Ruth White

Ruth Patricia White (April 24, 1914December 3, 1969) was an American actress who worked in theatre, film, and television. She won Emmy and Obie awards, and was a Tony Award nominee. Early years A lifelong resident of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, White was of Irish Catholic descent. She attended St. Mary's High School and graduated with a bachelor's degree in literature from New Jersey College for Women, now Douglass Residential College, Rutgers University in 1935. While pursuing her acting career in nearby New York City, she taught acting and drama at Seton Hall University. During this period, she also studied acting with Maria Ouspenskaya. Early career White began her acting career in 1940 as an apprentice at the Cape May Playhouse. Late in World War II, she spent six months in Alaska and the Aleutians touring with a USO troupe. For five years, beginning in 1948, she was the leading resident actress at Bucks County Playhouse. White's Broadway debut came in The Ivy Green (1949).