Edna May Oliver

Edna May Oliver

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: Acting

Born: Malden, Massachusetts, USA, 1883-11-08

Died: 1942-11-09

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1923	Wife in Name Only	Mrs. Dornham	0
2	1923	Three O'Clock in the Morning	Hetty	0
3	1924	Restless Wives	Benson's Secretary	0
4	1924	Icebound	Hannah	0
5	1924	Manhattan	Mrs. Trapes	60
6	1925	The Lady Who Lied		0
7	1925	The Lucky Devil	Mrs. McDee	65
8	1925	Lovers in Quarantine	Amelia Pincent	0
9	1926	The American Venus	Mrs. Niles	0
10	1926	Let's Get Married	J.W. Smith	0
11	1929	The Saturday Night Kid	Miss Streeter	44
12	1930	Half Shot at Sunrise	Mrs. Marshall	59
13	1931	Cimarron	Mrs. Tracy Wyatt	56
14	1931	Laugh and Get Rich	Sarah Cranston Austin	47
15	1931	Cracked Nuts	Aunt Minnie Van Varden	70
16	1931	Newly Rich	Bessie Tate	30
17	1931	Fanny Foley Herself	Fanny Foley	0
18	1932	Ladies of the Jury	Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane	64
19	1932	Hold 'Em Jail	Violet Jones	68
20	1932	The Conquerors	Matilda Blake	48
21	1932	The Penguin Pool Murder	Miss Hildegarde Martha Withers	56
22	1933	The Great Jasper	Madame Talma	0
23	1933	It's Great to Be Alive	Dr. Prodwell	50
24	1933	Ann Vickers	Malvina Wormser	59
25	1933	Meet the Baron	Dean Primrose	43
26	1933	Only Yesterday	Leona	68
27	1933	Little Women	Aunt March	68
28	1933	Alice in Wonderland	Red Queen	60
29	1934	The Poor Rich	Harriet Spottiswood	0
30	1934	The Last Gentleman	Augusta Pritchard, Cabot's sister	30
31	1934	Murder on the Blackboard	Hildegarde Withers	57
32	1934	We're Rich Again	Maude Stanley	40
33	1935	David Copperfield	Aunt Betsey Trotwood	67
34	1935	Murder on a Honeymoon	Hildegarde Withers	62
35	1935	No More Ladies	Fanny 'Grandma' Townsend	51
36	1935	A Tale of Two Cities	Miss Pross	68
37	1936	Romeo and Juliet	Juliet's Nurse	62
38	1937	Parnell	Aunt Ben Wood	46
39	1937	My Dear Miss Aldrich	Mrs. Atherton	61
40	1937	Rosalie	Queen of Romanza	55
41	1938	Paradise for Three	Mrs. Kunkel	68
42	1938	Little Miss Broadway	Sarah Wendling	65
43	1939	The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle	Maggie Sutton	69
44	1939	Second Fiddle	Aunt Phoebe	49
45	1939	Nurse Edith Cavell	Countess de Mavon	64
46	1939	Drums Along the Mohawk	Mrs. Mc Klennar	64
47	1940	Pride and Prejudice	Lady Catherine de Bourgh	69
48	1941	Lydia	Sarah MacMillan	65
49	1999	Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl	Self (from The Saturday Night Kid [1929]) (archive footage)	77

Edna May Oliver

Film

Television