Edna May Oliver
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 theater actress.
Life
Edna May Oliver was born as the daughter of Charles E. Nutter and his wife Ida May in Massachusetts. One of their ancestors was John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. After a classical acting training she went for a while with a woman orchestra on tour in America. In 1917 she played with Oh Boy! for the first time on Broadway. 1923 gave the actress her screen debut. Oliver's strength to give their roles charm and humor, as well as its distinctive face became their trademark. With the advent of sound film, she experienced a career boost. Since 1930, under contract with RKO, trying to build up as a rival to Marie Dressler her studio. Oliver played in a series of films, the private detective Hildegarde Withers. Among the best known films of this period were among the pioneers of the Wild West of 1931 and four sisters in 1933 on the side of Katharine Hepburn. After 1933, Edna May Oliver worked without a permanent studio contract and played numerous supporting roles, including David Copperfield and in flight from Paris. In 1936, she starred in George Cukor's Romeo and Juliet. For their next appearance by Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda in John Ford's Drums Along the Mohawk, she was nominated for the Academy Awards in 1940 for an Oscar as best supporting actress. One of her last roles took Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh in 1940 in Pride & Prejudice alongside Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. She died a short time later from an intestinal disease.
The actress was 1928-1933 married to the Broker David Welfort Pratt. The marriage remained childless and ended in divorce.