Name
Edna May Oliver
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1883-11-08
Deathday
1942-11-09 (59 years old)
Place of Birth
Malden, Massachusetts, USA
Biography
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."
Known For
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Albany, New York, 1776. After marrying, Gil and Lana travel north to settle on a small far...
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In early 19th century England, Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters vie for the af...
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New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous sto...
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Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War....
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Young love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families....
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- 1933 Alice in Wonderland as Red Queen
- 1937 Rosalie as Queen of Romanza
- 1933 Ann Vickers as Malvina Wormser
- 1939 Second Fiddle as Aunt Phoebe
- 1936 Romeo and Juliet as Juliet's Nurse
- 1935 David Copperfield as Aunt Betsey Trotwood
- 1935 A Tale of Two Cities as Miss Pross
- 1933 Little Women as Aunt March
- 1939 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle as Maggie Sutton
- 1939 Drums Along the Mohawk as Mrs. Mc Klennar
- 1941 Lydia as Sarah MacMillan
- 1932 The Penguin Pool Murder as Hildegarde Withers
- 1935 Murder on a Honeymoon as Hildegarde Withers
- 1930 Half Shot at Sunrise as Mrs. Marshall
- 1935 No More Ladies as Fanny 'Grandma' Townsend
- 1933 Meet the Baron as Dean Primrose
- 1929 The Saturday Night Kid as Miss Streeter
- 1937 My Dear Miss Aldrich as Mrs. Atherton
- 1934 The Last Gentleman as Augusta Pritchard, Cabot's sister
- 1934 Murder on the Blackboard as Hildegarde Withers
- 1934 The Poor Rich as Harriet Spottiswood
- 1931 Laugh and Get Rich as Sarah Cranston Austin
- 1999 Clara Bow: Discovering the "It" Girl as Self (from The Saturday Night Kid [1929]) (archive footage)
- 1934 We're Rich Again as Maude Stanley
- 1938 Paradise for Three as Mrs. Kunkel
- 1932 The Conquerors as Matilda Blake
- 1937 Parnell as Aunt Ben Wood
- 1939 Nurse Edith Cavell as Countess de Mavon
- 1931 Cracked Nuts as Aunt Minnie Van Varden
- 1938 Little Miss Broadway as Sarah Wendling
- 1932 Ladies of the Jury as Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane
- 1933 Only Yesterday as Leona
- 1924 Icebound as Hannah
- 1933 The Great Jasper as Madame Talma
- 1931 Cimarron as Mrs. Tracy Wyatt
- 1931 Fanny Foley Herself as Fanny Foley
- 1932 Hold 'Em Jail as Violet Jones
- 1940 Pride and Prejudice as Lady Catherine de Bourgh
- 1931 Newly Rich as Bessie Tate
- 1926 The American Venus as Mrs. Niles
- 1933 It's Great to Be Alive as Dr. Prodwell
- 1926 Let's Get Married as J.W. Smith
- 1925 Lovers in Quarantine as Amelia Pincent
- 1925 The Lucky Devil as Mrs. McDee
- 1923 Wife in Name Only as Mrs. Dornham
- 1923 Three O'Clock in the Morning as Hetty
- 1924 Manhattan as Mrs. Trapes
- 1924 Restless Wives as Benson's Secretary
- 1925 The Lady Who Lied
- 1970 Brasileiros em Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
