Fay Bainter (December 7, 1893 – April 16, 1968) was an Academy Award-winning American actress.
Bainter was born Fay Okell Bainter in Los Angeles, California. Although her occupation in 1910 was traveling actress, her film debut didn't occur until This Side of Heaven in 1934, the same year in which she appeared in Dodsworth on Broadway.
Robert Henri, the American painter of the Ashcan school, painted her portrait in 1918 (when she was about 25 years old.)
She quickly achieved success, and in 1938 she became the very first performer nominated for both the Oscar for Best Actress, for White Banners, and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, for Jezebel, winning for the latter. Since then, only nine other actors have won dual nominations in a single year.
She was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Children's Hour. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
Fay Bainter died from pneumonia at the age of 75.
Because her husband, Reginald Venable, was a military officer, the couple is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mother of Richard Venable.
Screen, stage, and television actress.
A change in the Academy Awards nominating and voting rules was made because of confusion over her two nominations in 1938.
Aunt of actress Dorothy Burgess.
Buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Her husband was a military officer who is buried there.
She is one of the elite ten thespians to have been nominated for both a Supporting and Lead Acting Academy Award in the same year for their achievements in two different movies. The other nine are Teresa Wright (I), Barry Fitzgerald (he has been nominated in both categories for the same role in the same movie), Jessica Lange, Sigourney Weaver, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson (I), Holly Hunter, Julianne Moore (I) and Jamie Foxx. Bainter was the first ever to have been nominated for both awards in the same year.
Presented the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Hattie McDaniel.
