Josephine Hutchinson

Infobox actor
name = Josephine Hutchinson

---

birthdate = birth date|1903|11|10|mf=y
birthplace = Seattle, Washington, U.S.
deathdate = death date and age|1998|6|4|1903|11|10|mf=y
deathplace = Manhattan, New York, U.S.
spouse = Robert W. Bell, divorced 1930
domesticpartner = Eva Le Gallienne

Josephine Hutchinson (November 10, 1903 – June 4, 1998) was an American actress.

She was born in Seattle, Washington, and made her film debut at the age of thirteen. She later attended the Cornish School of Music and Drama, in Seattle, and then moved to New York City where she began acting in theater. She was pretty, confident, and by the late 1920s was one of the few who could make the transition from silent movies to talkies.

In 1926, Hutchinson, who was by this time married to Robert W. Bell, a stage director, met the actress Eva Le Gallienne and became a member of the latter's Civic Repertory Theatre company. By 1927, the two women were involved in a lesbian affair which eventually caused Hutchinson's husband to file for divorce, citing Le Gallienne as his wife's "co-respondent". The press quickly dubbed Hutchinson a "shadow actress", which at the time meant lesbian. [http://www.glbtq.com/arts/legallienne_e.html www.glbtq.com Le Gallienne, Eva (1899-1991)] ] Hutchinson and Bell, who separated in 1928, were divorced in 1930. ["Divorces Robert Bell", The New York Times, 9 July 1930] Both actresses survived the scandal, however, and continued their careers, with Le Gallienne later that same year playing in "Alison's Playhouse", which won a Pulitzer Prize.

Hutchinson, while with Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater, won critical acclaim for her title role in "Alice in Wonderland". She went to Hollywood in 1934, under contract with Warner Bros., debuting in "Happiness Ahead", and was featured on the cover of "Film Weekly" on August 23, 1935. [ [http://www.filmweeklymagazine.com/JosephineHutchinsonAug35.htm Josephine Hutchinson - Movie Star Magazine Covers, Posters and CD's available ] ] She followed that first film up with "The Story of Louis Pasteur" in 1936. At Universal she played in one of her most memorable roles, alongside actor Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939). [ [http://ghoulskool.com/universal/stepdown.htm Step Down to Terror ] ] [ [http://www.basilrathbone.net/films/sonoffrankenstein/ Basil Rathbone: Master of Stage and Screen - Son of Frankenstein ] ] She later played "Mrs Townsend" in "North by Northwest" (1959), which starred actor Cary Grant and actress Eva Marie Saint, [ [http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=hitchcock&item=24 Classic Film Guide ] ] and "Love is Better Than Ever", starring Elizabeth Taylor. [ [http://www.tv-now.com/stars/donen.html Stanley Donen TV Listings - find Stanley Donen on TV | TV-Now.com ] ]

Hutchinson continued to work steadily through the 1970s in film and television roles, establishing a solid and financially lucrative career in playing mostly supporting roles. [ [http://home.houston.rr.com/blase/Root%20Folder/nevada.html Nevada Smith ] ] [ [http://www.romecapitol.com/movies.html] Dead link|date=March 2008] She often played the role of a firm and forceful elderly woman.

She died on June 4, 1998 at Manhattan's Florence Nightingale Nursing Home, aged 94. [ [http://ghoulskool.com/universal/stepdown.htm Step Down to Terror ] ]

elect filmography

* "Son of Frankenstein" (1939)
* "Tom Brown's School Days" (1940)
* "Somewhere in the Night" (1946)
* "Ruby Gentry" (1952)
* "North by Northwest" (1959)
* "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1960)
* "Baby the Rain Must Fall" (1965)
* "Nevada Smith" (1966)
* "The Homecoming" (1971)

References

External links

* imdb|0404360

Persondata
NAME= Hutchinson, Josephine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1903-11-10
PLACE OF BIRTH= Seattle, Washington, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH= 1998-6-4
PLACE OF DEATH= Manhattan, New York, U.S.