Josephine Hull | |
|---|---|
 Hull in the original Broadway production ofArsenic and Old Lace (1941) | |
| Born | Mary Josephine Sherwood (1877-01-03)January 3, 1877 |
| Died | March 12, 1957(1957-03-12) (aged 80) The Bronx, New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Radcliffe College |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1905–1955 |
| Spouse | |
Marie Josephine Hull (néeSherwood; January 3, 1877 – March 12, 1957) was an 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 anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movieHarvey (1950), a role she originally played on theBroadway stage. She was sometimes credited asJosephine Sherwood.[1]
Hull was born January 3, 1877,[2] inNewtonville, Massachusetts, one of four children born to William H. Sherwood and Mary Elizabeth "Minnie" Tewkesbury,[3] but would later shave years off her age.[4]
Hull made her stage debut in 1905, and after some years as a chorus girl and touring stock player, she married actorShelley Hull (the elder brother of actorHenry Hull) in 1910. After her husband's death as a young man, the actress retired until 1923, when she returned to acting using her married name, Josephine Hull. The couple had no children.[citation needed]
She had her first major stage success inGeorge Kelly's Pulitzer-winningCraig'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 1930s and 1940s, Hull appeared in three Broadway hits, as a batty matriarch inYou Can't Take It with You (1936), as a homicidal old lady inArsenic and Old Lace (1941), and inHarvey (1944). The plays all had long runs, and took up ten years of Hull's career.[1] Her last Broadway play,The Solid Gold Cadillac (1954–55), was later made intoa film version with the much youngerJudy Holliday in the role.[citation needed]
Hull made only seven films, beginning in 1927 with a small part in theClara Bow featureGet Your Man, followed byThe Bishop's Candlesticks in 1929. That was followed by two 1932 Fox features,After Tomorrow (recreating her stage role) andCareless Lady.
She missed out on recreating herYou 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 played Aunt Abby who, along withJean Adair as Aunt Martha, was one of the two Brewster sisters in the film version ofArsenic and Old Lace (1944) starringCary Grant andPriscilla Lane.
Hull then appeared in the screen version ofHarvey (1950), for which she won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress.Variety credited Hull's performance: "the slightly balmy aunt (actually playing “Elwood's” sister, “Veta”) who wants to have Elwood committed, is immense, socking the comedy for every bit of its worth".[5]
AfterHarvey, Hull made only one more film,The Lady from Texas (1951); she had also appeared in theCBS-TV version ofArsenic and Old Lace in 1949, withRuth McDevitt, an actress who often succeeded Hull in her Broadway roles, as her sister.[citation needed]
Hull died on March 12, 1957, aged 80, from a cerebral hemorrhage.[6]
| Year | Title | Role | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 | Get Your Man | Simone de Villeneuve | |
| 1929 | The Bishop's Candlesticks | Persone | Short |
| 1932 | After Tomorrow | Mrs. Piper | |
| Careless Lady | Aunt Cora | ||
| 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 |
| Year | Program | Episode/source |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Theatre Guild on the Air | The Meanest Man in the World[7] |
