---
name: "Susan Tyrrell"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/susan-tyrrell"
fi1m_id: "susan-tyrrell"
imdb_id: "nm0879073"
tmdb_id: 59369
wikidata_id: "Q266432"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "18 March 1945"
died: "16 June 2012"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-26T17:37:13.534692+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Susan Tyrrell

## Identity

Susan Tyrrell

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/susan-tyrrell
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** susan-tyrrell
- **IMDb ID:** nm0879073
- **TMDB ID:** 59369
- **Wikidata ID:** Q266432
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Tyrrell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q266432, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0879073/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/59369

Actor. Born 18 March 1945 in San Francisco, California, USA. Died 16 June 2012.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 18 March 1945, San Francisco, California, USA
- **Died:** 16 June 2012
- **Also known as:** Susan Tyrell, Susan Jillian Creamer, Сюзан Тайррелл
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Tyrrell, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q266432, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0879073/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/59369

## Streaming the US now

- **The Roku Channel:** [*Fat City*](https://film.one/film/fat-city.md) (73)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Susan Tyrrell

> Susan Tyrrell made difficult women funny without making them easy company. We value her most in *Fat City*, where the abrasiveness never cancels the vulnerability, though later roles too often settled for letting her be outrageous.

Susan Tyrrell's Oma is funny in *Fat City* (1972), and still difficult to spend time with. Tyrrell makes her humour sound necessary, as though giving it up would leave this woman with little protection. We laughed, then felt uneasy about laughing, because she lets the need behind Oma's defiance show. The performance never turns her into a harmless eccentric. We rate Tyrrell highly for sustaining that difficulty without making the character someone to dismiss.

There is skill in not easing off at the point where an audience expects a little warmth. A more charming Oma would give us a comfortable way to watch her troubles, and Tyrrell declines to supply one. John Huston's patience helps: she has room to be funny and remain someone we would find exhausting. The direction sometimes drifts, but she and Stacy Keach make the company worth keeping.

Her subsequent career took that hard-bitten presence through independent films, camp and exploitation, with fewer opportunities to escape the type. *Andy Warhol's Bad* (1977) helped establish the camp direction; *Forbidden Zone* (1980) cast her as the cigar-smoking Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension. John Waters' *Cry-Baby* (1990) found another use for her as a rockabilly grandmother. These are fitting roles for an actor drawn to the grotesque, but their variety should not conceal the repeated demand for a woman who could be relied upon to behave outrageously.

The danger was that her husky voice and coarse manner could be treated as enough in themselves. The later material did not consistently offer the opportunities suggested by *Fat City*, and distinctiveness can get an actor hired while narrowing what she is allowed to do. We value Tyrrell most when there is time to notice why a woman talks and behaves this way, rather than simply waiting for the next provocation. Start with Oma, provided an evening with someone difficult is not what you are trying to escape.

## Biography

Susan Tyrrell was an American character actress. She began her career in theatre in New York City during the 1960s with Broadway and off-Broadway roles. Her first film appearance was in *Shoot Out* (1971).

Tyrrell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Oma in John Huston's *Fat City* (1972). She won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in *Andy Warhol's Bad* (1977). She appeared in numerous films and television productions, including *Cry-Baby* (1990).

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, nytimes.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Fat City* (1972), Fi1m 73, as Oma — [page](https://film.one/film/fat-city.md)

## Complete filmography (74)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Kid-Thing* (2012), as Esther
- *Flexing with Monty* (2010), as Mrs. Nog (voice)
- *The Boneyard Collection* (2008), as High Priestess
- *Masked and Anonymous* (2003), as Ella the Fortune Teller
- *Buddy Boy* (2000), as Sal
- *Relax... It's Just Sex* (1998), as Alicia
- *Cow and Chicken* (1997), series, as Madame DeBarge (voice)
- *Extreme Ghostbusters* (1997), series, as Achira (voice)
- *I Am Weasel* (1997), series, as Madame DeBarge (voice)
- *Pink as the Day She Was Born* (1997), Actor
- *Poison Ivy: The New Seduction* (1997), as Mrs. B
- *Japan in Paris in L.A.* (1996), Actor
- *Powder* (1995), as Maxine
- *Digital Man* (1995), as Mildred
- *The Demolitionist* (1995), as Eleanor Grimbaum
- *Susan Tyrrell: My Rotten Life, a Bitter Operetta* (1992), as The Woman · Lyricist, Book, Writer
- *Motorama* (1991), as Bartender
- *Every Cake, Neil* (1991), Actor
- *Wings* (1990), series, as Sconset Sal
- *Cry-Baby* (1990), as Ramona Rickettes
- *Rockula* (1990), as Chuck the Bartender
- *Far from Home* (1989), as Agnes Reed
- *Tales from the Crypt* (1989), series, as Mona
- *Skip E. Lowe Looks at Hollywood* (1989), series, Actor
- *Tapeheads* (1988), as Nikki Morton
- *Big Top Pee-wee* (1988), as Midge Montana
- *The Underachievers* (1988), as Mrs. Grant
- *From a Whisper to a Scream* (1987), as Beth Chandler
- *The Chipmunk Adventure* (1987), as Claudia Furschtien (voice)
- *Poker Alice* (1987), as Mad Mary
- *The Christmas Star* (1986), as Sara
- *If Tomorrow Comes* (1986), series, as Bertha
- *Thompson's Last Run* (1986), as Pookie
- *Flesh + Blood* (1985), as Celine
- *Avenging Angel* (1985), as Solly Mosler
- *Jealousy* (1984), as Dixie
- *Angel* (1984), as Solly Mosler
- *The Hitchhiker* (1983), series, as Doris
- *Fire and Ice* (1983), as Juliana (voice)
- *What's Up, Hideous Sun Demon* (1983), as Bunny
- *Fast-Walking* (1982), as Evie
- *Forbidden Zone* (1982), as Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension
- *Liar's Moon* (1982), as Lora Mae Bouvier
- *Open All Night* (1981), series, as Gretchen Feester
- *Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker* (1981), as Aunt Cheryl
- *Tales of Ordinary Madness* (1981), as Vera
- *Subway Riders* (1981), as Eleanor Langley
- *Midnight Lace* (1981), as Ann Galvin
- *Document of the Dead* (1981), as Narrator (voice)
- *Racquet* (1979), as Miss Baxter
- *Lady of the House* (1978), as Helen
- *Flying High* (1978), series, Actor
- *Loose Shoes* (1978), as Boobies
- *Another Man, Another Chance* (1977), as Alice
- *September 30, 1955* (1977), as Melba Lou
- *I Never Promised You a Rose Garden* (1977), as Lee
- *Bad* (1977), as Mary Aiken
- *Islands in the Stream* (1977), as Lil
- *Wizards* (1977), as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
- *The Killer Inside Me* (1976), as Joyce Lakeland
- *Starsky & Hutch* (1975), series, as Annie / Isabelle Oates
- *Baretta* (1975), series, Actor
- *To Kill the King* (1974), as Maggie Van Birchard
- *Zandy's Bride* (1974), as Marai Cordova
- *Catch My Soul* (1974), as Emilia
- *Kojak* (1973), series, as Mary Torino — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/kojak.md)
- *Fat City* (1972), as Oma — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/fat-city.md)
- *Nichols* (1971), series, as Caralee
- *Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me* (1971), as Jack
- *The Steagle* (1971), as Louise
- *Shoot Out* (1971), as Alma
- *Mr. Novak* (1963), series, as Phyllis Freuchen
- *The Patty Duke Show* (1963), series, Actor
- *Bonanza* (1959), series, as Jill Conway

## Gallery

- ![Susan Tyrrell](https://film.one/media/person/3917787/gallery-3eb801faaf2f.jpg) Susan Tyrrell — Martha Swope, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Susan_Tyrrell_1970.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Susan Tyrrell](https://film.one/media/person/3917787/gallery-61b08912af5b.jpg) Susan Tyrrell — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1973: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Fat City*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/susan-tyrrell