When movies are discussed — whether at film festivals or late at night in front of the television set — one film is consistently acclaimed as an important cinematic achievement. The movie is Citizen Kane. Ruth Warrick was the young, New York theater-trained actress who played Orson Welles' wife.

This landmark film had its 50th anniversary in 1991, and to celebrate it, Ms. Warrick was honored with a caricature on the wall of the famed New York restaurant, Sardi's. Citizen Kane was Ms. Warrick's entry into Hollywood. Some 20 other movies (including The Great Bank Robbery), a long run and an Emmy nomination as Hannah Cord in Peyton Place, five years on As the World Turns a starring role in the television series, Father of the Bride, and guest starring roles on television and a long list of plays have followed. Ruth Warrick is a lady who likes to stay busy.

Ms. Warrick is no stranger to Broadway. She appeared with Jackie Gleason in the musical Take Me Along, and in a featured role in Pal Joey. She also played on Broadway and on tour in the hit play Irene. In regional theater she starred in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and in Long Day's Journey Into Night. She also toured as Anna in The King and I.

Her popular and fascinating autobiography, The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler, discusses the character of Phoebe, whom she has portrayed since the show's inception in 1970, as well as Ms. Warrick's life as an actress in New York and Hollywood. The book, which she wrote with Don Preston, was published in 1980 by Prentice-Hall.

Ms. Warrick has guest starred on The Love Boat and in the ABC Afterschool Specials. She also played the familiar role of Hannah Cord in the 1985 made-for-television movie, Return to Peyton Place. More recently, on stage, she starred in a production of Butterflies Are Free at Montclair (N.J.) State College, and in James Kirkwood's Legends at Tiffany's Attic Dinner Playhouse in Kansas City, MO.

Long active in arts-in-education programs, including programs for the disadvantaged in the Watts area of Los Angeles, Ruth received the first national Arts in Education Award in 1983 from the Board of Directors of Business and Industry for Arts in Education, Inc. She was cited for leadership in helping to make the arts more central to the schooling process. The award was then named the Ruth Warrick Award for Arts in Education and is now given annually.

In Watts, Ms. Warrick was a co-founder of Operation Bootstrap, where she taught communication skills. In New York City, she taught at Julia Richman High School as part of President Carter's "City in Schools" program. She has been a Dropout Prevention consultant for the Department of Labor under President John F. Kennedy and for the Job Training Corps under President Johnson.

She is a founding Board member of Business & Industry for the Arts in Education. A Humanitarian Award is given each year in her name. She is on the Board of Regents of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and an honored patron of Jobs for Youth. In 1995, she was given the first St. Joseph Proud Award.

In 1991, Ms. Warrick received her certification as a licensed metaphysical teacher from Unity School of Practical Christianity in Lees Summit, Missouri.

Born in St. Joseph, MO, Ms. Warrick moved to Kansas City while she was in high school and later attended the University of Kansas City. A promotional tour brought her to New York, where her interest in acting brought her to the Mercury Theater, headed by Orson Welles, with whom she ultimately headed for Hollywood.