1898-1989
Legendary character actress Norma Varden was born Norma Varden Shackleton on this day in London, England. She was recognized very early on in life as a musical (piano) prodigy, and she studied music in Paris during the period of time in her life that would correspond with Junior High School here in the States. She did make several public music performances, but became enamored of acting as a teen. She then spent time studying in her home town at the Guildhall School of Music, and despite it's name, she took her first acting lessons at this academy. Her public acting debut came in the role of Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan. This would mark a trend for her she would follow throughout her long career, that of playing roles older (sometimes much older) than she actually was in real life. She made her formal West End debut in 1920 and was by this time a specialist in performing Shakespeare. Her earliest film roles where, however, in uncredited roles--all but one of these was in the 1930's. The one film that she appeared in the 1920's came in a bit part in the 1922 film the J. Stuart Blackton production (he both wrote and directed) The Glorious Adventure as an extra as "court lady"--she was just 24 years old. She would not appear in another film until 1931, again in an uncredited role in the dramedy The Chance of a Night Time. Her first credited role came in 1933 in the British holiday farce Turkey Time. Varden spent the decade of the 1930's gaining in popularity in the British film industry, but with out break of war, she made the decision to flee to the United States. Her first American film appearance came in MGM drama The Earl of Chicago in 1940, which featured quite the male cast of Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold and Reginald Owen. Her move to Hollywood meant that she had to carve out a film career for herself all over again, and spent her first few years in the American film industry back in uncredited small parts. By 1944, she had worked her way back up to named role status. She had credited role in the two hour sport extravaganza National Velvet (1944); and, next appeared in one of her "matronly roles" of Aunt Martha in the Veronica Lake musical comedy Bring on the Girls (1945). She had a bit part in the rare "film noir horror" The Amazing Mr. X. (1948)--one of my personal favorite horror films of the 40's. Varden made her television debut in 1952 in the season 1 episode Silent Butler of the series Mr. & Mrs. North. She next made a guest appearance in the season 2 episode The Ricardos Change Apartments of I Love Lucy in 1953. Perhaps her most famous "older woman" role ever was that of Lady Beekman in Howard Hawks' 1953 musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. From there on out, aside from a few film appearances here and there, she mostly stuck to guest appearances on television shows. One of a few exceptions to this was the recurring role of Harriett Johnson on the comedy series Hazel. Just a very small number of shows on which she appeared include: Mister Ed, Bonanza, The Lucy Show, Batman, The Beverly Hillbillies and Bewtiched. In 1969, she decided to retire and as a result her last acting role came in the unsold pilot for the proposed series Doc, which aired on NBC on the 28th of July of that year. Additionally, all through he time in Hollywood, right up to her retirement, she also worked in radio. She lived in the greater Los Angeles area from her retirement until her death, having become an American citizen in 1949. She passed away in Santa Barbara on the 19th of January--just one day shy of her 91st birthday. Her ashes are interred there in a niche at the Santa Barbara Cemetery (for some reason Google puts her in cemetery of the same name in New Mexico--not correct).
 |
| Image: Ginny M [Find A Grave] |
No comments:
Post a Comment