Judy Balaban

{{Short description|American actress and author (1932–2023)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = | caption = | birth_name = Judith Rose Balaban | birth_date = {{birth date|1932|10|13}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|10|19|1932|10|13}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | death_cause = | education = | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Jay Kanter |1953|1961|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Tony Franciosa |1961|1967|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Don Quine |1971|1996|end=divorced}} }} | known_for = | occupation = | children = 3 | parents = Tillie Urkov Balaban Barney Balaban | family = Leonard "Red" Balaban (brother) Burt Balaban (brother) Bob Balaban (cousin) A. J. Balaban (uncle) Elmer Balaban (uncle) }}

'''Judith Rose Balaban''' (October 13, 1932 – October 19, 2023) was an American actress and author of ''The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends'', about Grace Kelly.<ref name=NYTSlumber>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/11/books/a-movable-slumber-party.html#h New York Times: "A MOVABLE SLUMBER PARTY" by Sey Chassler] June 11, 1989</ref> Balaban was a friend of Kelly's, through her marriage to Jay Kanter, and served as a bridesmaid at her wedding to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco in April 1956.

==Biography== Judith Rose Balaban was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois,<ref name=Heavy>[http://heavy.com/entertainment/2017/06/becoming-cary-grant-cast-showtime-documentary/ Heavy.com: "‘Becoming Cary Grant', Showtime Documentary: Meet the Cast" By S.M. Walsh] June 9, 2017</ref> the daughter of Tillie (née Urkov) and Barney Balaban. Her brothers were American jazz tubist and sousaphonist, Leonard "Red" Balaban and American film producer and director Burt Balaban. Balaban wrote ''The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends''.<ref name="Quine1990">{{cite book|last=Quine|first=Judith Balaban|title=The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly and Six Intimate Friends|url=https://archive.org/details/bridesmaidsgrace00quin|url-access=registration|year=1990|publisher=Pocket Books|isbn=978-0-671-70770-5}}</ref> She appeared in the Showtime documentary ''‘Becoming Cary Grant'''.<ref name=Heavy />

Balaban was married three times. In the early 1950s she dated actor, Montgomery Clift. In 1953, she married Grace Kelly's talent agent Jay Kanter; they had two daughters, Victoria Kanter and Amy Kanter, before divorcing in 1961.<ref name=NYTSlumber /> In 1961, she married actor Tony Franciosa; they had one daughter, Nina Franciosa, before divorcing in 1967. In 1971, she married actor Don Quine; they divorced in 1996.<ref name=NYTSlumber />

Balaban died at a Los Angeles hospital on October 19, 2023, at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Judy Balaban, High-Placed Participant in Hollywood, Dies at 91 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/judy-balaban-dead-grace-kelley-tony-franciosa-1235623495/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=October 19, 2023}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0049311}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balaban, Judy}} Category:1932 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American women non-fiction writers Category:Jewish American actresses Judy Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:Actresses from Chicago Category:Writers from Chicago Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American women writers