Cara Williams, one of the last remaining actresses of Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age and an Oscar nominee for her performance in 1958\u2019s \u201cThe Defiant Ones,\u201d died on Thursday. She was 96 years old.<\/p>\n
Williams\u2019 death was confirmed to\u00a0Variety\u00a0<\/em>by her daughter Justine Jagoda and her great-nephew Richard Potter.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only was she a sparkling actress with impeccable comedic timing, she was also funny, over-the-top, warm-hearted and loving,\u201d Jagoda told\u00a0Variety\u00a0<\/em>in a statement. \u201cShe could make anyone laugh and smile if they had a bad day. She was everything that you could wish for in a mother and more. It\u2019s a sad loss to lose a woman from this incredible era.\u201d<\/p>\n Born as Bernice Kamiat in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 29, 1925, Williams began working as an actress when she was a child. After her parents divorced, she relocated to Hollywood with her mother and began to attend the Hollywood Professional School, giving voice performances in cartoon shorts. At age 16, Williams was signed by 20th Century-Fox and began appearing in small, often unbilled parts in films such as \u201cWide Open Town,\u201d \u201cHappy Land\u201d and \u201cIn the Meantime, Darling.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Following a turn in a stage production of \u201cBorn Yesterday,\u201d Williams career ignited in the late 1940s and \u201950s. The actress earned big supporting roles in \u201cBoomerang!,\u201d \u201cThe Girl Next Door\u201d and \u201cThe Helen Morgan Story.\u201d She garnered an Academy Award nomination in the category of best supporting actress for her performance as a widowed mother in Stanley Kramer\u2019s \u201cThe Defiant Ones,\u201d acting opposite Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. She later took on roles in comedies \u201cNever Steal Anything Small\u201d and \u201cThe Man From the Diners\u2019 Club.\u201d<\/p>\n Williams also worked in television, earning an Emmy nomination for her lead performance as Gladys in CBS\u2019 \u201cPete and Gladys,\u201d the network\u2019s spin-off of its 1950\u2019s sitcom \u201cDecember Bride.\u201d A running joke of \u201cDecember Bride\u201d involved a supporting character played by Harry Morgan complaining about his dizzy wife, Gladys. Williams stepped into that unseen role for the spin-off series. Williams also later starred in her own series, \u201cThe Cara Williams Show,\u201d alongside Frank Aletter. By the 1980\u2019s, Williams had stepped away from acting.<\/p>\n Williams married Alan Gray in 1945. The two had a daughter before divorcing after two years. In 1952, Williams wed actor John Drew Barrymore, son of John Barrymore, and the two produced actor John Blythe Barrymore before divorcing in 1959. Williams later wed Los Angeles real estate figure Asher Dann in 1964. The two remained married until Dann\u2019s death in 2018 at the age of 83.<\/p>\n