Sarah Edwards
Acting
Born October 11, 1881, Glyn Ceiriog, Denbighshire, Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sarah Edwards (October 11, 1881 – January 7, 1965) was a Welsh-born American film and stage actress. She often played dowagers or spinsters in numerous Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in minor roles. Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular with West End theatre-goers".[1] She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in six Broadway plays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies like The Merry Malones by George M. Cohan. Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musical Glorifying the American Girl (1929), where she portrayed the mercenary mother of leading actress Mary Eaton. She came to Hollywood in the mid-1930s where she appeared in about 190 films until her retirement 1951, mostly in uncredited, small character roles. Sarah Edwards died in Hollywood in 1965, aged 83. Edwards seemed older than she was and often portrayed a "kindly grandmother, imperious dowager, hardy pioneer wife, ill-tempered teacher and strict governess". She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother of Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) in Frank Capra's film classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) who tries to keep her daughter away from George Bailey. Edwards also played a customer in Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with James Stewart. She also appeared in another Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife (1947) with Cary Grant, and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in the Charlie Chan movie Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944).
Filmography
- 1952Carson City — Spinster on Stagecoach (uncredited)
- 1950The Fuller Brush Girl — Mrs. East (uncredited)
- 1949Air Hostess — Bertha Hallum
- 1948California Firebrand — Granny Hortense Mason
- 1948Family Honeymoon — Mrs. Carp (uncredited)
- 1948The Main Street Kid — Mrs. Clauson
- 1947Good News — Miss Pritchard (uncredited)
- 1947The Bishop's Wife — Mrs. Duffy
- 1947The Devil Thumbs a Ride
- 1947The Romance of Rosy Ridge — Mrs. Dessark (uncredited)
- 1946Girl on the Spot — Mrs. Richards (uncredited)
- 1946It's a Wonderful Life — Mrs. Hatch
- 1946Song of Arizona — Dolly Finnuccin
- 1946The Verdict — Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1946Undercurrent — Cora (uncredited)
- 1945Allotment Wives — Sadie
- 1945Girls of the Big House — Dormitory Matron
- 1945Lady on a Train
- 1945Saratoga Trunk — Miss Diggs (uncredited)
- 1945The Corn Is Green — Mrs. Watty's Friend (uncredited)
- 1945Two O'Clock Courage — Mrs. Tuttle (Patty's Landlady) (uncredited)
- 1944Bathing Beauty — Faculty Member (uncredited)
- 1944Charlie Chan in the Secret Service — Mrs. Hargue
- 1944Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid — Mrs. Bradley
- 1944Henry Aldrich's Little Secret — Mrs. Bradley
- 1944Storm Over Lisbon — Maude Perry-Tonides
- 1943All by Myself — Mrs. Vincent
- 1943Dixie Dugan — Mrs. Kelly
- 1943Nearly Eighteen — Miss Perkins
- 1943Shadow of a Doubt — Doctor's Wife on Train (uncredited)
- 1942Apache Trail — Stagecoach Passenger (uncredited)
- 1942Calling All Pa's — Grandma Vanderscnooze (uncredited)
- 1942Dudes Are Pretty People — Miss Priddle
- 1942My Favorite Blonde — Mrs. Weatherwax (uncredited)
- 1942Rings on Her Fingers
- 1942Scattergood Survives a Murder — Selma Quentin
- 1942The Forest Rangers — Mrs. Hansen (uncredited)
- 1942The Sons of the Pioneers — Housekeeper
- 1941H.M. Pulham, Esq. — Mrs. Motford - Kay's Mother (uncredited)
- 1941I Wake Up Screaming — Customer (uncredited)
- 1941Miss Polly — Angie Turner
- 1941Mr. District Attorney — Miss Petherby
- 1941One Foot in Heaven — Mrs. Spicer (uncredited)
- 1941Sunset in Wyoming — Susanna Hawkins Peabody
- 1941The Face Behind the Mask — Mrs. Perkins (uncredited)
- 1941Three Girls About Town — Clubwoman
- 1941Tom, Dick and Harry — Mrs. Burton (uncredited)
- 1940Arise, My Love — Spinster (uncredited)
- 1940Curtain Call — Literary Committee Member
- 1940Free, Blonde and 21 — Undetermined Role
- 1940Little Men — Landlady
- 1940Lucky Cisco Kid — Spinster
- 1940New Moon — Marquise della Rosa
- 1940Opened by Mistake — Mrs. Karff (uncredited)
- 1940Strike Up the Band — Miss Hodges
- 1940The Howards of Virginia — Neighbor Girl
- 1940The Invisible Woman — Showroom Buyer (uncredited)
- 1940The Shop Around the Corner — Woman Customer
- 1940Young People — Mrs. Stinchfield
- 1939Blondie Meets the Boss — Saleswoman (uncredited)
- 1939Boy Trouble — Mrs. Moots
- 1939Coast Guard — Florence (uncredited)
- 1939Drunk Driving — Driver (uncredited)
- 1939Espionage Agent — Militant American Tourist
- 1939Here I Am a Stranger — Chaperone at Dance
- 1939Meet Dr. Christian — Mrs. Minnows
- 1939Persons in Hiding — Beauty Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
- 1939Remember? — Lady in Revolving Door
- 1939Sabotage — (uncredited)
- 1939The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn — Annie Rucker (uncredited)
- 1939The Amazing Mr. Williams — Citizens Committee Woman (uncredited)
- 1939Too Busy to Work
- 1939Unmarried — Mrs. Jones
- 1938A Doggone Mixup
- 1938A Man to Remember — Clerk (uncredited)
- 1938Gold Is Where You Find It — Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1938Judge Hardy's Children — Miss Adams (uncredited)
- 1938Love Is a Headache — Mrs. Warden, Fan from New Jersey (uncredited)
- 1938Merrily We Live — Mrs. Fleming
- 1938The Beloved Brat — School Board Member Miss Brundage
- 1938The Cowboy and the Lady — Dinner Party Guest (uncredited)
- 1938The Shining Hour — Chairwoman of Morals Society (uncredited)
- 1938Three Loves Has Nancy — Autograph Session Chairwoman (uncredited)
- 1938Woman Against Woman — Party Guest
- 1938Women Are Like That — Mrs. Snell
- 1937Big Business — Miss Collins - School Principal
- 1937It's Love I'm After — Mrs. Hinkle
- 1937Public Wedding — Mrs. Van Drexel
- 1937The Awful Truth — Lucy's Attorney's Wife (uncredited)
- 1937Varsity Show — Mrs. Biddle
- 1937We're on the Jury — Evelyn Bottomley
- 1936Colleen — First Society Woman (uncredited)
- 1936Early to Bed — Miss Barton
- 1936Palm Springs — Miss Pinchon
- 1936The General Died at Dawn — Companion of American without Matches (uncredited)
- 1936The Golden Arrow — Mrs. Lizzie Burke-Meyers
- 1936The Walking Dead
- 1936Theodora Goes Wild — Mrs. Moffat (uncredited)
- 1936Two-Fisted Gentleman — Mrs. O'Shea
- 1935I Live My Life — Professor Douglas (Uncredited)
- 1935It's in the Air — Old Maid (uncredited)
- 1935People Will Talk — Martie Beemish
- 1935Ruggles of Red Gap — Mrs. Myron Carey
- 1935Shadow of Doubt — Dowager in Taxi
- 1935Stars Over Broadway — Woman Dancing with Fat Man
- 1935Sweepstake Annie — Friend of Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
- 1935Two-Fisted — Abigail Adams
- 1934My Grandfather's Clock — Housekeeper (uncredited)
- 1934The World Accuses — Lucille Weymouth
- 1932American Madness — Gossip on Phone (uncredited)
- 1932Wayward — Nurse (uncredited)
- 1929Glorifying the American Girl — Mrs. Hughes
- 1929Two Americans