Josephine Hutchinson

Josephine Hutchinson (October 12, 1903 – June 4, 1998) was an American actress. She acted in several theater plays and films.

Early years

Hutchinson was born in Seattle, Washington. Her mother, Leona Roberts, was an actress best known for her role as Mrs. Meade in ''Gone with the Wind''.

Career

Film

Through her mother's connections, Hutchinson made her film debut at the age of 13 in '' The Little Princess'' (1917), starring Mary Pickford. She later attended the Cornish School in Seattle, receiving a diploma in 1929. She moved to New York City, where she began acting in theater. By the late 1920s, she was one of the actors able to make the transition from silent movies to talkies.

Under contract with Warner Bros., Hutchinson went to Hollywood in 1934, debuting in ''Happiness Ahead''. She was featured on the cover of ''Film Weekly'' on August 23, 1935 and appeared in ''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' in 1936.

At Universal, she played Elsa von Frankenstein in one of her more memorable roles alongside actors Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939). In 1957's ''Gun for a Coward'', she was miscast as the mother of Fred MacMurray's character, being less than five years MacMurray's senior. She later played the sister of the villain Vandamm, posing as Mrs. Townsend, in ''North by Northwest'' (1959) and Mrs. Macaboy in ''Love Is Better Than Ever'', starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Stage

Hutchinson's Broadway debut came in ''The Bird Cage'' (1925). Her other Broadway credits included ''The Cherry Orchard'' (1933), ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1932), ''Dear Jane'' (1932), ''Alison's House'' (1931), ''Camille'' (1931), ''Alison's House'' (1930), ''The Women Have Their Way'' (1930), ''The Living Corpse'' (1929), ''Mademoiselle Bourrat'' (1929), ''The Cherry Orchard'' (1929), ''The Seagull'' (1929), ''Peter Pan'' (1928), ''The Cherry Orchard'' (1928), ''Hedda Gabler'' (1928), ''Improvisations in June'' (1928), ''The First Stone'' (1928), ''2 x 2 = 5'' (1927), ''The Good Hope'' (1927), ''Inheritors'' (1927), ''The Cradle Song'' (1927), ''Twelfth Night'' (1926), ''The Unchastened Woman'' (1926), and ''A Man's Man'' (1925).

Television

On television, she made four guest appearances on ''Perry Mason''. In 1958, she played Leona Walsh in "The Case of the Screaming Woman".
In 1959, she played murderer Miriam Baker in "The Case of the Spanish Cross". In 1961, she played Miss Sarah McKay in "The Case of the Barefaced Witness", and in 1962, she played Amelia Corning in "The Case of the Mystified Miner".

In the 1960 ''The Rifleman'' episode "The Prodigal", she played Christine, the mother of outlaw Billy St. John.

In 1970 ''Bonanza'' (S12E9) "Love Child", she played Martha Randolph.

In ''Little House on the Prairie'' (S1E6) "If I Should Wake Before I Die", she played Amy Hearn.

Hutchinson continued to work steadily through the 1970s in film, radio, and television, establishing a solid career in supporting roles. She appeared in ''The Real McCoys'' in 1961 in the episode "September Song", on '' Rawhide'' in 1962 in the episode "Grandma's Money", ''The Twilight Zone'' in the episode " I Sing the Body Electric", and ''Gunsmoke'' as “Mrs Crale” in the 1959 episode “Johnny Red”, and as “Reverend Mother Sister Ellen” in the 1967 episode “Ladies From St. Louis”. In 1971, Hutchinson appeared in ''The Waltons'' television movie ''The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'', in which she played Mamie Baldwin, one half of a sister duo who made moonshine whiskey.

Personal life

On August 12, 1924, Hutchinson married Robert W. Bell, a stage director, in Washington, D.C. In 1926, she met the actress Eva Le Gallienne, and became a member of Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre company. By 1927, the two women were involved in an affair and Hutchinson and Bell, who separated in 1928, were divorced in 1930. The press quickly dubbed her Le Gallienne's "shadow", a term which at the time meant lesbian.Eva Le Gallienne bio
Both actresses survived the scandal and carried on with their respective careers.

Hutchinson married three times. Hutchinson married James F. Townsend in 1935; they later divorced. Her final marriage was to actor Staats Cotsworth in 1972; he died in 1979.

Death

She died, aged 94, on June 4, 1998, at the Florence Nightingale Nursing Home in Manhattan. Her ashes were scattered near her niece's home at Springfield, Oregon.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 22857). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Select filmography

* '' The Little Princess'' (1917) (uncredited)
* '' Happiness Ahead'' (1934) as Joan Bradford
* '' The Right to Live'' (1935) as Stella Trent
* '' Oil for the Lamps of China'' (1935) as Hester
* '' The Melody Lingers On'' (1935) as Ann Prescott
* ''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' (1936) as Marie Pasteur
* ''I Married a Doctor'' (1936) as Carol Kennicott
* '' Mountain Justice'' (1937) as Ruth Harkins
* ''The Women Men Marry'' (1937) as Jane Carson
* ''The Crime of Doctor Hallet'' (1938) as Dr. Mary Reynolds
* ''Son of Frankenstein'' (1939) as Elsa Von Frankenstein
* ''My Son, My Son!'' (1940) as Nellie (Moscrop) Essex
* ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1940) as Mrs. Mary Arnold
* ''Her First Beau'' (1941) as Mrs. Wood
* '' Somewhere in the Night'' (1946) as Elizabeth Conroy
* '' Cass Timberlane'' (1947) as Lillian Drover
* ''The Tender Years'' (1948) as Emily Norris
* ''Adventure in Baltimore'' (1949) as Mrs. Lilly Sheldon
* ''Love Is Better Than Ever'' (1952) as Mrs. Macaboy
* ''Ruby Gentry'' (1952) as Letitia Gentry
* ''Many Rivers to Cross'' (1955) as Mrs. Cherne
* ''Miracle in the Rain'' (1956) as Agnes Wood
* ''Gun for a Coward'' (1957) as Mrs. Keough
* ''Sing, Boy, Sing'' (1958) as Caroline Walker
* ''Step Down to Terror'' (1958) as Mrs. Sarah Walters
* ''North by Northwest'' (1959) as Mrs. Townsend
* '' Walk Like a Dragon'' (1960) as Ma Bartlett
* ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1960) as Widow Douglas
* ''Baby the Rain Must Fall'' (1965) as Mrs. Ewing
* ''Nevada Smith'' (1966) as Mrs. Elvira McCanles
* '' Rabbit, Run'' (1970) as Mrs. Angstrom, Rabbit's mother
* '' The Homecoming: A Christmas Story'' (1971) as Mamie Baldwin

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchinson, Josephine
1903 births
1998 deaths
Actresses from Seattle
American film actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Bisexual actresses
Bisexual women
LGBT people from Washington (state)
Warner Bros. contract players
20th-century American actresses
20th-century LGBT people
American LGBT actors