Charlotte Greenwood
| Charlotte Greenwood | |
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| Born | Frances Charlotte Greenwood June 25, 1890 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | December 28, 1977 (aged 87) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Years active | 1915-1961 |
| Spouse | Cyril Ring (1915-1922) (divorced) Martin Broones (1924-1971) (his death) |
Frances Charlotte Greenwood (25 June 1890 - 28 December 1977) was an American actress and dancer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Greenwood started in vaudeville, and eventually starred on Broadway, movies and radio. Standing around six feet tall, she was best known for her long legs and high kicks. She earned the unique praise of being, in her words, the "...only woman in the world who could kick a giraffe in the eye."
In 1913, Oliver Morosco cast her as Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo late in the run of L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk's The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (better known in its novelization as Tik-Tok of Oz), then commissioned a successful star vehicle titled So Long Letty, which is the role that made her a star.
She starred with such luminaries as Charles Ruggles, Betty Grable, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, Buster Keaton, and Carmen Miranda. Most of Greenwood's best work was done on the stage, and was lauded by such critics as James Agate, Alexander Woollcott and Claudia Cassidy. One of her most successful roles was that of Juno in Cole Porter's Out of This World in which she introduced the Porter classic "I Sleep Easier Now."
Although the role was written with her in mind, film commitments prevented her from playing "Aunt Eller" in the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway hit Oklahoma! (1943). She got her chance in the 1955 film version, just prior to retiring in 1956.
Charlotte Greenwood died in Los Angeles, California of undisclosed causes, aged 87.
She was married twice, first, unsuccessfully to actor Cyril Ring, brother of actress Blanche Ring, and secondly and happily to composer Martin Broones.
[edit] Filmography
- Jane (1916)
- Stepping Some (1918)(*short)
- Baby Mine (1928)
- So Long Letty (1929)
- Love Your Neighbor (1930)(*short)
- Girls Will Be Boys (1931)(*short)
- Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)
- Stepping Out (1931)
- The Man in Possession (1931)
- Palmy Days (1931)
- Flying High (1931)
- Cheaters at Play (1932)
- Orders Is Orders (1934)
- Star Dust (1940)
- Young People (film)|Young People]] (1940)
- Down Argentine Way (1940)
- Tall, Dark and Handsome (1941)
- Moon Over Miami (1941)
- The Perfect Snob (1941)
- Springtime in the Rockies (1942)
- Dixie Dugan (1943)
- The Gang's All Here (1943)
- Up in Mabel's Room (1944)
- Home in Indiana (1944)
- Wake Up and Dream (1946)
- Driftwood (1947)
- The Great Dan Patch (1949)
- Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949)
- Peggy (1950)
- Dangerous When Wet (1953)
- Oklahoma! (1955)
- Glory (1956)
- The Opposite Sex (1956)
[edit] References
- Hayter-Menzies, Grant, Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, North Carolina and London, 2007. ISBN 9780786429950.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Charlotte Greenwood |
- Charlotte Greenwood at the Internet Movie Database
- Charlotte Greenwood at the Internet Broadway Database
- Charlotte Greenwood web site
- Victoria Times-Colonist, Adrian Chamberlain, 26 May 2007
- 1925 portrait of Charlotte Greenwood modeling fur and her hair coiffed taken by Benjamin Strauss and Homer Peyton
- Charlotte Greenwood at Find a Grave
