Josephine Hull

Josephine Hull
Born	Mary Josephine Sherwood January 3, 1886(1886-01-03) Newtonville, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	March 12, 1957(1957-03-12) (aged 71) The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1905–1955
Spouse	Shelly Hull (1910-1919) (his death)

Josephine Hull (born January 3, reportedly 1886, but probably 1883 – died March 12, 1957) was an Academy Award winning American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Harvey, a role she originally played on the Broadway stage.

Background

Hull was born as Josephine Sherwood in Newtonville, Massachusetts to William H. Sherwood and Mary Elizabeth Tewkesbury. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music (Boston) and Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Career

Stage

Hull made her stage debut in stock in 1905, and after some years as a chorus girl and touring stock player, she married actor Shelley Hull (the elder brother of actor Henry Hull) in 1910. After her husband's death as a young man, the actress retired until 1923, when she returned under the name Josephine Hull. She and Shelley Hull had had no children.

Josephine Hull had her first major stage success in George Kelly's Pulitzer-winning Craig's Wife in 1926. Kelly wrote a role especially for her in his next play, Daisy Mayme, which also was staged in 1926. She continued working in New York theater throughout the 1920s. In the 30s and 40s, Hull appeared in three Broadway hits, as a batty matriarch in You Can't Take It With You (1936), as a homicidal old lady in Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), and in Harvey (1944). The plays all had long runs, and took up ten years of Hull's career.

Her last Broadway play, The Solid Gold Cadillac (1954–55), was later made into a film with the much younger Judy Holliday.

Film

Hull made only six films, beginning in 1929 with The Bishop's Candlesticks. That was followed by two 1932 Fox features, After Tomorrow (recreating her stage role) and The Careless Lady. She missed out on recreating her You Can't Take It With You role in 1938, as she was still onstage with the show. Instead, Spring Byington appeared in the film version. Hull and Canadian-born Jean Adair did play the Brewster sisters in the 1944 film Arsenic and Old Lace (starring Cary Grant), and Hull was in the screen version of Harvey as well, playing James Stewart's sister.

It was for that role that Hull won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar; it was her sole nomination. Variety credited Hull's performance: "the slightly balmy aunt who wants to have Elwood committed, is immense, socking the comedy for every bit of its worth."^{[citation needed]} After, Hull made only one more film, The Lady from Texas (1951); she had also appeared in the CBS-TV version of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1949, with Ruth McDevitt, an actress who often succeeded Hull in her Broadway roles, as her sister.

Hull retired in 1955, and died in The Bronx in 1957 from a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 71 or 74.

Broadway Appearances

• The Bridge [Sep 4, 1909 - Oct 1909, billed as Josephine Sherwood)
• The Law and the Man (Dec 20, 1906 - Feb 1907, billed as Josephine Sherwood) Role: Cosette (Replacement)
• Neighbors (Dec 26, 1923 - Jan 1924) Role: Mrs. Hicks
• Fata Morgana (Mar 3, 1924 - Sep 1924) Role: George's Mother
• Rosmersholm (May 5, 1925 - May 1925) Role: Madame Helseth
• Craig's Wife (Oct 12, 1925 - Aug 1926) Role: Mrs. Frazier
• Daisy Mayme (Oct 25, 1926 - Jan 1927) Role: Mrs. Olly Kipax
• The Wild Man of Borneo (Sep 13, 1927 - Sep 1927) Role: Mrs. Marshall
• March Hares (Apr 2, 1928 - Apr 1928) Role: Mrs. Janet Rodney
• The Beaux Stratagem (Jun 4, 1928 - Jun 1928) Role: Servant in the Inn
• Hotbed (Nov 8, 1928 - Nov 1928) Role: Hattie
• Before You're 25 (Apr 16, 1929 - May 1929) Role: Cornelia Corbin
• Those We Love (Feb 19, 1930 - Apr 1930) Role: Evelyn
• Midnight (Dec 29, 1930 - Feb 1931) Role: Mrs. Weldon
• Unexpected Husband (Jun 2, 1931 - Sep 1931) Role: Mrs. Egbert Busty
• After Tomorrow (Aug 26, 1931 - Nov 1931) Role: Mrs. Piper
• A Thousand Summers (May 24, 1932 - Jul 1932) Role: Mrs. Thompson
• American Dream (Feb 21, 1933 - Mar 1933) Role: Martha, Mrs. Schuyler Hamilton
• A Divine Drudge Oct 26, 1933 - Nov 1933) Role: Frau Klapstuhl
• By Your Leave (Jan 24, 1934 - Feb 1934) Role: Mrs. Gretchell
• On to Fortune (Feb 4, 1935 - Feb 1935) Role: Miss Hedda Sloan
• Seven Keys to Baldpate (May 27, 1935 - Jun 1935) Role: Mrs. Quinby
• Night In the House (Nov 7, 1935 - Nov 1935) Role: Lucy Amorest
• You Can't Take It With You (Dec 14, 1936 - Dec 3, 1938) Role: Penelope Sycamore
• An International Incident (Apr 2, 1940 - Apr 13, 1940) Role: Mrs. John Wurthering Blackett
• Arsenic and Old Lace (Jan 10, 1941 - Jun 17, 1944) Role: Abby Brewster
• Harvey (Nov 1, 1944 - Jan 15, 1949) Role: Veta Louise Simmons
• Minnie and Mr. Williams (Oct 27, 1948 - Oct 30, 1948) Role: Minnie
• The Golden State (Nov 25, 1950 - Dec 16, 1950) Role: Mrs. Morenas
• Whistler's Grandmother (Dec 11, 1952 - Jan 3, 1953) Role: Kate
• The Solid Gold Cadillac (Nov 5, 1953 - Feb 12, 1955) Role: Mrs. Laura Partridge

Broadway Credits as Director

• Why Not? (Dec 25, 1922 - Apr 1923, billed as Mrs. Shelley Hull)
• The Rivals (May 7, 1923 - May 1923, billed as Mrs. Shelley Hull)
• The Habitual Husband (Dec 24, 1924 - Jan 1925)

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1929	The Bishop's Candlesticks
1932	Careless Lady	Aunt Cora
	After Tomorrow	Mrs. Piper
1944	Arsenic and Old Lace	Aunt Abby Brewster
1950	Harvey	Veta Louise Simmons	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1951	The Lady from Texas	Miss Birdie Wheeler

External links

• Josephine Hull at the Internet Movie Database
• Josephine Hull at the Internet Broadway Database
• Josephine Hull at AllRovi
• Josephine Hull at the TCM Movie Database
• Josephine Hull Papers, 1871-1957; Diary, 1920-1924. A-94, folder 17v. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• Josephine Hull at Find a Grave