Beulah Bondi
| Beulah Bondi | |
|---|---|
Bondi in 1961
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| Born |
Beulah Bondy May 3, 1889 Valparaiso, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 11, 1981 (aged 91) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cremains scattered into the Pacific Ocean |
| Alma mater | Valparaiso University |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1895–1976 |
Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981) was an American actress of stage, film and television. She began her acting career as a young child in theater and, after establishing herself as a stage actress, reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version. She played supporting roles in several films during the 1930s, and was twice nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played the mother of James Stewart in the four films Of Human Hearts, Vivacious Lady, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). She continued acting well into her later years, winning an Emmy Award for an appearance on The Waltons in 1976.
Bondi was born Beulah Bondy in Valparaiso, Indiana, the daughter of Eva Suzanna (née Marble), an author, and Abraham O. Bondy, who worked in real estate. Bondi began her acting career on the stage at age seven, playing Cedric Errol in a production of Little Lord Fauntleroy at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Indiana. She graduated from the Frances Shimer Academy (later Shimer College) in 1907, and gained her bachelor's and master's degrees in oratory at Valparaiso University in 1916 and 1918.
She made her Broadway debut in Kenneth S. Webb's One of the Family at the 49th Street Theatre on December 21, 1925. She next appeared in another hit, Maxwell Anderson's Saturday's Children, in 1926. It was Bondi's performance in Elmer Rice's Pulitzer Prize-winning Street Scene, which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on January 10, 1929, that brought Bondi to the movies at the age of 43. Her debut movie role was as "Emma Jones" in 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.
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