Actress and Philanthropist Dina Merrill Passes Away at Age 93
By: BWW News Desk May. 23, 2017
Merrill was born in New York City on December 29, 1923. She was the only child of Post Cereals heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her second husband, the Wall Street investment broker Edward Francis "E.F." Hutton.
She adopted the stage name Dina Merrill, borrowing from Charles E. Merrill, a distant relative and a famous stockbroker like her father. Merrill made her debut on the stage in the play The Mermaid Singing in 1945. During World War II, she was part of the Moss Hart USO troupe and performed throughout the Pacific Theatre of Operations. Her stage career in regional and Broadway theatre took off after the war and continued through the 1990's including the1983 Broadway revival of the Rodgers & Hart musical On Your Toes.
Merrill appeared in more than 25 feature films including Desk Set (1957), Operation Petticoat, The Sundowners (1960), Butterfield 8 (1960), The Young Savages (1961), The Courtship of Eddie's Father , and Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978) and The Player (1992).
Merrill appeared on more than 100 television shows varying from What's My Line to The Magnificent Ambersons.
Merrill has been married three times. In 1946 she wed Stanley M. Rumbough, Jr. and had 3 children, including David Rumbough (d. 1973)
In 1966 she married Oscar-winning actor Cliff Robertson, with whom she had Heather Robertson (d. 2007)
In 1990's, Merrill and her third husband, TEd Hartley, merged their company, Pavilion Communications, with the famed RKO to form RKO Pictures which made a number of feature films including Mighty Joe Young (with Disney).
Merrill devoted a great deal of her time to public and charitable service. She was Chairman of the board and Director emeritus with over 50 years of service to the New York City Mission Society. When her son David was diagnosed with diabetes, Dina founded the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, dedicated to diabetic research. She served as the International Ambassador for ORBIS International, the flying eye hospital which teaches advanced eye care and eye surgical techniques all over the world.
Ms. Merrill was an energetic supporter of the performing arts. She was a founding trustee of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and an early director of the Paley Media Center. She served for 12 years as presidential appointee to the Board of Trustees of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She was honored by Guild Hall, where she performed on stage for many summers in East Hampton, NY, by the naming of their theater and back theater spaces the Dina Merrill Pavilion.
She was a trustee of the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens in Washington, DC.
She also served as a board member of the Population Resource Council and the Republican Majority for Choice Committee promoting "choice" for women and was a founding vice chairman of the Pro-Choice Coalition.
As a corporate leader, she served as the Vice Chairman of RKO Pictures and was actively involved in many of its productions and activities. She has served on the Board of Directors of E.F. Hutton Company and the Board of Lehman Brothers.
She is survived by her loving husband Ted Hartley, son Stanley Hutton Rumbough, and daughter Nedenia Rumbough Roosenburg and six grandchildren.
Burial services will be private for the family. Celebrations of Dina's life will be scheduled in weeks to come.
Remembrances of Dina could be sent in her name to:
- Orbis International, 520 8th Avenue, 12th Floor, New York, NY, 1001
- O'Neill Theatre Foundation, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Road, Waterford, CT 06385
- New York City Mission Society, 646 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037, Attention: Development Office
- Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens, 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20008
Messages of condolence will be gratefully received at dinamerrillremembered@rko.com.
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