Mary Kornman

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Mary A. Kornman (born December 27, 1915 in Idaho Falls , Idaho , † June 1, 1973 in Glendale , California ) was an American actress who was the leading lady of the little thugs during their early days in the 1920s.

Life

Mary Kornman was born as the daughter of the photographer Gene Kornman (1897–1978), who took still photos for the Hal Roach film studios . Through her father's work, Mary also got into the film industry: When Hal Roach was looking for a female child actress for his newly founded short film series The Little Rascals in 1922 , he hired the daughter of his studio photographer. Mary Kornman became one of the biggest stars of Our Gang in the early years, under her name Mary she appeared in over 40 silent short films by The Little Rascals between 1922 and 1926. The blonde child actress played her character very feminine and was embraced by the boys in the series like Mickey Daniels . Kornman thus became a role model for later " Leading Ladies " of the Little Rascals, including Jean Darling and Darla Hood .

After the film The Fourth Alarm (1926), Kornman left the Little Tramp because she was too old for the series at the age of eleven. After four years of absence from the film business, she returned to the screen in 1930 with the sound film Doctor's Order . Again under contract with Hal Roach, she played in the short film comedy series The Boy Friends , a kind of The Little Rascals for young people. Again Mickey Daniels was to be seen as her partner in Boy Friends next to her. Kornman and Daniels both had guest roles in the Our Gang short film Fish Hooky (1933), where Korman played the little rascal teacher when she was only 17 years old. After the Boy Friends film series was closed, she starred as a female lead in a number of B-films, including Queen of the Jungle (1935) alongside Reed Howes and as the shopkeeper and lover of John Wayne in the western The Rodeo Heist ( 1935). In 1940 Korman withdrew from the film business after having made more than 90 films after she had barely achieved success in the years before.

Mary Korman married cameraman Leo Tover around 1934, but the marriage ended in divorce after around five years. She later married the horse trainer Ralph B. McCutcheon (1899-1975), this marriage lasted until her death. Kornman and her husband had no children and spent their time at McCutcheon's horse ranch. Although she never came into direct contact with the film business after 1940, she kept in contact with many old colleagues and, in an interview from 1960, looked back positively on her time as a child actress: “It was fun to have been a member of the Little Tramp. It was playing. I have no regrets ... We didn't need to be talented, which is natural for children. I think we had a privileged childhood with these films. "

Mary Kornman died of cancer in 1973 at the age of 57. She and her second husband McCutcheon were on the Linn Grove Cemetery, Greeley ( Colorado buried). Her younger sister Mildred Kornman (* 1925) also played in numerous Our Gang films between 1926 and 1935, but only in extras , and later became a model. Mildred is now considered one of the last living actresses of the silent film era .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Mary Kornman  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gene Kornman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  2. ↑ Ralph McCutcheon in imdb (English)
  3. ↑ Mary Kornman Homepage (English)
  4. ↑ Maltin, Leonard and Bann, Richard W. (1977, rev. 1992). The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, p. 249. New York: Crown Publishing / Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-58325-9
  5. ↑ Mildred Kornman in imdb (English)
personal data
SURNAME Kornman, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kornman, Mary A.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 27, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Idaho Falls , Idaho , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1973
Place of death Glendale , California , United States