Biographie
Born to embody Tennessee Williams' heroines, her striking beauty, sharp wit, and sultry voice evoked a bygone era that revered figures like Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich. Her classic style, perhaps too theatrical or extravagant for mainstream film or television—much like Bankhead’s—meant Hollywood missed out on a potentially dazzling character actress. Nonetheless, Carrie Nye was a stage actress through and through, and the theater embraced her for over forty years.
The smoky siren was born Carolyn Nye McGeoy in Mississippi on October 14, 1936 (some sources cite 1937), daughter to a banker and a homemaker. She began her higher education at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, before transferring to the Yale School of Drama, where she met the equally witty, though less biting, Dick Cavett. The two married in 1964, forming a rare, complementary union akin to Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft’s enduring partnership. At the time, Cavett was pursuing a legitimate acting career, and together they performed in plays such as "Charley’s Aunt," "Auntie Mame," "The Brothers Karamazov," "The Skin of Our Teeth," and "Present Laughter," before Cavett shifted his career path.
Starting her professional acting career at 14, Carrie portrayed many beloved Southern belle roles—Maggie in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1958), Cherie in "Bus Stop" (1958), and Blanche DuBois at just 23 in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1959). She made her Broadway debut in "A Second String" (based on Colette’s novel) at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 1960, then dove into the classics. Her notable roles included Ondine, Celia in "As You Like It," Lady Macduff and later Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth," Cressida in "Troilus and Cressida," Regan in "King Lear," Cleopatra in "Antony and Cleopatra," and Cassandra in "The Trojan Women." On a lighter note, she replaced Betsy von Furstenberg in the well-liked comedy "Mary, Mary" and portrayed Cecily Cardew in "The Importance of Being Earnest." Her work in the musical "Half a Sixpence" in 1965 earned her a Tony nomination.
Carrie did not appear in film until she was 30, debuting in The Group (1966). She appeared in only a few more films: The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), Creepshow (1982), Too Scared to Scream (1984), and Hello Again (1987). She found greater success in television movies, notably overshadowing Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Divorce His - Divorce Hers (1973), and earning an Emmy nomination for her brilliant portrayal of Tallulah Bankhead in The Scarlett O’Hara War (1980), a role she was uniquely suited to.
Yet, theater remained Carrie’s true passion, especially regional theater. With a commanding presence and grandeur, she tackled numerous challenging roles: Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter," Regina in "The Little Foxes," the title role in "Hedda Gabler," and reprised Blanche DuBois in 1973 at age 47. She received a Drama Desk nomination for "The Man Who Came to Dinner" in 1980 and reunited with Cavett onstage in a 1985 production of "Nude with Violin." Throughout her career, she was a fixture at the Williamstown Festival from the late 1950s onward, starring in summer productions like "Design for Living" (1977) and "Clothes for a Summer Hotel" (1989). Her final performance there was as Zelda Fitzgerald. She concluded her stage career on a high note with the musical "Mame" in 1992.
Carrie largely retired from acting by the mid-1990s but returned briefly in 2003 to portray a villainess role written especially for her on Guiding Light (1952). In 1997, the couple’s Long Island home, Tick Hall, was destroyed by fire. They meticulously rebuilt an exact replica of the cherished 1883 cottage, a process documented in the film "From the Ashes: The Life and Times of Tick Hall" (2003).
A heavy smoker, Carrie died of lung cancer at age 69 in her Manhattan home. She and Cavett had no children.
