This intelligent, warmly maternal character actress first made her mark in the theater in the late 1930s and early 40s. After stock work, the native New Yorker made her Broadway debut in "Glorianna" (1938), then went on to create the role of the raucous Ado Annie (the "girl who can't say no") in the original 1943 stage production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!". Holm went on to star as the early feminist Dolly Bloomer in the musical "Bloomer Girl" (1944) before moving to features. She continued to make stage appearances throughout her career, making her return in "Affairs of State" (1950), starring as Anna in "The King and I" (1952), assuming the role of "Mame" in 1966, portraying writer Janet Flanner in "Paris Was Yesterday" (1977-79) and appearing in the troubled production of "I Hate Hamlet" (1991).

Holm signed a long-term contract with 20th Century-Fox and made her screen debut in 1946 as one of the "Three Little Girls in Blue." Though pretty in a "smart blonde" way, Holm wasn't the typical Hollywood cutie, and Fox was hard-pressed to cast her. After the forgettable "Carnival in Costa Rica" (1947), she earned critical acclaim (and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) as Gregory Peck's lovelorn co-worker in "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947). Holm appeared in a total of nine Fox film through 1950, turning in superb supporting performances as one of the unfortunate denizens of "The Snake Pit" (1948), a nun in "Come to the Stable" (1949), and, most notably, Bette Davis' sweet-natured best pal in the classic "All About Eve" (1950).

After her release from Fox, Holm freelanced in films, between stage and TV assignments. She partnered Frank Sinatra in "The Tender Trap" (1955) and "High Society" (1956)--though he was four years older, Sinatra played the romantic lead and Holm was the wry, aging "spinster." The rest of her films consisted of small, good roles in such fare as the silly farce "Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding" (as Sandra Dee's mother, 1967), as Aunt Polly in the musical "Tom Sawyer" (1973), as Ted Danson's mother in "Three Men and a Baby" (1987), and as Brendan Fraser's musical grandmother in the independent romantic comedy "Still Breathing" (1997).

Holm has been very busy on TV since the early 1950s, when she appeared on such anthologies as "The Lux Video Theater," "Climax!", "Zane Grey Theater" and many others. She headlined her own series, playing a New York reporter in "Honestly, Celeste!" (CBS, 1954), and has been featured as a regular on the series "Nancy" (NBC, 1970-71), "The Delphi Bureau" (ABC, 1972-73), and the ABC soap "Loving" (1986, opposite her fourth husband Wesley Addy). She returned to series work as Gerald McRaney's mother in the CBS drama "Promised Land" (1996-99) and also had a recurring role on the short-lived UPN cop drama "The Beat" (2000).

She has also appeared in numerous specials, miniseries and TV-movies, winning particular attention for her performance as Florence Harding in "Backstairs at the White House" (NBC, 1979). Holm was also a welcome and reliable presence in "The Yeoman of the Guard" (NBC, 1957), as the wife of "The Man in the Dog Suit" (NBC, 1960), the fairy godmother in "Cinderella" (CBS, 1965), a nun in "The Captain and the Kings" (NBC, 1976), Miss Snow in the saccharine musical "Polly" (NBC, 1989) and its 1990 sequel. She also set sail on both "Death Cruise" (ABC, 1974) and "The Love Boat II" (ABC, 1977). More recently, she has been seen in the "Strangers on a Train" re-make "Once You Meet a Stranger" (CBS, 1996). While her more glamorous contemporaries fell by the wayside, Holm aged gracefully and continued to be a welcome presence in many mediums for more than half a century. She died on Sunday, July 15 in her home at Central Park West in New York City.