Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi (born May 3, 1888 in Chicago , Illinois , † January 11, 1981 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress .
Life
Although born in Chicago, Beulah Bondi grew up in Valparaiso , Indiana . After attending the local Valparaiso University , she began her acting career in the theater in the 1910s. In 1925 she made the leap to Broadway , where she quickly established herself as a character actress with a role in Kenneth S. Webb's play One of the Family . Appearances in popular Broadway plays by Maxwell Anderson , Clemence Dane , Philip Barry and Sidney Howard followed . Her greatest success was probably the play Street Scene by Elmer Rice from 1929. Bondi was hired to Hollywood in 1931 for the film adaptation of Street Scene , in which the 43-year-old made her film debut. From then on, she was to play the main actors' mothers in numerous Hollywood film productions, and later their grandmothers.
For her appearances in The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) and Of Human Hearts (1938), Bondi received two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress . She played James Stewart's mother in four films, including the Frank Capra classic films Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Isn't Life Beautiful? . A fifth and final time she appeared on an episode of the Jimmy Stewart Show in 1971 as his mother. Her better-known appearances include an adoption broker in Chords of Love (1941) alongside Cary Grant and Irene Dunne , a contentious grandmother in Jean Renoir's western The Man from the South (1945), and the role of Miss Greer in the drama The Snake Pit (1948) alongside Olivia de Havilland . Beulah Bondi was considered a versatile character actress who could easily play roles that were actually much older than herself. She had a high point of her career (and one of her few leading roles) in the 1937 film No Place for Parents . Here she played an old woman who had been hit by the global economic crisis and had to live apart from her beloved husband due to financial problems.
In addition to her film work, Bondi continued to perform regularly on the Broadway stages. With the beginning of television in the 1950s, the actress could also be seen there regularly. In the 1960s and 1970s, Bondi worked less often as an actress, given her age. She celebrated a late success in 1977 when she won an Emmy for Best Guest Actress for her appearance as Aunt Martha Corinne Walton in two episodes of the family series The Waltons . She died in 1981 at the age of 92 from lung problems from falling over her cat. Although Bondi regularly played mothers on screen, she was never married or had no children. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is dedicated to her.
Filmography (selection)
- 1931: Street Scene
- 1931: Arrowsmith
- 1932: Rain
- 1933: The Stranger's Return
- 1934: Two Alone
- 1935: The Good Fairy
- 1936: The Gorgeous Hussy
- 1936: Deadly Rays (The Invisible Ray)
- 1936: Battle in the Mountains (The Trail of the Lonesome Pine)
- 1936: Escape into Love (The Moon's Our Home)
- 1937: No place for parents (Make Way for Tomorrow)
- 1938: The privateers of Louisiana ( The Buccaneer )
- 1938: Of Human Hearts
- 1938: Vivacious Lady
- 1938: Three Sisters from Montana (The Sisters)
- 1939: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- 1939: On Borrowed Time
- 1940: The Unforgettable Christmas Night (Remember the Night)
- 1940: Our Town (Our Town)
- 1941: With one foot in heaven (One Foot in Heaven)
- 1941: The Shepherd of the Hills (The Shepherd Of The Hills)
- 1941: Chords of Love (Penny Serenade)
- 1943: Watch on the Rhine (Die Wacht am Rhein)
- 1944: The Very Thought of You
- 1945: The Man from the South (The Southerner)
- 1945: Steel storm (Back to Bataan)
- 1946: isn't life beautiful? (It's a Wonderful Life)
- 1946: Sister Kenny (Sister Kenny)
- 1948: The Snake Pit (The Snake Pit)
- 1948: So Dear to My Heart
- 1949: Demon of Paris (Reign of Terror)
- 1950: The Farm of the Taken (The Furies)
- 1954: Track in mountains (Track of the Cat)
- 1956: Back from Eternity
- 1959: The Summer Island (A Summer Place)
- 1959: The fisherman of Galilee (The Big Fisherman)
- 1961: Tammy Tell Me True
- 1962: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm)
- 1963: Sandra and the Doctor (Tammy and the Doctor)
- 1971: All My Loves ( The Jimmy Stewart Show ; TV series, 1 episode)
- 1974/1976: The Waltons (TV series, 2 episodes)
Web links
- Beulah Bondi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Beulah Bondi in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Beulah Bondi in the German dubbing file
- Beulah Bondi in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 463.
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Bondi, Beulah |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-american actress |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 3, 1888 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago , Illinois , United States |
DATE OF DEATH | January 1, 1981 |
Place of death | Los Angeles , California , United States |