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When Ruth Gordon, at the age of 72, won an Oscar for her delightfully sinister supporting performance in Rosemary's Baby (1968), she declared, "I can't tell you how encouraging a thing like this is." It nicely summed up the energy and optimism she displayed over a 70-year career, which began with a 1915 stage debut as Peter Pan and went on to include many now-classic dramatic and comedic stage roles in the likes of "The Country Wife" and "The Matchmaker." Though she had appeared onscreen in Camille (1915) and The Whirl of Life (1916), Gordon's film career began in earnest with roles in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (as Mary Todd), Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bul let (both 1940), and Two-Faced Woman (1941). She married playwright Garson Kanin in 1942; together they wrote a series of acclaimed screenplays that George Cukor directed: A Double Life (1947) and the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn classics Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952), all three Oscarnominated, as well as The Marrying Kind (1952). Gordon also wrote The Actress (1953), an adaptation of her own autobiographical play "Years Ago," which starred Jean Simmons in the title role.

In the mid 1960s, Gordon took up screen acting once again and got her second wind in no time, picking up an Oscar nomination for her turn in Inside Daisy Clover (1965), and then becoming a sensation in Rosemary's Baby. She followed her Oscarwinning performance with hilarious work in Where's Poppa? (1970), and achieved bona fide "cult" status as Bud Cort's lover in the black comedy Harold and Maude (1971). Gordon worked constantly until her death, appearing in Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Boardwalk (1979), My Bodyguard (1980), and Maxie (1985). She also worked extensively on TV, including an Emmy-winning turn on an episode of "Taxi." She wrote two volumes of autiobiography, "Myself Among Others" (1971) and "My Side" (1976).