Estelle Winwood

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Estelle Winwood (1920)

Estelle Winwood (born Estelle Goodwin on January 24, 1883 in Lee , England , † June 20, 1984 in Woodland Hills , California ) was a British actress .

life and career

Estelle Winwood took her first acting lessons while growing up in England. She made her debut in Johannesburg at the age of 20 . After long working in the West End of London, Winwood came to the United States in 1916 and began her career on Broadway . Her first big success was a role in Why Marry? , which premiered in 1917 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize a year later . This was followed by other roles in plays such as Moliere , The Red Poppy , The Funny Wives of Windsor and Lady Windermeres Fan . In 1939 she also directed a production of The Importance of Being Earnest . Estelle Winwood, who saw herself primarily as a stage actress, turned down offers for film appearances for a long time.

It wasn't until 1937 that the then 54-year-old Winwood played her first major film role alongside Katharine Hepburn in Quality Street . In 1946 she made her debut in a television film with Blithe Spirit , a fantasy comedy based on Noël Coward . In the 1950s she appeared on both television and cinema. She starred alongside Grace Kelly in The Swan . On television, Winwood appeared on the Donna Reed Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, among others . Other guest appearances in television series followed, so she played Aunt Hilda in five episodes in the 1960s in the television series Batman . She also appeared in the comedy Spring for Hitler , directed by Mel Brooks . At the side of Bette Davis and Karl Malden she played in 1964 in the thriller The Black Circle . Her last film role was in A Corpse for Dessert at the age of 93 . Her last television appearance was in 1980 in an episode of the series Quincy . At the time, she was the oldest active actress in Hollywood.

Estelle Winwood was married four times, all of their marriages were childless. One of her husbands was actor Arthur Chesney, a brother of Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn . The actress, who claims to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, looked at her 100th birthday soberly: "Who wants to be 100?" She asked. Estelle Winwood died in Woodland Hills at the age of 101 . Her grave is in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery .

Filmography (selection)

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Commons : Estelle Winwood  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Winwood, Estelle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goodwin, Estelle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English stage and film actress
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Lee , Kent , England , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1984
Place of death Woodland Hills , California , United States