Marshalltown native Mary Beth Hurt, a star of Broadway and film, died March 28 at an assisted-living facility in New Jersey of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 79. Hurt was nominated for a Tony Award three times, plus a BAFTA Award and Independent Spirit Award. She made her film debut in Woody Allen’s movie “Interiors” (1978) and starred alongside Robin Williams, Glenn Close and John Lithgow in the 1982 film “The World According to Garp,” among other credits.

Hurt was born Sept. 26, 1946, the daughter of Delores Lenore, née Andre, and Forrest Clayton Supinger. A halcyon childhood was spent in Marshalltown alongside cousin Shirley Andre, who now resides in Waukee.

“(Mary Beth) was a month and a day older than I was, so we always used to joke about that when we got a little bit older,” Shirley said. “My dad LaVal Henry Andre and her mom were siblings. They were the only ones. I lived in Marshalltown until I was about nine and my parents got divorced. But I got to know Mary Beth much better, actually, after we left Marshalltown and moved to Des Moines, because I was up there every other weekend and a month in the summer.”

As kids, Mary Beth and Shirley would ride the bus around town, noting a favorite driver named Virgil.

“He would let us ride the whole route, just young girls by ourselves, having a blast,” Shirley said.

They’d patron Trump’s Grocery Store and feed the geese at Riverside Cemetery. Shirley recalls spending countless hours at the home of their grandmother Opal Andre, who owned the houses at 905 and 907 W. Main St.

“We had a playhouse (between those addresses) I think built by my dad,” Shirley noted. “Our grandmother, I think, rejoiced that it existed because she was able to keep us occupied.”

Sometimes Mary Beth’s sisters Emily and Andrea, now deceased, would join in the fun.

“Emily was younger so it wasn’t quite so much fun, and Andrea seemed quite a bit older to us, so she was off doing young women things,” Shirley explained.

A highlight of hanging out in the playhouse was the chance to use their grandmother’s wallpaper samples to decorate the space.

“I’m sure it must have been a total disaster, but we thought it was beautiful, so we picked a whole bunch of different patterns that we liked, and it was our first experience at wallpapering,” she recalled.

Before the 2018 tornado wiped out the property’s black walnut trees, the grandchildren used to collect the nuts in large cardboard boxes.

“It was to be able to mow the lawn. We got paid for that. We kind of thought it was a little bit of fun,” Shirley said.

Fellow Marshalltown native Jean Seberg, who would go on to film stardom herself, babysat Mary Beth.

“In high school, Mary Beth won the drama award established by Jean to celebrate those who excelled in the dramatic arts. In the mid 90s, Mary Beth narrated a film loosely based on Jean’s life,” said Nancy Adams, a Seberg researcher and volunteer at the Orpheum.

Mary Beth had the nickname of “Smiley” when she served as a camp counselor at Camp Juliette in the early 60s. Martha Neill Nargang Harper recalled the late actress was a “ball of energy.” Susan Clark remembered Mary Beth as a counselor that treated her with kindness.

“I was a handful, but she had the heart to corral me in…The Supinger girls were beautiful and lived on the curve in the road on Summit. It was a massive yellow house. And her mom was a scout leader for years,” Clark reflected.

Mary Beth graduated from Marshalltown High School in 1964, having shown an early interest in theater. KC Collins Hummel, also Class of ’64, was a Girl Scout Brownie alongside Mary Beth and they appeared in high school plays together. Classmate Judy Zwemke called her a born actress.

“She had a lead role in ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ and was in other plays too. We were friends during our Central Jr. High years where she did a monologue at assembly, ‘Willy the Worm.’ It was hysterical. I will never forget it,” Zwemke said.

Pam Ryner, also a member of the Class of ’64, said Mary Beth was friendly, talented and always wore a smile.

“She was an adorable little pixie,” Ryner said. “I had a second hand clothing store in the 80s and she came in when she was back for a visit and said she loved vintage items and bought a couple of outfits and two pairs of ‘old lady’ tiny high-heeled shoes that were so tiny and narrow that I thought the only way they would sell was for a little girl to wear for dress up. She was so excited to find them. She always stayed the same and never ‘went Hollywood.’ I remember the ‘Willy the Worm’ also. It was really cute.”

Mary Beth attended college at the University of Iowa, where she studied drama. There, she was a member of the Mortar Board Chapter, a national honorary service society for women. Upon graduating in 1969, she moved to New York to attend New York University’s School of Arts. Following that, she lived in London for a year, where she performed with the Questers, a renowned amateur theater troupe.

In 1971, she married William Hurt (1950-2022), who would later win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1985 film “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The wedding took place on the lawn of Grandma Opal’s residence — currently owned by Historical Society of Marshall County President Michelle Roseburrough.

“Opal’s husband Lee Henry was a pharmacist and they purchased both my home (905) and (907). Shirley’s dad helped them work on my house. It had been vacant almost a decade and needed a lot of work,” Roseburrough said. “So that’s when they made it into apartments and they lived next door.”

Shirley recalled Mary Beth always talked about getting married in the gazebo on the grounds of her grandmother’s home.

“It’s long since gone, but it would have been underneath all the huge walnut trees,” she added. “It was a beautiful setting.”

After Shirley and Mary Beth settled into adult life, they fell out of touch.

“We each went our own ways and had our own lives, and we’d talk occasionally, usually around birthdays, and then later on in life, we reconnected a little bit,” Shirley noted. “Every time I’d see her in a movie, I’d give her a call and we’d talk a little bit. There wasn’t any animosity or anything. It’s just that we had very different paths and very different lives. It was a great childhood and a lot of fun.”

Mary Beth and William divorced in 1981. She then wed screenwriter, director and film critic Paul Schrader in 1983. They have two children, Molly and Sam. Schrader is best known for writing the screenplay of Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” plus writing or co-writing “Raging Bull,” “The Last Temptation of Christ” and “Bringing Out the Dead,” among other accomplishments.

Her last film “Change in the Air” came out in 2018. Final television appearances include “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Mary Beth was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2015 and was ultimately placed in memory care. There will be a celebration of life for Mary Beth at a later date. Molly wrote on Instagram, in part, “She is no longer suffering and is reunited with her sisters in peace.”

Adams said Mary Beth’s legacy is alive in Marshalltown.

“Mary Beth’s image can be seen in the entrance lobby of the Orpheum and on a wall wrap, celebrating all drama award winners, inside the movie house. And she will be represented in the soon to be renovated Miller Auditorium as well,” Adams noted. “Lastly, but certainly not least, in the early days of fundraising to purchase the Orpheum from Fridley Theaters (in the early 2000s), Mary Beth sent a generous donation toward the project. She did not wish to be thanked for such, but rather, just wanted to wish us good luck. Thanks in part to Mary Beth Supinger Hurt’s generosity, she, Jean, and many other local talents are able to be remembered and celebrated at the O.”

Mary Beth Hurt donated her papers to the University of Iowa in 2009. They date from 1982 to 2000 and measure 11.5 linear feet.