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Lydia

as Sarah MacMillan

1941
Second Fiddle

as Aunt Phoebe

1939
Drums Along the Mohawk

as Mrs. Mc Klennar

1939
Nurse Edith Cavell

as Countess de Mavon

1939
Little Miss Broadway

as Sarah Wendling

1938
Paradise for Three

as Mrs. Kunkel

1938
Parnell

as Aunt Ben Wood

1937
Romeo and Juliet

as Juliet's Nurse

1936
A Tale of Two Cities

as Miss Pross

1935
David Copperfield

as Aunt Betsey Trotwood

1935
Murder on a Honeymoon

as Hildegarde Withers

1935
No More Ladies

as Fanny 'Grandma' Townsend

1935
Murder on the Blackboard

as Hildegarde Withers

1934
The Last Gentleman

as Augusta Pritchard, Cabot's sister

1934
Little Women

as Aunt March

1933
Ann Vickers

as Malvina Wormser

1933
Only Yesterday

as Leona

1933
Penguin Pool Murder

as Miss Hildegarde Martha Withers

1932
The Conquerors

as Matilda Blake

1932
Ladies of the Jury

as Mrs. Livingston Baldwin Crane

1932
Cimarron

as Mrs. Tracy Wyatt

1931
Cracked Nuts

as Aunt Minnie Van Varden

1931
The Saturday Night Kid

as Miss Streeter

1929
The American Venus

as Mrs. Niles

1926
Icebound

as Hannah

1924
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Edna May Oliver Edna May Oliver

Birthday

1883-11-09

Place of Birth

Malden, Massachusetts, USA

Biography

Edna May Oliver (November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the best-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters. ​She was born Edna May Nutter in Malden, Massachusetts. The daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, Edna was a descendant of the 6th American president John Quincy Adams. Miss Oliver took an early interest in the stage, and she would quit school at the age of 14 to pursue her ambitions in the theater. Despite abandoning traditional schooling, Edna continued to study the performing arts, including speech and piano. One of her first jobs was as pianist with an all female orchestra which toured America around the turn of the century. By 1917 she had achieved success on Broadway in the hit play "Oh, Boy". By 1923 she had appeared in her first film. Edna May Oliver seems to have been born to play the classics of American and British literature. Some of her most memorable film roles were in adaptations of works of Charles Dickens. Although some have described her as plain or "horse faced", Edna May Oliver's comedic talents lent a beautiful droll warmth to her characters. She was usually called upon to play less glamorous roles such as a spinsters, but she played them with such soul, wit, and depth that to this day she remains one of the best loved of Hollywood's character actresses. A fine example of her comedic talent can be found in Laugh and Get Rich (1931). Here we find her playing a role almost autobiographical in nature, that of a proud woman with Boston roots who has married "down". As the plot unwinds, she is invited to a society gala despite her modest circumstances. At the gala she becomes tipsy. With a frolicsome air Edna May seems to use the role to gently mock her real self. Her slightly drunk character seizes upon a bit of flattery, and alluding to her old New England family, proudly proclaims to each who will listen, "I am a Cranston. That explains everything!". In real life, Edna May Oliver was a Nutter, and perhaps that explains everything. Edna May Oliver married stock broker David Pratt in 1928, but the marriage ended in divorce five years later. In 1939 she received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role as Widow McKlennar in the picture Drums Along the Mohawk (1939). That was to be one of her last films. Miss Oliver was struck ill in August of 1942. Although she seemed to recover briefly, she was re-admitted to Los Angeles's Cedars of Lebanon hospital in October Her dear friend actress Virginia Hammond flew out from New York to stay by her bedside. Edna May Oliver died on her 59th birthday, 9th November 1942. Virginia Hammond was with her and said, "She died without ever being aware of the gravity of her condition. She just went peacefully asleep."
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