Edna May Oliver

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Edna May Oliver (born November 9, 1883 in Malden , Massachusetts , † November 9, 1942 in Los Angeles , California ; actually Edna May Nutter ) was an American film and stage actress .

Life

Edna May Oliver was born in Massachusetts to Charles E. Nutter and his wife Ida May. One of her ancestors was John Quincy Adams , the sixth President of the United States. After a classical acting education, she went on tour with a women's orchestra for a while. In 1917 she played with Oh, Boy! first time on Broadway . In 1923 the actress made her screen debut. Oliver's strength in giving her roles - often sharp-tongued "old maids" or widows - charm and humor, as well as her distinctive face became her trademarks. With the advent of talkies, she experienced a career boost. Under contract with RKO since 1930 , she tried to set up her studio as a competitor to Marie Dressler . Oliver played the private detective Hildegarde Withers in a series of films.

The actress was used particularly frequently in period films and literary adaptations, for example in the Oscar-winning western Pioneers of the Wild West from 1931 and in Four Sisters from 1933 at the side of Katharine Hepburn . After 1933 Edna May Oliver worked without a permanent studio contract and played numerous supporting roles, including in the Dickens film adaptations David Copperfield as Aunt Betsey and in Escape from Paris as Miss Pross. In 1936 she was seen as Juliet's servant in George Cukor's Romeo and Juliet . For her appearance as a war-experienced officer widow alongside Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda in John Ford's Drums on the Mohawk , she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1940 . Edna May Oliver took on one of her last roles in 1940 as Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice alongside Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier .

Edna May Oliver died a short time later on her 59th birthday from an intestinal disease. The actress was married to broker David Welfort Pratt between 1928 and 1933 . The marriage remained childless and ended in divorce.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1923: Wife in Name Only
  • 1924: Icebound
  • 1924: Manhattan
  • 1926: Let's Get Married
  • 1925: The Lucky Devil
  • 1925: The American Venus ( The American Venus )
  • 1929: The Saturday Night Kid
  • 1931: cracked nuts
  • 1931: Pioneers of the Wild West ( Cimarron )
  • 1931: Ladies of the Jury
  • 1931: Fanny Foley Herself
  • 1931: Newly Rich
  • 1933: The Great Jasper
  • 1932: Meet the Baron
  • 1932: The Conquerors
  • 1933: Alice in Wonderland
  • 1933: Ann Vickers
  • 1933: Only Yesterday

Awards

Web links

Commons : Edna May Oliver  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Edna May Oliver | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos. Retrieved February 25, 2019 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Oliver, Edna May
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nutter, Edna May (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and stage actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Malden , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1942
Place of death Los Angeles , California