Edna May Oliver was a renowned American stage and film actress, particularly renowned for her character roles in the 1930s, often portraying tart-tongued spinsters.
Born Edna May Nutter on November 9, 1883, in Malden, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, a descendant of the 6th American president John Quincy Adams.
Oliver took an early interest in the stage, quitting school at the age of 14 to pursue her ambitions in the theater, despite abandoning traditional schooling.
She continued to study the performing arts, including speech and piano, and one of her first jobs was as pianist with an all-female orchestra that toured America around the turn of the century.
By 1917, she had achieved success on Broadway in the hit play "Oh, Boy", and by 1923, she had appeared in her first film.
Edna May Oliver seemed to be born to play the classics of American and British literature, with some of her most memorable film roles being in adaptations of works by Charles Dickens.
Although described by some as plain or "horse-faced", her comedic talents lent a beautiful droll warmth to her characters, often playing less glamorous roles such as spinsters, but bringing them to life with soul, wit, and depth.
A fine example of her comedic talent can be found in "Laugh and Get Rich" (1931),where she played a role almost autobiographical in nature, that of a proud woman with Boston roots who has married "down".
Edna May Oliver married stock broker David Pratt in 1928, but the marriage ended in divorce five years later.
In 1939, she received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role as Widow McKlennar in the picture "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939),which was to be one of her last films.
Miss Oliver was struck ill in August 1942, although she seemed to recover briefly, she was re-admitted to Los Angeles's Cedars of Lebanon hospital in October, where she died on her 59th birthday, November 9, 1942, surrounded by her dear friend actress Virginia Hammond.
