National Award - Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal knew she would be an actress from a very early age but she couldn’t have known about the fame, the tragic misfortune, and the triumph, and that would become her life’s story. In her early teens, she would entertain family, friends, and the public of Knoxville, Tennessee, where she was raised, with monologues and dramatic readings. After attending Northwestern University, she was encouraged to pursue her dreams and eventually move to New York to pursue a career in theatre.

She quickly met with success on Broadway, where she would eventually perform in several plays, including her breakthrough role as “Regina” in Lillian Hellman’s Another Part of the Forest, for which she received numerous awards, including the very first Tony Award, as well as a Drama Critics’ Award, for Best New Actress, which garnered the attention of Hollywood. Over the next four years, her film career was prolific, with leading roles in such cinematic classics as John Loves Mary, The Hasty Heart, The Fountainhead, The Breaking Point and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Among her leading men were Ronald Reagan, John Wayne, Victor Mature, Tyrone Power and her favorite, Gary Cooper.

After Patricia Neal married acclaimed British short story writer (and later children’s author) Roald Dahl, she had five children and only took on challenging roles in film and television during the 50’s. Then a series of tragic events befell Patricia Neal’s life and career. Her four-month old son was hit by a car which left him in critical condition. After multiple surgeries he would eventually recover from the trauma to his brain. Just two years later, Neal’s first-born daughter would die from complications due to measles. And at the age of 39, while pregnant with her fifth child, Patricia was struck by three massive strokes that left her in a coma for three weeks. (Her condition was so grave that the entertainment newspaper Variety misreported that she had died.) Her recovery was both difficult and phenomenal and she miraculously gave birth to her last daughter just four months after her strokes. Patricia Neal still works with stroke victims throughout the world, devoting much of her time to the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Neal was featured in several films in the 60’s with a supporting role as “Mrs. Failenson” in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She triumphantly won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Alma in Hud, co-starring Paul Newman. After her recovery, she reactivated her work in film and television and received yet another Academy Award Best Actress nomination for her role as Nettie Cleary in The Subject Was Roses. Since that time she has appeared in over 25 films and TV shows including episodes of the popular Little House on the Prairie and Murder She Wrote, receiving three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Best Actress Award for her role in the classic TV movie The Homecoming.

Patricia Neal wrote a candid autobiography, As I Am, in 1998 and she is currently the subject of the recently published, comprehensive biography Patricia Neal – An Unquiet Life (University Press of Kentucky, 2006) by Stephen Michael Shearer.

Kentucky honors the unbridled spirit of Patricia Neal who has scaled the heights of fame, triumphed over much personal adversity, given help to and inspired so many, and has continued a lifetime of achievement in acting. Patricia Neal is a star that shines brightly over Kentucky.

Previous recipients: George Wolfe, Marsha Norman, Marvin & Morgan Smith, Rosemary Clooney, Christine Johnson Smith, Joe Downing, Sam Gilliam, Barbara Kingsolver, John Henry, The Judd Family - Naomi, Wynonna & Ashley, Ricky Scaggs and The Everly Brothers.