Sarah Edwards (actress)

Sarah Edwards(October 11, 1881 – January 7, 1965) was a Welsh-born American film and stage actress. She often played dowagers or spinsters in numerous Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in minor roles.

Sarah Edwards
Edwards inIt's a Joke, Son!(1947)
Born(1881-10-11)October 11, 1881
DiedJanuary 7, 1965(1965-01-07)(aged 83)
OccupationActress
Years active1916–1951
Spouse
Vernon Malcolm Jacobson
(m.1937; died 1955)

Life and career

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Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular withWest Endtheatre-goers ".[1]

She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in sixBroadwayplays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies likeThe Merry MalonesbyGeorge M. Cohan.Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musicalGlorifying the American Girl(1929), where she portrayed the mercenary mother of the character played by lead actressMary Eaton.She came to Hollywood in the mid-1930s where she appeared in about 190 films until her retirement 1951, mostly in uncredited, small character roles. Edwards died in Hollywood in 1965, aged 83.

Edwards seemed older than she was and often portrayed a "kindly grandmother, imperious dowager, hardy pioneer wife, ill-tempered teacher and strict governess".[2]She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother ofMary Hatch(Donna Reed) inFrank Capra's film classicIt's a Wonderful Life(1946) who tries to keep her daughter away fromGeorge Bailey.Edwards also played a customer inErnst Lubitsch'sThe Shop Around the Corner(1940) withJames Stewart.She also appeared in another Christmas classic,The Bishop's Wife(1947) withCary Grant,and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thrillerShadow of a Doubt(1943). Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in theCharlie ChanmovieCharlie Chan in the Secret Service(1944).

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^Newspaper article from 1916,mediahist.org. Accessed July 12, 2023.
  2. ^Sarah Edwards at Allmovie
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