Whatever happened to Thelma Oliver? Of Sweet Charity and House of Flowers.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 2:52am

I know this dates me but way back in 1965 when I was very young,
My parents took me to see Sweet Charity.

Of course I fell in love with Gwen and Helen Gallager but
whatever happened to Thelma Oliver?

anyone know?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 12:05pm

Interesting to read your folks took you to see SWEET CHARITY in 1965 when the show began Broadway previews on January 18, 1966!

By the way, Ms. Oliver was not part of the original 1954 Broadway production of HOUSE OF FLOWERS.

Now... to answer your question:

Thelma Oliver was a Broadway supporting player who appeared in hit shows continually through the 60's. The most well known song she was associated with was "Big Spender" from Bob Fosse's 1966 Broadway musical SWEET CHARITY. The scene in which she, co-star Helen Gallagher and the Fandango Girls line up along a railing and attempt to entice customers with the song was generally considered one of the hit show's big moments. This may have been Oliver's artistic triumph, but a few moments of film brought her much more notoriety in 1964, when she appeared in a controversial nude scene in THE PAWNBROKER. The same film brought Rod Steiger an Oscar for Best Actor, but he was not asked to bare his breasts. This was Oliver's job, and it was considered to be the first such baring of women's breasts in a non-exploitation film in modern times, and as such was a clear violation of the then still enforced Hays Code barring casual and potentially provocative nudity. It is hard to say if Oliver sought out such battles or had a raunchy side of her personality, but she apparently did not balk at recording a 1964 "party" album for producer Joe Davis under the pseudonym of Judy Andraws, a poke at the then current queen of Broadway, Julie Andrews, who would also later bare her breasts on screen, but only when her husband director Blake Edwards asked her to. Davis also underwent an obscenity bust, although it was song titles, and not the work of Oliver, that brought the heat in this case.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 12:18pm

"This may have been Oliver's artistic triumph, but a few moments of film brought her much more notoriety in 1964, when she appeared in a controversial nude scene in THE PAWNBROKER. The same film brought Rod Steiger an Oscar for Best Actor, but he was not asked to bare his breasts."



No, it didn't. Rod Steiger won his Oscar for "In the Heat of the Night" (1967).

Kind wrecks the "facts" in the rest of that blurb for me.

Updated On: 3/1/10 at 12:18 PM

[Marie Christine2]

Posted: 3/1/10 at 2:07pm

By the way, Ms. Oliver was not part of the original 1954 Broadway production of HOUSE OF FLOWERS.

Thelma Oliver played Ottilie in the 1968 Off-Broadway revival. I think that's what goldenboy was referring to.

[Margaret A Jones]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 4:15pm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Kaur_Khalsa

[EdEval]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 5:31pm

Thelma has left show business and has become a Muslim.  She has also changed her name.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 5:49pm

Here’s the scene from 1964’s THE PAWNBROKER.  It begins at the 1 minute 30 second mark:

 

[Margaret A Jones]

Posted: 6/25/19 at 7:36pm

She's not Muslim. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna_Kaur_Khalsa