Edna May Oliver love thread...

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 9:28pm

Who else loves this fabulous character actress from the '30s?

That stern, strict, "tough love" lady in so many memorable films. Often imitated in WB cartoons... and Oscar-nominated for Drums Along the Mohawk.



I've watching her pop up in several films lately, mostly due to recent DVD releases, and TCM showings: David Copperfield, Pride & Prejudice, The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle, Little Miss Broadway, Romeo & Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities...

Whatever film she appeared in "pumped up" a notch whenever she was on screen. A solid reliable actress, with a unique presence, and an "instant connection" with her audience like few ever achieve. Sadly, she died too young, at the height of her "character actress" career, from an intestinal disorder.

She is missed... she is loved... and she is appreciated, probably more than she would have ever guessed.

[justme2]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:04pm

Fantastic in David Copperfield (Freddie B version) as the aunt what's her name...I can't recall it right now.

She was in so many movies in the thirties, with that long dour face of hers. I think I saw her in Parnell, a BORING Gable movie, and she was in Pride and Predjudice as well.

[BroadwayBulldog]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:07pm

Yay, for Lady Catherine de Bourgh and for Aunt March.

[roquat]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:35pm

How about her hard-as-nails Miss Pross in "The Tale of Two Cities"? I love that scene where she fights Blanche Yurka's Madame Defarge to the death (literally) while spitting out such lines as "You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer!"

She was under consideration for the role of the Wicked Witch of the West. Although I can't imagine anyone but Margaret Hamilton in that role, it would certainly have been interesting.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:44pm

roquat---They also considered her for Glinda! (as well as Fanny Brice) when they thought the role might be more comical.

I miss the great character actors and actresses. We don't have the Thomas Mitchells, the Alice Bradys, the Beulah Bondis or Guy Kibees.

They aren't celebrated, or nurtured or "elevated" the way they were in the studio system.

Thank God we have them on film.

[fflagg]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:52pm

She was also a detective [Hildegarde?] in a few flicks from the mid-1930s. Would have fit right in as a member of THE WOMEN.

Posted: 11/24/06 at 10:54pm

A Woman Of Quality.

[Mamie]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 11:30pm

Absolutely my all time favorite character actress.

.... and her Academy Award performance in "Drums Along the Mohawk"



Updated On: 11/24/06 at 11:30 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 11:51pm

And the original Parthy in Show Boat on Broadway.

[justme2]

Posted: 11/25/06 at 12:02am

She was good in "Ann Vickers", too. I went to IMDB to check out the year of that one and found some interesting info about her:

...Descendant of John Quincy Adams

...Left school at 14 to pursue a stage career

...One of her first jobs was as pianist with an all female orchestra which toured America around the turn of the century.

...Edna May Oliver seems to have been born to play the classics of American and British literature. Although some have described her as plain or "horse faced", Edna May Oliver's comedic talents lent a beautiful droll warmth to her characters.

...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.

...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."

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/25/06 at 1:53pm

Thanks, everyone, for those great tidbits!

I'd forgotten about her being in the OBC of "Show Boat," on top of a stellar film career.

Very cool!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 11/25/06 at 7:19pm

One of my favorite Edna May Oliver films is Irving Berlin's SECOND FIDDLE, where she plays Sonja Heinie's Aunt Phoebe, who follows her to Hollywood when Minnesota schoolteacher Sonja is whisked away by studio talent scount Tyrone Power. At the start of the film, dour and disapproving Edna May is wearing spinsterish woolies, but Hollywood living does her a world of good, and soon she's wearing chic Dietrichian white pant-suits and mixing martinis while making droll cracks to Ty.

"Madame would be honored...to 'swing it'!"

In Hollywood, she was best buddies with Monty Wooley and Laird Cregar. Oh, to have listened in on THOSE dinner-table chats!

Updated On: 11/25/06 at 07:19 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 12:38pm

MasterLcZ --- I haven't seen that one! Sounds like a "must."

I wish Fox would release a Sonja Henie box set, but that's better left for a Sonja Henie Love Thread.