May Whitty

Dame May Whitty
Born	Mary Louise Whitty 19 June 1865(1865-06-19) Liverpool, England, UK
Died	29 May 1948(1948-05-29) (aged 82) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1914–1948
Spouse	Ben Webster (1892-1947) (his death)

Dame May Whitty, DBE (19 June 1865 – 29 May 1948), born Mary Louise Whitty, was an English stage actress who appeared in numerous films in later life, achieving recognition in several character roles.

Background

Born in Liverpool, daughter of William Alfred Whitty (c.1837-1876) and Mary Louisa Ashton (c.1837-1894), May Whitty made her first stage appearance in Liverpool in 1881, later moving to London to appear on the West End.

She married the actor-manager Ben Webster in 1892 in St Giles Parish, London and in 1895 they visited the United States where Whitty appeared on Broadway. Their first child, a son, died at birth. Their only surviving child, a daughter born in the USA in 1905, Margaret Webster, was a stage actress and held dual US/UK citizenship. Whitty's stage career continued for the rest of her life. In March 1910, she made her transition to middle-aged and elderly character roles, playing Amelia Madras in Harley Granville-Barker's four act comedy The Madras House.^[1]

In 1918 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her charitable work during World War I. She is also the first film and stage actress to become a DBE. In fact, she and opera singer Nellie Melba were the first women entertainers to be awarded the honour in 1918.

Film career

She made her first major Hollywood film appearance, recreating her stage role in the film Night Must Fall (1937) (which also starred Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This led to several supporting roles in films including that of the 'vanishing lady', "Miss Froy", in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). She moved permanently to the USA (although she never became a U.S. citizen) in 1939 and appeared both on stage and in Hollywood films where she usually played wealthy dowagers. It was one such part, as "Lady Beldon" in Mrs Miniver (1942), that brought her a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Death

She continued to act for the remainder of her life and died in Beverly Hills, California from cancer at the age of 82; her husband had died the previous year during surgery.

Quotes

"I have everything Betty Grable has - I've just had it longer."^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Enoch Arden (1914) The Little Minister (1915) Colonel Newcombe, the Perfect Gentleman (1920) Keep Your Seats, Please (1936) (uncredited) Night Must Fall (1937) The Thirteenth Chair (1937) Conquest (1937) I Met My Love Again (1938) Parnell (1938) (TV) The Lady Vanishes (1938) Mary Rose (1939) (TV) The Royal Family of Broadway (1939) (TV) Rake's Progress (1939) (TV) Raffles (1939) Return to Yesterday (1940) A Bill of Divorcement (1940) One Night in Lisbon (1941) Suspicion (1941)

Mrs. Miniver (1942) Thunder Birds (1942) Forever and a Day (1943) Slightly Dangerous (1943) Crash Dive (1943) The Constant Nymph (1943) Lassie Come Home (1943) Flesh and Fantasy (1943) Madame Curie (1943) Gaslight (1944) The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) My Name Is Julia Ross (1945) Devotion (1946) Green Dolphin Street (1947) This Time for Keeps (1947) If Winter Comes (1947) The Sign of the Ram (1948) The Return of October (1948)

References

1. ^ Nissen, Alex (2006). Actresses of a Certain Character. p. 209. http://books.google.com/books?isbn=0786427469. 

External links

Biography portal

• May Whitty at the Internet Movie Database
• May Whitty at the Internet Broadway Database
• Stage performances listed in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• May Whitty at Find a Grave
• May Whitty photo gallery at NY Public Library Billy Rose Collection

Persondata
Name	Whitty, Dame May
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	19 June 1865
Place of birth	Liverpool, England, UK
Date of death	29 May 1948
Place of death	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.