Elizabeth Hartman Movies and Career Information

Mary Elizabeth Hartman (December 23, 1943 – June 10, 1987) was an American actress, best known for her performance in the 1965 film A Patch of Blue, playing a blind girl named Selina D'Arcy, opposite Sidney Poitier, a role for which she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. The next year, she appeared in You're a Big Boy Now as Barbara Darling, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Hartman was born in Youngstown, Ohio, where she became known to patrons of the Youngstown Playhouse as "Biff" Hartman. After gaining valuable experience in community theater, she relocated to New York City. In 1964, Hartman was signed to play the ingénue lead in the Broadway comedy Everybody Out, the Castle is Sinking. In 1964, Hartman was screen-tested by MGM and Warner Brothers. In the early autumn of 1964, she was offered a leading role in A Patch of Blue, opposite Sidney Poitier and Shelley Winters. The role won Hartman widespread critical acclaim, a fact proudly noted by the news media in