Edna May Oliver (November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the best-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters.
Edna May Oliver (November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the best-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters.
She was born Edna May Nutter in Malden, Massachusetts. The daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, Edna was a descendant of the 6th American president John Quincy Adams. Miss Oliver took an early interest in the stage, and she would quit school at the age of 14 to pursue her ambitions in the theater.
Despite abandoning traditional schooling, Edna continued to study the performing arts, including speech and piano. One of her first jobs was as pianist with an all female orchestra which toured America around the turn of the century. By 1917 she had achieved success on Broadway in the hit play "Oh, Boy". By 1923 she had appeared in her first film. Edna May Oliver seems to have been born to play the classics of American and British literature. Some of her most memorable film roles were in adaptations of works of Charles Dickens. Although some have described her as plain or "horse faced", Edna May Oliver's comedic talents lent a beautiful droll warmth to her characters. She was usually called upon to play less glamorous roles such as a spinsters, but she played them with such soul, wit, and depth that to this day she remains one of the best loved of Hollywood's character actresses. A fine example of her comedic talent can be found in Laugh and Get Rich (1931). Here we find her playing a role almost autobiographical in nature, that of a proud woman with Boston roots who has married "down". As the plot unwinds, she is invited to a society gala despite her modest circumstances. At the gala she becomes tipsy. With a frolicsome air Edna May seems to use the role to gently mock her real self. Her slightly drunk character seizes upon a bit of flattery, and alluding to her old New England family, proudly proclaims to each who will listen, "I am a Cranston. That explains everything!". In real life, Edna May Oliver was a Nutter, and perhaps that explains everything.
Edna May Oliver married stock broker David Pratt in 1928, but the marriage ended in divorce five years later. In 1939 she received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role as Widow McKlennar in the picture Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). That was to be one of her last films. Miss Oliver was struck ill in August of 1942. Although she seemed to recover briefly, she was re-admitted to Los Angeles's Cedars of Lebanon hospital in October Her dear friend actress Virginia Hammond flew out from New York to stay by her bedside. Edna May Oliver died on her 59th birthday, 9th November 1942. Virginia Hammond was with her and said, "She died without ever being aware of the gravity of her condition. She just went peacefully asleep."
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0646829
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q242548
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Filmography (Movies)
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
Character:Self (from The Saturday Night Kid [1929]) (archive footage)
Release Date:14/06/1999
Brasileiros em Hollywood
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1970
Lydia
Character:Sarah MacMillan
Release Date:18/09/1941
Pride and Prejudice
Character:Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Release Date:26/07/1940
Drums Along the Mohawk
Character:Mrs. Mc Klennar
Release Date:10/11/1939
Nurse Edith Cavell
Character:Countess de Mavon
Release Date:31/08/1939
Second Fiddle
Character:Aunt Phoebe
Release Date:30/06/1939
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Character:Maggie Sutton
Release Date:29/03/1939
Little Miss Broadway
Character:Sarah Wendling
Release Date:29/07/1938
Paradise for Three
Character:Mrs. Kunkel
Release Date:04/06/1938
Rosalie
Character:Queen of Romanza
Release Date:24/12/1937
My Dear Miss Aldrich
Character:Mrs. Atherton
Release Date:17/09/1937
Parnell
Character:Aunt Ben Wood
Release Date:04/06/1937
Romeo and Juliet
Character:Juliet's Nurse
Release Date:03/09/1936
A Tale of Two Cities
Character:Miss Pross
Release Date:25/12/1935
No More Ladies
Character:Fanny 'Grandma' Townsend
Release Date:14/06/1935
Murder on a Honeymoon
Character:Hildegarde Withers
Release Date:22/02/1935
David Copperfield
Character:Aunt Betsey Trotwood
Release Date:18/01/1935
We're Rich Again
Character:Maude Stanley
Release Date:13/07/1934
Murder on the Blackboard
Character:Hildegarde Withers
Release Date:15/06/1934
The Last Gentleman
Character:Augusta Pritchard, Cabot's sister
Release Date:27/04/1934
The Poor Rich
Character:Harriet Spottiswood
Release Date:25/02/1934
Alice in Wonderland
Character:Red Queen
Release Date:18/12/1933
Little Women
Character:Aunt March
Release Date:24/11/1933
Only Yesterday
Character:Leona
Release Date:01/11/1933
Meet the Baron
Character:Dean Primrose
Release Date:20/10/1933
Ann Vickers
Character:Malvina Wormser
Release Date:26/09/1933
It's Great to Be Alive
Character:Dr. Prodwell
Release Date:08/07/1933
The Great Jasper
Character:Madame Talma
Release Date:03/03/1933
The Penguin Pool Murder
Character:Hildegarde Withers
Release Date:09/12/1932
The Conquerors
Character:Matilda Blake
Release Date:18/11/1932
Hold 'Em Jail
Character:Violet Jones
Release Date:19/08/1932
Ladies of the Jury
Character:Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane
Release Date:02/02/1932
Fanny Foley Herself
Character:Fanny Foley
Release Date:09/10/1931
Newly Rich
Character:Bessie Tate
Release Date:02/07/1931
Cracked Nuts
Character:Aunt Minnie Van Varden
Release Date:18/04/1931
Laugh and Get Rich
Character:Sarah Cranston Austin
Release Date:27/03/1931
Cimarron
Character:Mrs. Tracy Wyatt
Release Date:26/01/1931
Half Shot at Sunrise
Character:Mrs. Marshall
Release Date:19/09/1930
The Saturday Night Kid
Character:Miss Streeter
Release Date:25/10/1929
Let's Get Married
Character:J.W. Smith
Release Date:01/03/1926
The American Venus
Character:Mrs. Niles
Release Date:31/01/1926
Lovers in Quarantine
Character:Amelia Pincent
Release Date:11/10/1925
The Lucky Devil
Character:Mrs. McDee
Release Date:13/07/1925
The Lady Who Lied
Character:
Release Date:12/07/1925
Manhattan
Character:Mrs. Trapes
Release Date:28/10/1924
Icebound
Character:Hannah
Release Date:02/03/1924
Restless Wives
Character:Benson's Secretary
Release Date:06/01/1924
Three O'Clock in the Morning
Character:Hetty
Release Date:01/12/1923
Wife in Name Only
Character:Mrs. Dornham
Release Date:25/08/1923
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