Mary Wickes

Mary Wickes
Wickes in the trailer for Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1966)
Born	Mary Isabella Wickenhauser (1910-06-13)June 13, 1910 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 22, 1995(1995-10-22) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Surgical complications
Resting place	Shiloh Valley Cemetery in Shiloh, Illinois
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1934–1995

Mary Wickes (June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American film and television character actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses and housekeepers, who made sarcastic quips when the leading characters fell short of her high standards.

Mary Isabella Wickenhauser (she later shortened her surname for acting) was born to Frank Wickenhauser (1880-1943) and his wife, Mary Isabella (née Shannon; died 1965), in St. Louis, Missouri, of German, Scottish and Irish extraction, and raised Protestant. Her parents were theater buffs, and took her to plays from the time that she could stay awake through a matinee. An excellent student, she skipped two grades in grade school, and graduated at sixteen from Beaumont High School. She was accepted into Washington University in St. Louis, where she joined the debate team, the Phi Mu women's fraternity and was initiated into Mortar Board in 1929. She graduated in 1930 with a double major in English literature and political science. Although she had planned a career in law, a favorite professor encouraged her to try drama, and she shifted direction.

Wickes' first Broadway appearance was in Marc Connelly's The Farmer Takes a Wife in 1934 with Henry Fonda. She began acting in films in the late 1930s and was a member of the Orson Welles troupe on his radio drama The Mercury Theatre on the Air; she also appeared in Welles' film Too Much Johnson (1938). One of her earliest significant film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage role of "Nurse Preen".