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Who is Tuesday Weld?
She’s an actress with over 60 acting credits to her name, however, besides her roles, Tuesday Weld was known for her loose lifestyle. She was nicknamed ‘the archetypal nymphet’ by Time magazine in the ’60s, and she became Hollywood’s ‘sex kitten’ and scandal mistress before earning respect as an actress of genuine ability.
Tuesday is perhaps known best for her roles in movies such as “Once Upon a Time in America”, “Falling Down”, and “Play It As It Lays”, among others, while her most notable role was her portrayal of Katherine Dunn in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Let us tell you the naked truth about her life and how she became one of the shiniest Hollywood stars back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Early life, family, and education
Born Susan Ker Weld under the zodiac sign of Virgo on 27 August 1943, she will soon celebrate her 79th birthday. A native of Manhattan, New York City USA, she holds American nationality and comes from a family of Scottish and English descent. She is the daughter of Lathrop Motley Weld and his fourth and last wife, Yosene Balfour. Tuesday had two siblings, David and Sarah King.
Their father was from a wealthy, respected English family, but was the black sheep of his socially distinguished family. When he died in 1947, their mother pressed Tuesday into modeling so she provided for her family at the tender age of four. Their father’s family offered Yosene to raise and educate the children, which she refused.
Tuesday’s childhood became a steady round of auditions for modeling jobs, and in a later interview, Tuesday shared that she had her first nervous breakdown when she was just nine years old. Subsequently, the family moved to Florida, where Tuesday had the rare opportunity to attend public school and have a normal childhood like her peers. However, this didn’t last long, and Tuesday developed a drinking problem when she was ten years old.
Her mother decided that since the family’s financial needs increased, they had to move back to New York City, but Tuesday’s siblings were left in the care of their mother’s friends. Tuesday took dancing and acting classes in New York, and soon began auditioning.
Acting career-beginnings
Tuesday made her acting debut playing Dori in the 1956 movie “Rock Rock Rock!” Later that year, she was seen as Giggly Girl in the drama “The Wrong Man”, directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock, then in the following year, she made her television debut in an episode of the show “Goodyear Playhouse”.
Aged 12, Tuesday made the first of several suicide attempts, taking a potentially lethal combination of aspirin, alcohol and sleeping pills.
The late ‘50s saw her in “Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!” (1958) and “The Five Pennies” in 1959, which earned her the Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer – Female. In October of that year, she legally changed her name from ‘Susan’ to ‘Tuesday’, and left her mother’s home at the age of 16, but was required by California’s tough child labor rules to remain in school until she was 18, so attended a Hollywood vocational school when she wasn’t working. In 1960, she was nominated for the Laurel Award for Top New Female Personality.
She turned down the role of Lolita in Stanley Kubrick’s eponymous movie, stating that she didn’t have to play that role since she is Lolita.
The early ‘60s saw Tuesday in “Sex Kittens Go to College” (1960), “Wild in the Country” (1961), “Soldier in the Rain” (1963), and “Lord Love a Duck” (1966), among many others. However, her career blossomed in the ‘70s.
Most notable roles and awards
Tuesday’s first notable role was her portrayal of Sue Ann Stepanek in the 1968 romantic crime comedy “Pretty Poison”, in which she starred opposite Anthony Perkins. For her performance, Tuesday was nominated for the New York Film Critics Circle Award – Best Actress.
In 1972, she was cast to play Maria Wyeth Lang in the drama “Play It As It Lays”, which followed the story of a Hollywood actress who had a psychic breakdown, in which Tuesday again starred with Anthony Perkins. She won the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama.
Five years later came Tuesday’s most significant role as Katherine in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”, a drama also starring Diane Keaton and Richard Gere. It followed the story of a schoolteacher who at night visits clubs searching for an affair. As mentioned, Tuesday’s performance in this movie brought her an Academy Award nomination.
The early ‘80s saw Tuesday playing Jessie in the action crime drama “Thief”, followed by her role as Lizzie in “The Rainmaker” (1982), which brought her the CableACE Award nomination for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program.
In the following year, she played Margie Young-Hunt in the TV movie “The Winter of Our Discontent”, which brought her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Special.
Later in 1984, Tuesday was cast to play Carol in “Once Upon a Time in America”, also starring Robert De Niro, and for her performance, Tuesday was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She followed with her roles in “Heartbreak Hotel” (1988), “Falling Down” (1993), and “Feeling Minnesota” in 1996. Her most recent movie appearance was in the 2001 film “Intimate Affairs”.
Love life and relationships
Tuesday gained notoriety because of her lifestyle. She was known for numerous scandals, which included affairs with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, such as Albert Finney, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
She flaunted her sex life and further scandalized the press by refusing to hide her love of booze, and attending interviews barefoot. By the end of the decade, such behavior would appear almost normal, but in the early 1960s, gossip columnists were criticizing her as contributing to Hollywood’s moral decay.
Tuesday’s first husband was screenwriter Claude Harz; they married on 23 October 1965, and have a daughter together, Natasha, who was born on 26 August 1966, but divorced in 1971.
Five years later, she married British musician, actor and comedian Dudley Moore, with whom she has son Patrick, born on 26 February 1976. Tuesday and Dudley divorced in 1980.
Between marriages, she dated Al Pacino, Omar Sharif, Richard Gere and Mikhail Baryshnikov, among many other celebrities.
In 1985, Tuesday married Israeli concert violinist Pinchas Zukerman. The couple didn’t have children together, but Pinchas had two daughters from his first marriage, namely Natalia and Arianna, and Tuesday became their stepmother. The family of four and Tuesday’s children from her previous marriages lived together until 1998 when Tuesday filed for divorce.
As of July 2023, it seems that Tuesday is single.
Where is she today? Net worth
In the late 2000s, Tuesday sold her beach house in Montauk, New York, and moved to Colorado, however, in 2018, she bought a house and moved to the Hollywood Hills, where she still resides, but has lived her life away from the media’s attention for the past 20 years.
If you have wondered how rich Tuesday is, according to sources as of July 2023, her net worth has been estimated at over $5 million.
