Harriet Medin

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1914, Harriet White Medin started out as a dental assistant and cleaned the teeth of young John and Robert Kennedy. After deciding to pursue work in the theater and playing a role on Broadway, she joined the USO and this led to her becoming the first American actress to relocate to post-war Italy and work in Italian films, beginning with Roberto Rossellini's Paisan (1946). Her following role was the lead in a dramatic film about the life of a saint, Genoveffa di Brabante (1947). She never found success as anything but a character actress and was often typecast as starchy, prim housewives and housekeepers. Orson Welles wanted her to play the role of Emilia in his Othello, but Harriet's inability to remain at the beck and call of Welles' shooting schedule forced him to recast the role with Fay Compton. When she realized that her acting career was at a standstill, she began working as a dialogue coach, helping Italian actors with their Engli