Mothers, Mammies and Old Maids: Twenty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood

Continuing the exploration which began in Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties (McFarland, 2006), this companion volume analyzes the contributions of female supporting players in the films of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The twenty-five actresses profiled herein range from the easily recognizable (Marie Dressler, Ethel Waters) to the long forgotten (Esther Howard, Evelyn Varden), and from the prolific (Clara Blandick, Mary Forbes) to the ＂one-work wonders＂ (Jane Cowl, Queenie Vassar).

Each profile captures the essence of the individual performer’s on-screen persona, unique talents and popular appeal--with special emphasis on a single definitive performance of the actress’s motion picture career (who, for example, could ever forget Josephine Hull in Harvey?). The appendix offers a list of ＂The 100 Top Performances by Character Actresses in Hollywood, 1930-1960.＂

Axel Nissen is a professor of American literature in the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway.