1898-1978
Queenie Smith is remembered by generations of people from her numerous television appearances as an "auntie/grandmother" figure in guest roles on shows as different from one another as the original Hawaii Five-O to Little House on the Prairie. Before embarking on a long career in television in the 1950's, she had a career in films in the 1930's and 1940's. Before that, she was on the stage: first in the Metropolitan Opera Company productions of the 1910's and later in Broadway musicals of the 1920's. Smith was born on this day most likely in Texas; though many sources cite New York City, which is certainly where she was schooled. Obviously talented from a young age, she attended operatic and ballet instruction very early in her life; by her early teenage years, she was proficient in both. She is reported to have been a frequent dancer/performer in her teens in the teens of the 20th century. It is therefore possible, though not probable, that she had a secondary unit bit part in little UK film that was John Halifax, Gentleman in 1915, released in England in June of that year. The production was filmed on location in two places in Tewkesbury and was directed by George Pearson. While footage from New York may have been used in the little film, it's not likely; yet she is still credited with an appearance in the picture (all sources I've consulted list her). While it's possible that she traveled to England around this time, it is much more likely that another actress with the same name Queenie Smith is the credit in question. Of course I could be wrong! But I am happy to have a chance to write a little about here about her. I remember her from re-runs of shows I watched after school as a kid. Much later on, finally putting a name to face, I was able to enjoy her in classics that I love like James Whale's Show Boat (1936). Any excuse right?! Queenie Smith worked almost to the day she died. She appeared in five roles in 1978, despite battling cancer, the last of which was in the comedy Foul Play with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in the lead. The film was released roughly 2 and 1/2 weeks before her death. She passed away on the 5 of August in Burbank, California; she was nearly 80 and never out of work! She is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills location.
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