Elaine Dundy

Elaine Rita Dundy (née Brimberg; August 1, 1921 – May 1, 2008) was an American novelist, biographer, journalist, actress and playwright.

Her Polish Jewish immigrant father, Samuel Brimberg, was an office furniture manufacturer and a violent bully.

[2] Dundy grew up in a Park Avenue home where she was educated by a governess, though she eventually attended high school, where her boyfriend Terry was the son of playwright Maxwell Anderson.

[1] A habituée of New York nightclubs from the age of 15, she met the exiled Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, who wished to be taught how to jitterbug.

[3] An honors graduate from Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, she studied acting at the Jarvis Theatre School in Washington[4] with future star actors Rod Steiger, Tony Curtis and others, and in the Dramatic Workshop was taught by Erwin Piscator.

[3] At the end of World War II, she traveled to Europe, first to live in Paris, dubbing French films,[1] then settled in London, where she performed in a BBC radio play.

Dundy was heard in different roles on Radio Luxembourg's Harry Lime dramas, directed by Orson Welles.

[6] She received a letter from an admirer:Dear Mrs Tynan, I don't make the habit of writing to married women, especially if the husband is a dramatic critic, but I had to tell someone (and it might as well be you since you're the author) how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado.

Dundy attempted to cure herself of addictions from 1968 to 1976,[3] though according to her daughter, she struggled with drugs and alcohol for half a century.