "Madame Butterfly" (1932).  In 1934 she yet again starred in another film that put her in the spotlight, "Good Dame" and again in, "The Fugitive" (1935).  
 
As her career progressed, Sylvia worked on such films as, "Accent on Youth" (1935), "You and Me" (1938), "One Third of a Nation" (1939), "Wagons Roll at Night" (1941) and "Blood on the Sun" (1945).  She then did a couple other not so successful films before returning to the big screen in, "Summer Wishes, "Winter Dreams" (1973) and a couple made for television movies. 
 
Sylvia Sidney's last big screen appearance was on, "Mars Attacks" (1996) and was also seen again on television on the series, "Fantasy Island" (1998).  She never fully retired from acting but did choose to spend the later part of her life living in Roxbury, Connecticut in a farmhouse.  
 
She married a total of three times throughout her life, first to Bennett Cerf from 1935 till 1936 having no children.  Her second marriage was to Luther Adler on August 3rd, 1938 and after having two children this marriage ended in divorce in 1946.  Her third and final marriage was to Carlton Alsop in 1947 and they were only together until 1951.  She did not marry again and on July 1st, 1999, Sylvia passed away from throat cancer in New York City, New York.
 
Sylvia Sidney was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1990 and was a lifelong member of the Republican party.  She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to the Motion Picture Industry.  She was also accomplished at needlepoint and would make kits featuring her designs and published two instructional Needle Point books.    

 
Filmography

1998 Fantasy Island 
1996 Mars Attacks!
1993 Diagnosis Murder 
1992 Used People 
1991 The Man in the Family 
1990 Equal Justice 
1990 Andre's Mother 
1990 The Witching of Ben Wagner
1989 thirtysomething 
1989 The Equalizer 
1988 Dear John
1988 Beetle Juice
1987 Pals 
1986 Morningstar/Eveningstar 
1985 An Early Frost 
1985 Finnegan Begin Again
1984 Trapper John, M.D.
1984 Whiz Kids
1984 Domestic Life
1983 Order of Death
1983 Magnum, P.I. 
1983 The Brass Ring 
1982 Having It All
1982 Hammett 
1982 Come Along with Me
1981 A Small Killing
1981 The Love Boat
1980 The Shadow Box
1980 F.D.R.: The Last Year 
1980 The Gossip Columnist 
1979 California Fever
1979 Supertrain 
1978 Kaz
1978 WKRP in Cincinnati
1978 Damien: Omen II 
1978 Siege 
1977 Eight Is Enough
1977 I Never Promised You a Rose Garden 
1977 Snowbeast
1977 Westside Medical
1976 Raid on Entebbe 
1976 God Told Me To
1976 Starsky and Hutch 
1976 Death at Love House 
1975-1976 Ryan's Hope
1975 Winner Take All
1975 The Secret Night Caller
1973 Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
1971 Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate
1969 My Three Sons 
1964 The Doctors and the Nurses
1961-1964 Route 66 
1963 The Eleventh Hour
1962 The Defenders
1961 Naked City
1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1960 G.E. True Theater
1957-1958 Playhouse 90
1957 Kraft Theatre 
1955-1957 Climax!
1956 Behind the High Wall
1955-1956 Celebrity Playhouse
1955 The 20th Century-Fox Hour
1955 Playwrights '56
1955 Star Stage
1955 Violent Saturday
1953-1955 The Ford Television Theatre 
1953-1955 Ponds Theater 
1954 The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse 
1952-1953 Broadway Television Theatre 
1953 Joseph Schildkraut Presents
1952 Les Miserable
1952 Lux Video Theatre 
1952 Tales of Tomorrow 
1952 Schlitz Playhouse 
1952 Cameo Theatre 
1947 Love from a Stranger
1946 Mr. Ace
1946 The Searching Wind 
1945 Blood on the Sun
1941 The Wagons Roll at Night 
1939 ...One Third of a Nation... 
1938 You and Me 
1937 Dead End 
1937 You Only Live Once
1936 Sabotage 
1936 Fury 
1936 The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
1935 Mary Burns, Fugitive
1935 Accent on Youth 
1934 Behold My Wife 
1934 Thirty Day Princess
1934 Good Dame 
1933 Jennie Gerhardt 
1933 Pick-up 
1932 Madame Butterfly 
1932 Merrily We Go to Hell 
1932 The Miracle Man 
1931 Ladies of the Big House 
1931 Street Scene 
1931 An American Tragedy 
1931 Confessions of a Co-Ed 
1931 City Streets 
1930 Five Minutes from the Station
1929 Thru Different Eyes