Clara Blandick

Clara Blandick
Blandick (c. 1895) in a photograph by Otto Sarony
Born	Clara Blanchard Dickey (1876-06-04)June 4, 1876 Hong Kong
Died	April 15, 1962(1962-04-15) (aged 85) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1900–1951
Spouse(s)	Harry Stanton Elliott (m.1905–1912; divorced)

Clara Blanchard Dickey (June 4, 1876 – April 15, 1962), credited professionally as Clara Blandick, was an American stage and screen actress best known for her role as Aunt Em in MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs.

She was born Clara Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. and Hattie (née Mudgett) Dickey, aboard the Willard Mudgett – an American ship captained by her father (named after one of her maternal relatives), and docked in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. She was delivered by Captain William H. Blanchard, whose ship, "Wealthy Pendleton," was anchored nearby. His wife, Clara Pendleton Blanchard, was present, as well. To thank the Blanchards, Captain and Mrs. Dickey named their daughter Clara Blanchard Dickey. When she became successful as an actress, she took the first syllable of "Blanchard" and the first syllable of "Dickey" to create her stage name, "Clara Blandick". While she often used 1880 as her year of birth for professional purposes, she was actually born in 1876. According to the newspaper Daily Alta California, both the Willard Mudgett and the Wealthy Pendleton were in Hong Kong Harbor in June 1876. By 1880, Captain Dickey was in command of a different ship (the William Hales), and the rest of the family was in Quincy.

Her parents settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, by 1879 or 1880. Sources vary on when the Dickeys settled there, and Clara may have been two or three years old when they made the move. In nearby Boston she met the Shakespearean actor E. H. Sothern, with whom she appeared in a production of Richard Lovelace. She moved from Boston to New York City by 1900, and began pursuing acting as a career. Her first professional appearance came in 1901, when she was cast as Jehanneton in the play If I Were King, which ran for 56 performances at Garden Theatre (an early component of Madison Square Garden). She achieved acclaim for her role in The Christian and was described by newspaper critics as a "dainty, petite, and graceful" heroine.