Marion Lorne
(1885 - 1968)One of the truly great character actors, a small, stocky, plumpish lady with a sweet, smiling face, small heart-shaped mouth and quizzical eyes, she was born August 12, 1885 (some sources say 1883, others 1886 or 1888 but on her burial Urn is written 1885) in the small mining town of West Pittston, Pennsylvania of Scottish and English immigrant parents. Her acting career began with training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and performances in stock theatre in Connecticut. She made her Broadway debut in 1905 and also appeared successfully on the London stage. She married playwright Walter C. Hackett who wrote hit plays for her for the London stage and she had her own theatre, the Whitehall for a time. She planned to retire after his sudden death in 1944 but along came a plump role in "Harvey" on the stage and later TV offers and she was "hooked" for good. Amazingly she mastered the role of the nervous, befuddled matronly type for which she had much success. She actually did very few films, but they were extremely memorable roles. Like very few 'special' actors she elevated everything she appeared in to a higher level. She appeared as Mrs. Antony, the doting mother of Robert Walker, in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" (1951); in the film "Girl Rush" (1955) with Rosalind Russell and Fernando Lamas, she played a character called 'Aunt Clara'....an inspiration or prophecy of things to come? Who knows? Her final film was "The Graduate" (1967) with Dustin Hoffman, as Miss DeWitte. On television she appeared on the "Mr. Peepers" (1952-55) series as Mrs. Gurney; on "Sally" (1957-58) as Mrs. Myrtle Banford on "Suspicion" (1958) as Mrs. Foster on "The DuPont Show of the Month" (1958) in "Harvey" as Veta Louise Simmons on "The Garry Moore Show" (1958) as a Regular and as Aunt Clara on "Bewitched" (1964-68), for which she received an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress; all wonderfully memorable roles. She was also a regular on "The Garry Moore Show" (1958-62). Like her lovable 'Aunt Clara' character on "Bewitched she, too, collected antique doorknobs. She died at age 82 of a heart attack on May 9, 1968 in New York City and is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
From Great Character Actors, Page 1.
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