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person_profile-Edna May Oliver

Edna May Oliver Died at age: 59

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Edna May Oliver

Date of Birth:

Nov 08, 1883

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Nov 09, 1942

Biography of

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."

Photos of

Edna May Oliver

Photos ( 4 Photos

Filmography of

Edna May Oliver

Found 47 Movies in total

Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl

Self (from The Saturday Night Kid [1929]) (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1999

Lydia

Sarah MacMillan ( Actor )

... 1941

Pride and Prejudice

Lady Catherine de Bourgh ( Actor )

... 1940

Drums Along the Mohawk

Mrs. Mc Klennar ( Actor )

... 1939

Nurse Edith Cavell

Countess de Mavon ( Actor )

... 1939

Second Fiddle

Aunt Phoebe ( Actor )

... 1939

... 1939

Little Miss Broadway

Sarah Wendling ( Actor )

... 1938

Paradise for Three

Mrs. Kunkel ( Actor )

... 1938

Rosalie

Queen of Romanza ( Actor )

... 1937

My Dear Miss Aldrich

Mrs. Atherton ( Actor )

... 1937

Parnell

Aunt Ben Wood ( Actor )

... 1937

Romeo and Juliet

Juliet's Nurse ( Actor )

... 1936

A Tale of Two Cities

Miss Pross ( Actor )

... 1935

No More Ladies

Fanny 'Grandma' Townsend ( Actor )

... 1935

Murder on a Honeymoon

Hildegarde Withers ( Actor )

... 1935

David Copperfield

Aunt Betsey Trotwood ( Actor )

... 1935

We're Rich Again

Maude Stanley ( Actor )

... 1934

Murder on the Blackboard

Hildegarde Withers ( Actor )

... 1934

The Last Gentleman

Augusta Pritchard, Cabot's sister ( Actor )

... 1934

The Poor Rich

Harriet Spottiswood ( Actor )

... 1934

Alice in Wonderland

Red Queen ( Actor )

... 1933

Little Women

Aunt March ( Actor )

... 1933

Only Yesterday

Leona ( Actor )

... 1933

Meet the Baron

Dean Primrose ( Actor )

... 1933

Ann Vickers

Malvina Wormser ( Actor )

... 1933

It's Great to Be Alive

Dr. Prodwell ( Actor )

... 1933

The Great Jasper

Madame Talma ( Actor )

... 1933

The Penguin Pool Murder

Miss Hildegarde Martha Withers ( Actor )

... 1932

The Conquerors

Matilda Blake ( Actor )

... 1932

Hold 'Em Jail

Violet Jones ( Actor )

... 1932

Ladies of the Jury

Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane ( Actor )

... 1932

Fanny Foley Herself

Fanny Foley ( Actor )

... 1931

Newly Rich

Bessie Tate ( Actor )

... 1931

Cracked Nuts

Aunt Minnie Van Varden ( Actor )

... 1931

Laugh and Get Rich

Sarah Cranston Austin ( Actor )

... 1931

Cimarron

Mrs. Tracy Wyatt ( Actor )

... 1931

Half Shot at Sunrise

Mrs. Marshall ( Actor )

... 1930

The Saturday Night Kid

Miss Streeter ( Actor )

... 1929

Let's Get Married

J.W. Smith ( Actor )

... 1926

The American Venus

Mrs. Niles ( Actor )

... 1926

Lovers in Quarantine

Amelia Pincent ( Actor )

... 1925

The Lucky Devil

Mrs. McDee ( Actor )

... 1925

... 1925

Manhattan

Mrs. Trapes ( Actor )

... 1924

Icebound

Hannah ( Actor )

... 1924

... 1923