Famous Like Me > Actress > B > Beulah Bondi
Profile of Beulah Bondi
on Famous Like Me |
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| Name: |
Beulah Bondi |
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| Date of Birth: |
3rd May 1888 |
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| Place of Birth: |
Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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| Profession: |
Actress |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1888 - January 11, 1981) was an American actress, born Beulah Bondy in Chicago, Illinois.
Bondi had a successful stage career before coming to films in 1931. Her debut movie role was as "Emma Jones" in Elmer Rice's Street Scene (1931), which starred Sylvia Sidney, and in which Bondi reprised her stage role, followed by "Mrs. Davidson" in Rain (1932), which starred Joan Crawford and Walter Huston. She would most often seen in the role of the mother of the star of the film for the rest of her career.
Of slight stature, with a gaunt, pale face, dark hair and deep-set, penetrating eyes, she was a veteran actress who worked well into her 80s. She began her acting career on the stage at age 7, moving to film in the 1930s. She was one of the more recognizable faces in films and is probably best remembered for her role as Mrs. Bailey, the mother of George Bailey, in It's A Wonderful Life (1946). Her versatility showed in that film as she played both a loving mother (of course) AND a grumpy, embittered hag in George Bailey's nightmarish alternate reality. Her greatest role is considered to be her role in 1937's Make Way For Tomorrow as the abandoned Depression-era 'Ma' Cooper, and her own personal favorite performance was as the bigoted "Ma Bridges" in 1957's Track of the Cat, no doubt because it was so different from her own personal character and any she role had played on film.
She often played mature roles in her early film career even though she was only in her early 40s. Bondi played Jimmy Stewart’s mother in four films: It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Of Human Hearts, and Vivacious Lady. She made her final appearance at the age of 86, as "Aunt Martha Corinne Walton" on the TV series The Waltons, in the episode "The Conflict." Despite the fact that she was known for playing mother figures, Bondi never married in real life.
She died at the age of 92, from pulmonary complications due to broken ribs she suffered when she fell over her cat on January 11, 1981 (not January 1, 1981 as reported on IMDB) at her home in Los Angeles, California. {Source: Great Character Actors; What-A-Character; see below}
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