Mildred Natwick(1905-1994)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
A disarming character lady quite capable of scene-stealing, Mildred
Natwick was a well-rounded talent with distinctively dowdy features and
idiosyncratic tendencies who, over a six-decade period, assembled
together a number of unforgettable matrons on stage and (eventually)
film and TV. Whimsical, feisty, loony, stern, impish, shrewish,
quizzical, scheming -- she greatly enhanced both comedies and dramas
and, thankfully, her off-centered greatness was captured perfectly on
occasion by such film directors as
John Ford,
Alfred Hitchcock and
Neil Simon.
A short, plumpish, oval-eyed figure with a unique flowery, honey-glazed
voice, Natwick was born on June 19, 1905 (some sources list 1908) to
Joseph (a businessman) and and Mildred Marion Dawes Natwick. The
Baltimore native graduated from both the Bryn Mawr School (in
Baltimore) and also from Bennett College in Dutchess County, N.Y.,
where she majored in drama. Breaking into the professional field
touring on stage, Miss Natwick joined the Vagabonds in the late 1920s,
a non-professional group from Baltimore. She later became part of the
renowned University Players at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, whose rising
performers at the time included Henry Fonda,
Margaret Sullavan and
James Stewart.
Natwick made her Broadway bow in the 1932 melodrama "Carry Nation,"
directed by Blanche Yurka with
Esther Dale in the title role. In the cast
was Joshua Logan, whom she befriended and
later collaborated with when he turned director. She then continued her
momentum on 1930s Broadway with "Amourette" (1933), "Spring in Autumn"
(1933), "The Wind and the Rain" (1934), "The Distaff Side" (1934) "End
of Summer" (1936), "Love from a Stranger" (1936), "The Star-Wagon"
(1937), "Missouri Legend" (1938), "Stars in Your Eyes" (1939) (directed
by Logan), and "Christmas Eve" (1939).
Natwick did not come to films until middle age (35) with the
John Ford classic
The Long Voyage Home (1940),
in which she played a Cockney floozie. Despite her fine work in this
minor part, she did not make another film until her landlady role five
years later in
The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
supporting Dorothy McGuire and
Robert Young. Not a great beauty by
Hollywood standards, Natwick learned quickly in Hollywood that if she
were to succeed, it would be as a character performer. Ford himself
picked up on her versatility and used her repeatedly in several of his
post-war classics --
3 Godfathers (1948),
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),
and The Quiet Man (1952).
Never abandoning the theater for long, Natwick excelled as Miss Garnett
in George Bernard Shaw's "Candida"
and as the buoyant medium in Noël Coward's
"Blithe Spirit". As for the big screen, she was sporadically seen in
such films as
Yolanda and the Thief (1945),
The Late George Apley (1947),
A Woman's Vengeance (1948),
The Kissing Bandit (1948),
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
and Against All Flags (1952).
Making use of even the tiniest of roles, none of them did much to
improve her stature in Hollywood. With her delicious turn, however, in
Hitchcock's eccentric black comedy
The Trouble with Harry (1955),
which starred Shirley MacLaine (in her
film debut), John Forsythe, Kris
Kringle's Edmund Gwenn, little
Jerry Mathers (of "Leave It to Beaver"),
and another famous Mildred,
Mildred Dunnock, Natwick enjoyed one of
her best roles ever on film. This was followed by her scheming and
furtive sorceress in the Danny Kaye vehicle
The Court Jester (1955) in which
she, Kaye and Glynis Johns participate in
the memorable tongue-twisting "The pellet with the poison's in the
vessel with the pestle..." comedy routine. This, in turn, led to a
couple of more, albeit lesser, films, including
Teenage Rebel (1956) and
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957).
Preferring the theatre to movies, MIldred received her first Tony
nomination for her sharp, astute work in
Jean Anouilh's "Waltz of the Toredors" in
1957 and recreated her character in a TV special. She seemed to move
effortlessly from the classics ("Medea," "Coriolanus") to chic comedy
("Ladies in Retirement," "The Importance of Being Earnest"). Receiving
great applause as the beleaguered, overly-winded mother in
Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park"
on Broadway in 1963, she transferred the role to film four years later.
The cinematic
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
earned Mildred a well-deserved Oscar nomination for "best supporting
actress". She switched things up again with
Harold Pinter's theatrical "Landscape,"
and then again in 1971 when she made her debut in a singing role in the
John Kander-Fred Ebb
musical, "70, Girls, 70" (1971) in which she earned a second Tony
nomination. Her last Broadway show came as a replacement in "Bedroom
Farce" in 1979.
With only the slightest of gesture, look or tone of voice, Mildred's
characters could speak volumes and she became an essential character
player during the 1970s as an offbeat friend, relative or elderly on TV
and film. She was awarded the Emmy for her playing of one of
The Snoop Sisters (1972)_
alongside the equally delightful
Helen Hayes in the short-lived TV
series. Both played impish Jessica Fletcher-type mystery writers who
solve real crimes on the sly. She also played
Rock Hudson's quirky mother in
McMillan & Wife (1971) and a
notable dying grandmother in a guest appearance of the
critically-lauded TV series drama
Family (1976). Her final film came
with a small regal role as Madame de Rosemonde in
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) with
Glenn Close,
John Malkovich and
Michelle Pfeiffer.
Never married, Mildred was called "Milly" by close friends and family
and was the first cousin of Myron 'Grim' Natwick, the creator of Betty
Boop for the Max Fleischer cartoon studio
and prime animator for Disney's Snow White character. She died of
cancer at age 89 in New York City.
Natwick was a well-rounded talent with distinctively dowdy features and
idiosyncratic tendencies who, over a six-decade period, assembled
together a number of unforgettable matrons on stage and (eventually)
film and TV. Whimsical, feisty, loony, stern, impish, shrewish,
quizzical, scheming -- she greatly enhanced both comedies and dramas
and, thankfully, her off-centered greatness was captured perfectly on
occasion by such film directors as
John Ford,
Alfred Hitchcock and
Neil Simon.
A short, plumpish, oval-eyed figure with a unique flowery, honey-glazed
voice, Natwick was born on June 19, 1905 (some sources list 1908) to
Joseph (a businessman) and and Mildred Marion Dawes Natwick. The
Baltimore native graduated from both the Bryn Mawr School (in
Baltimore) and also from Bennett College in Dutchess County, N.Y.,
where she majored in drama. Breaking into the professional field
touring on stage, Miss Natwick joined the Vagabonds in the late 1920s,
a non-professional group from Baltimore. She later became part of the
renowned University Players at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, whose rising
performers at the time included Henry Fonda,
Margaret Sullavan and
James Stewart.
Natwick made her Broadway bow in the 1932 melodrama "Carry Nation,"
directed by Blanche Yurka with
Esther Dale in the title role. In the cast
was Joshua Logan, whom she befriended and
later collaborated with when he turned director. She then continued her
momentum on 1930s Broadway with "Amourette" (1933), "Spring in Autumn"
(1933), "The Wind and the Rain" (1934), "The Distaff Side" (1934) "End
of Summer" (1936), "Love from a Stranger" (1936), "The Star-Wagon"
(1937), "Missouri Legend" (1938), "Stars in Your Eyes" (1939) (directed
by Logan), and "Christmas Eve" (1939).
Natwick did not come to films until middle age (35) with the
John Ford classic
The Long Voyage Home (1940),
in which she played a Cockney floozie. Despite her fine work in this
minor part, she did not make another film until her landlady role five
years later in
The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
supporting Dorothy McGuire and
Robert Young. Not a great beauty by
Hollywood standards, Natwick learned quickly in Hollywood that if she
were to succeed, it would be as a character performer. Ford himself
picked up on her versatility and used her repeatedly in several of his
post-war classics --
3 Godfathers (1948),
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),
and The Quiet Man (1952).
Never abandoning the theater for long, Natwick excelled as Miss Garnett
in George Bernard Shaw's "Candida"
and as the buoyant medium in Noël Coward's
"Blithe Spirit". As for the big screen, she was sporadically seen in
such films as
Yolanda and the Thief (1945),
The Late George Apley (1947),
A Woman's Vengeance (1948),
The Kissing Bandit (1948),
Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)
and Against All Flags (1952).
Making use of even the tiniest of roles, none of them did much to
improve her stature in Hollywood. With her delicious turn, however, in
Hitchcock's eccentric black comedy
The Trouble with Harry (1955),
which starred Shirley MacLaine (in her
film debut), John Forsythe, Kris
Kringle's Edmund Gwenn, little
Jerry Mathers (of "Leave It to Beaver"),
and another famous Mildred,
Mildred Dunnock, Natwick enjoyed one of
her best roles ever on film. This was followed by her scheming and
furtive sorceress in the Danny Kaye vehicle
The Court Jester (1955) in which
she, Kaye and Glynis Johns participate in
the memorable tongue-twisting "The pellet with the poison's in the
vessel with the pestle..." comedy routine. This, in turn, led to a
couple of more, albeit lesser, films, including
Teenage Rebel (1956) and
Tammy and the Bachelor (1957).
Preferring the theatre to movies, MIldred received her first Tony
nomination for her sharp, astute work in
Jean Anouilh's "Waltz of the Toredors" in
1957 and recreated her character in a TV special. She seemed to move
effortlessly from the classics ("Medea," "Coriolanus") to chic comedy
("Ladies in Retirement," "The Importance of Being Earnest"). Receiving
great applause as the beleaguered, overly-winded mother in
Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park"
on Broadway in 1963, she transferred the role to film four years later.
The cinematic
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
earned Mildred a well-deserved Oscar nomination for "best supporting
actress". She switched things up again with
Harold Pinter's theatrical "Landscape,"
and then again in 1971 when she made her debut in a singing role in the
John Kander-Fred Ebb
musical, "70, Girls, 70" (1971) in which she earned a second Tony
nomination. Her last Broadway show came as a replacement in "Bedroom
Farce" in 1979.
With only the slightest of gesture, look or tone of voice, Mildred's
characters could speak volumes and she became an essential character
player during the 1970s as an offbeat friend, relative or elderly on TV
and film. She was awarded the Emmy for her playing of one of
The Snoop Sisters (1972)_
alongside the equally delightful
Helen Hayes in the short-lived TV
series. Both played impish Jessica Fletcher-type mystery writers who
solve real crimes on the sly. She also played
Rock Hudson's quirky mother in
McMillan & Wife (1971) and a
notable dying grandmother in a guest appearance of the
critically-lauded TV series drama
Family (1976). Her final film came
with a small regal role as Madame de Rosemonde in
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) with
Glenn Close,
John Malkovich and
Michelle Pfeiffer.
Never married, Mildred was called "Milly" by close friends and family
and was the first cousin of Myron 'Grim' Natwick, the creator of Betty
Boop for the Max Fleischer cartoon studio
and prime animator for Disney's Snow White character. She died of
cancer at age 89 in New York City.