Alice Brady | |
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In 1916
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Born |
Mary Rose Brady November 2, 1892 New York City, New York, U.S. |
Died | October 28, 1939 New York City, New York, U.S. |
(aged 46)
Cause of death | Cancer |
Resting place | Sleepy Hollow Cemetery |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1914–1939 |
Spouse(s) | James L. Crane (1919–1922; divorced); 1 son |
Children | Donald Crane |
Alice Brady (born Mary Rose Brady, November 2, 1892 – October 28, 1939) was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked until six months before her death from cancer in 1939. Her films include My Man Godfrey (1936), in which she played the flighty mother of Carole Lombard's character, and In Old Chicago (1937) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1960, Brady was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to motion pictures, making her one of fewer than a hundred Oscar-winning female actors in Hollywood history to receive a star.
Mary Rose Brady was born in New York City. Her father, William A. Brady, was an important theatrical producer. Her mother, Rose Marie Rene, died in 1896.
She was interested at an early age in becoming an actress. She first went on the stage when she was 14 and got her first job on Broadway in 1911 at the age of 18, in a show with which her father was associated. In 1913 she appeared with John Barrymore in A Thief for a Night (adapted by P. G. Wodehouse and playwright John Stapleton from Wodehouse's novel, A Gentleman of Leisure) at McVicker's Theatre in Chicago. She continued to perform on Broadway (often in shows her father produced) consistently for the next 22 years. In 1931 she appeared in the premiere of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. Her step-mother was actress Grace George (1879–1961), whom her father married when Alice was a child. Her half-brother was William A. Brady Jr, the son of her father and Grace George.