Sarah Edwards
Acting
Biography
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).
Born: October 9, 1881
Place of Birth: Glyn Ceiriog, Denbighshire, Wales
Known For
Filmography
as Spinster on Stagecoach (uncredited)
as Mrs. East (uncredited)
as Bertha Hallum
as Mrs. Carp (uncredited)
as Granny Hortense Mason
as Mrs. Clauson
as Mrs. Duffy
as Miss Pritchard (uncredited)
as Mrs. Hatch
as Cora (uncredited)
as Dolly Finnuccin
as Miss Diggs (uncredited)
as Sadie
as Dormitory Matron
as Mrs. Tuttle (Patty's Landlady) (uncredited)
as Mrs. Watty's Friend (uncredited)
as Maude Perry-Tonides
as Faculty Member (uncredited)
as Mrs. Bradley
as Mrs. Bradley
as Mrs. Hargue
as Miss Perkins
as Mrs. Vincent
as Mrs. Kelly
as Doctor's Wife on Train (uncredited)
as Grandma Vanderscnooze (uncredited)
as Mrs. Hansen (uncredited)
as Selma Quentin
as Stagecoach Passenger (uncredited)
as Housekeeper
as Mrs. Weatherwax (uncredited)
as Miss Priddle
as Mrs. Motford - Kay's Mother (uncredited)
as Angie Turner
as Mrs. Spicer (uncredited)
as Customer (uncredited)
as Clubwoman
as Susanna Hawkins Peabody
as Mrs. Burton (uncredited)
as Miss Petherby
as Mrs. Perkins (uncredited)
as Showroom Buyer (uncredited)
as Landlady
as Spinster (Uncredited)
as Miss Hodges
as Neighbor Girl
as Mrs. Stinchfield
as Marquise della Rosa
as Spinster
as Mrs. Karff (uncredited)
as Literary Committee Member
as Undetermined Role
as Woman Customer
as Lady in Revolving Door
as Citizens Committee Woman (uncredited)
as Mrs. Minnows
as Driver (uncredited)
as (uncredited)
as Militant American Tourist
as Chaperone at Dance
as Florence (uncredited)
as Mrs. Jones
as Saleswoman (uncredited)
as Annie Rucker (uncredited)
as Beauty Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
as Mrs. Moots
as Chairwoman of Morals Society (uncredited)
as Dinner Party Guest (uncredited)
as Clerk (uncredited)
as Autograph Session Chairwoman (uncredited)
as Party Guest
as School Board Member Miss Brundage
as Mrs. Snell
as Miss Adams (uncredited)
as Mrs. Fleming
as Party Guest (uncredited)
as Mrs. Warden, Fan from New Jersey (uncredited)
as Lucy's Attorney's Wife (uncredited)
as Mrs. Hinkle
as Mrs. Biddle
as Mrs. Van Drexel
as Miss Collins - School Principal
as Evelyn Bottomley
as Companion of American without Matches (uncredited)
as Mrs. Moffat (uncredited)
as Mrs. O'Shea
as Miss Barton
as Miss Pinchon
as Mrs. Lizzie Burke-Meyers
as First Society Woman (uncredited)
as Woman Dancing with Fat Man
as Old Maid (uncredited)
as Professor Douglas (Uncredited)
as Abigail Adams
as Martie Beemish
as Mrs. Myron Carey
as Dowager in Taxi
as Friend of Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
as Lucille Weymouth
as Gossip on Phone (uncredited)
as Nurse (uncredited)
as Mrs. Hughes