Rosemary DeCamp
(1910 - 2001)Often cast as the mother in films, she was a dark-haired beauty with a warm smile and sympathetic demeanor. She had even played mothers of actors her own age or years younger than herself. Who knows how she fell into that category of playing characters older than herself, but she also appeared in many nostalgic movie musicals of the 1950s. Born in Prescott, Arizona on November 14, 1910. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Mills College as her mother wished her to go into teaching. She taught speech and dramatic arts for one year but she felt it wasn't for her. After moving to New York, she worked for a time as a theatre critic, which led to a "walk-on part" in a Broadway play. She found her niche acting and performing in radio on such series as "Dr. Christian", "One Man's Family" and "Lux Radio Theater". Eventually she made her screen debut in 1941 in the film "Cheers for Miss Bishop" in which she played Minna Fields, a little old lady of age 65, complete with aging makeup. Among her other movie credits are: "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941) as Berta Kurz; "The Jungle Book" (1942) as Messua; "Smith of Minnesota" (1942); "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) as James Cagney’s (George M. Cohan's) mother, Nellie Cohan; "This is the Army" (1943) as Ethel; "Rhapsody in Blue" (1945) as Momma Gershwin; "Pride of the Marines" (1945) as Virginia Pfeiffer; "The Story of Seabiscuit" (1949) as Mrs. Charles F. Howard; "On Moonlight Bay" (1951) as Alice Winfield; "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1953) as Mrs. Winfield; "Strategic Air Command" (1955) as Mrs. Thorne; "13 Ghosts" (1960) as Hilda Zorba; "Saturday the 14th" (1981) as Aunt Lucille and "A Chip of Glass Ruby" (1983) as Mother. On TV she was also quite active as a regular on "The Life of Riley" (1949-50) as Peg Riley; "The Bob Cummings Show" aka "Love That Bob" (1955-59) as Margaret MacDonald; "That Girl" (1966-70) as Marlo Thomas’ (Ann Marie) mother Helen Marie; "Petticoat Junction" (1965) as Aunt Helen and "The Partridge Family" (1970) as Grandma. She also was a spokesperson in commercials for 20 Mule Team Borax in the 1950s. Married to John A. Shidler, who died in 1997, she had four daughters: Margaret, Martha, Valerie and Anita Louise. She was a respected copper enamelist/artist and had gained wide acclaim in that field. She died of complications of pneumonia on February 20, 2001 at her home in Torrance, California at the age of 90.
From Great Character Actors, Page 3.
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