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Una Merkel | |
|---|---|
 Merkel in 1934 | |
| Born | (1903-12-10)December 10, 1903 Covington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | January 2, 1986(1986-01-02) (aged 82) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Highland Cemetery,Fort Mitchell, Kentucky |
| Years active | 1920–1968 |
| Spouse | |
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film actress. Two of her best-known performances are in the films42nd Street andDestry Rides Again. She won aTony Award in 1956 and was nominated for anOscar in 1961.
Merkel was born inCovington, Kentucky, to Bessie (née Phares) and Arno Merkel.[1] In her early childhood, she lived in many of theSouthern United States due to her father's job as a traveling salesman. At the age of 15, she and her parents moved to Philadelphia. They stayed there a year or so before settling in New York City, where she began attending the Alviene School of Dramatic Art.[citation needed]
Because of her strong resemblance to actressLillian Gish, Merkel was offered a part as Gish's youngest sister in a silent film calledWorld Shadows. However, the funding for the film dried up and it was never completed. Merkel went on to appear in a fewsilent movies, several of them for the Lee Bradford Corporation. She also appeared in the two-reelLove's Old Sweet Song (1923), which was made byLee de Forest in hisPhonofilmsound-on-film process and starredLouis Wolheim and Helen Weir. Not making much of a mark in films, Merkel turned her attention to the theater and found work in several important plays on Broadway. Her biggest triumph was inCoquette (1927), which starred her idol,Helen Hayes.[citation needed]
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Invited to Hollywood by famous directorD. W. Griffith to playAnn Rutledge in his filmAbraham Lincoln (1930), Merkel became a big success in sound films. During the 1930s, she became a popular second lead in a number of films, usually playing the wisecracking best friend of the heroine, supporting actresses such asJean Harlow,Carole Lombard,Loretta Young, andEleanor Powell.[2]
Merkel was known for herKewpie-doll looks, strong Southern accent, and wry line delivery. She playedSam Spade's secretary in the original 1931 version ofThe Maltese Falcon. Merkel was aMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player from 1932 to 1938, appearing in as many as 12 films in a year, often on loan-out to other studios. She was also often cast as leading lady oppositeJack Benny,Harold Lloyd,Franchot Tone, andCharles Butterworth, among others.
In42nd Street (1933), Merkel played a streetwise show girl. In the famous "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" number, Merkel andGinger Rogers sang the verse: "Matrimony is baloney. She'll be wanting alimony in a year or so./Still they go and shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo." Merkel appeared in both the1934 and the1952 film versions ofThe Merry Widow, playing different roles. She received second billing inThe Good Old Soak (1937) withWallace Beery andTed Healy in the same year that Healy died mysteriously.
One of her most famous roles was in the Western comedyDestry Rides Again (1939), in which her character, Lily Belle, gets into a famous "cat-fight" with Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich) over the possession of her husband's trousers, won by Frenchie in a crooked card game. She played the elder daughter to theW. C. Fields character, Egbert Sousé, in the 1940 filmThe Bank Dick. Her film career went into decline during the 1940s, although she continued working in smaller productions and in radio as Adeline Fairchild onThe Great Gildersleeve. In 1950, she starred withWilliam Bendix in the baseball comedyKill the Umpire, which was a surprise hit.
She made a comeback as a middle-aged woman playing mothers and maiden aunts, and in 1956 won aTony Award for her role on Broadway inThe Ponder Heart, adapted from thenovella of the same name. She had a major part in the MGM 1959 filmThe Mating Game asPaul Douglas's character's wife andDebbie Reynolds' character's mother, and was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress inSummer and Smoke (1961). She was also featured asBrian Keith's character's housekeeper, Verbena, in theWalt Disney comedyThe Parent Trap in 1961. Her final film role was oppositeElvis Presley inSpinout (1966).
On March 5, 1945, Merkel was nearly killed when her mother Bessie, with whom she shared an apartment in New York City, died by suicide by gassing herself. Merkel was overcome by the five gas jets her mother had turned on in their kitchen and was found unconscious in her bedroom.[3][4]
On March 4, 1952, seven years almost to the day after her mother died, Merkel overdosed on sleeping pills.[3] She was found unconscious by a nurse who was caring for her at the time and remained in a coma for a day before recovering.[5]
Merkel was a lifelongMethodist.[6][7]
Merkel marriedNorth American Aviation executive Ronald L. Burla in 1932.[8] They separated in April 1944. Merkel filed for divorce on December 19, 1946, inMiami, which was granted in March 1947.[9] The couple had no children.[10]
On January 2, 1986, Merkel died in Los Angeles at the age of 82.[10][11] She is buried near her parents, Arno and Bessie Merkel, in Highland Cemetery inFort Mitchell, Kentucky.[12]
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Una Merkel has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame (6230 Hollywood Boulevard).[13] In 1991, a historical marker was dedicated to her in her hometown of Covington.[14]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Four Star Playhouse | Rose Barton | "My Wife Geraldine" |
| 1953 | Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | "Guardian of the Clock" | |
| 1953 | Your Jeweler's Showcase | "The Monkey's Paw" | |
| 1953 | Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht's Tales of the City | "Miracle in the Rain" | |
| 1954 | Westinghouse Studio One | Parsis McHugh | "Two Little Minks" |
| 1955 | Kraft Television Theatre | "Trucks Welcome" | |
| 1956 | Calling Terry Conway | Pearl McGrath | TV film |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Louise Hoagland | "The Greer Case" |
| 1957 | The Red Skelton Show | Mrs. Van Wyck | "Freddie and the Happy Helper" |
| 1957 | Climax! | Maud | "The Secret of the Red Room" |
| 1958 | DuPont Show of the Month | Aladdin's Mother | "Cole Porter's 'Aladdin'" |
| 1958 | The United States Steel Hour | "Flint and Fire" | |
| 1962 | The Real McCoys | Mrs. Gaylord | "The New Housekeeper" |
| 1963 | The Bill Dana Show | Mrs. Hatten | "The Poker Game" |
| 1963–1965 | Burke's Law | Clara Lovelace / Mrs. Thomas Barrett / Miss Samantha Cartier | 3 episodes |
| 1964 | The Cara Williams Show | Amelia Hofstetter | "Amelia Hofstetter, Please Go Home" |
| 1964 | Destry | Granny Farrell | "Law and Order Day" |
| 1968 | I Spy | Aunt Alma | "Home to Judgment" |
