Clara Blandick
Clara Blandick ( born June 4, 1880 in Hong Kong, at that time the British Empire as Clara Dickey, † April 15, 1962 in Hollywood, California ) was an American film and theater actress who appeared among others in The Wizard of Oz.
Life and career
Clara Blandick was born as Clara Dickey on the merchant ship Willard Mudget in Hong Kong, on which her father Isaac was captain. Soon after her birth the family moved to Quincy in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Her acting debut Clara Blandick probably 1898 piece Richard Lovelace near Boston. Three years later, she made her debut on Broadway in the play If I Were King. By 1929, it should occur there in about twenty pieces, including but was a starring role in Hatcher Hughes Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, which received a 1924 Pulutzer Award in the category Theatre.
1905 married Blandick the Mineningeneur Staunton Elliott, of which she had but divorced in 1912. The marriage remained childless.
In 1911 she appeared in her first film, but there she should participate regularly until the beginning of the sound era. The various film studios continued the actress a few more times as a wife, aunt or neighbor. While she took occasional larger tasks in B movies, she starred in major productions usually only minor supporting roles. One of her major roles was Aunt Dolly in the film adaptations of Mark Twain Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn ( 1931). Blandick also embodied the common mother of movie stars such as Joan Crawford and Joan Blondell. Their most famous role, the actress played but as Auntie Em in the classic film The Wizard of Oz While turned Blandick all their scenes in only a week and was not mentioned in the credits, but her character is the main reason for Dorothy to return necessarily from Oz home.
After her career end in 1950, she moved to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. In the 1950s, Clara Blandicks health began to deteriorate. She suffered from arthritis and became increasingly blind. After visiting the Palm Sunday service on 15 April 1962, the 81 -year-old went into her bedroom and put on a fine blue dress. Then she took an overdose of tablets and lay down on her bed, where she died. She left the following message with which they based their suicide: " I am now about to make the great adventure. I can not endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. " She was buried on the actor Cemetery Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.