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Sarah Edwards

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Birthdate

1881-10-11

Day of Death

1965-01-07

Place of Birth

Glyn Ceiriog, Denbighshire, Wales

Sarah Edwards

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 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. Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular with West End theatre-goers".[1] She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in six Broadway plays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies like The Merry Malones by George M. Cohan. Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musical Glorifying the American Girl (1929), where she portrayed the mercenary mother of leading actress Mary 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. Sarah 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". She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother of Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) in Frank Capra's film classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) who tries to keep her daughter away from George Bailey. Edwards also played a customer in Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with James Stewart. She also appeared in another Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife (1947) with Cary Grant, and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in the Charlie Chan movie Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944).

Filmography (111)

⭐ 6.2 Role: Spinster on Stagecoach (uncredited)

Carson City

1952
⭐ 6.1 Role: Mrs. East (uncredited)

The Fuller Brush Girl

1950
⭐ 5.8 Role: Bertha Hallum

Air Hostess

1949
⭐ 6.2 Role: Mrs. Carp (uncredited)

Family Honeymoon

1948
⭐ 5.5 Role: Granny Hortense Mason

California Firebrand

1948
⭐ 10.0 Role: Mrs. Clauson

The Main Street Kid

1948
⭐ 7.1 Role: Mrs. Duffy

The Bishop's Wife

1947
⭐ 6.4 Role: Miss Pritchard (uncredited)

Good News

1947
⭐ 6.7 Role: Mrs. Dessark (uncredited)

The Romance of Rosy Ridge

1947
⭐ 6.6 Role: Unknown

The Devil Thumbs a Ride

1947
⭐ 8.3 Role: Mrs. Hatch

It's a Wonderful Life

1946
⭐ 5.9 Role: Cora (uncredited)

Undercurrent

1946
⭐ 4.6 Role: Dolly Finnuccin

Song of Arizona

1946
⭐ 10.0 Role: Mrs. Richards (uncredited)

Girl on the Spot

1946
⭐ 6.1 Role: Miss Diggs (uncredited)

Saratoga Trunk

1945