| Mary Wickes | |
|---|---|
 Wickes guest-starring in the television series Zorro (1957-1959) as Dolores Bastinado | |
| Born | Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser June 13, 1910 St. Louis, Missouri, USA |
| Died | October 22, 1995 (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Occupation | Actress |
Mary Wickes (June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American film and television actress. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Year 1910 ( MCMX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works
Wickes was born as Mary Isabella Wickenhauser in St. Louis, Missouri of German and Irish Protestant extraction. She was a member of Phi Mu women's fraternity. Phi Mu ( ΦΜ) is the second oldest female fraternal organization established in the United States. She began acting in films in the late 1930s, and was also a member of the Orson Welles troupe on his radio drama Mercury Theatre of the Air. The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. George Orson Welles (May 6 1915 – October 10 1985 was an Academy Award -winning director, writer actor and producer for film stage radio and television Radio drama is a form of audio storytelling broadcast on radio. Mercury Theatre was a Theatre company founded in New York City by Orson Welles and John Houseman. One of her earliest significant film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage role of "Nurse Preen". The Man Who Came to Dinner is a 1942 Black-and-white Comedy film based on the play of the same name by Moss Hart and In Theatre, the stage (sometimes referred to as the deck in Stagecraft) is a designated space for the Performance of theatrical productions
A tall (5'10"), gangling woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes would ultimately prove herself adept as a comedienne, but she first attracted attention in the film Now, Voyager (1942), as the wise-cracking nurse who helped Bette Davis' character during her mother's illness. Now Voyager is a 1942 American Drama film directed by Irving Rapper. Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (April 5 1908 – October 6 1989 was an American actress of Film, Television and Theatre. (She appeared with Davis again in June Bride. June Bride is a 1948 American Comedy film directed by Bretaigne Windust. ) The same year she had a large part in the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello comedy-whodunnit, titled Who Done It?. William Alexander “Bud” Abbott ( October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American Actor, producer and Lou Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo; March 6, 1906 - March 3, 1959) was an American Actor and Comedian Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and A whodunit or whodunnit (for "Who done it?" is a complex plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest Who Done It? is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. She continued playing supporting roles in films during the next decade, usually playing wisecracking characters. A prime example of which was her deadpan characterisation of Stella, the harassed housekeeper, in the Doris Day vehicles By the Light of the Silvery Moon and On Moonlight Bay, her ascerbic asides balancing much of the sugar coated nostalgia evident in these films. Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American Singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as She played similar roles in two later movies with Rosalind Russell The Trouble with Angels and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows in the mid 1960s. The Trouble with Angels is a 1966 Comedy film about the adventures of two girls in an all girls school run by nuns Where Angels Go Trouble Follows is a 1969 movie comedy starring Rosalind Russell and Stella Stevens.
Moving to the new medium television in the 1950s she played the warm, yet wisecracking maid Katie in the Mickey Mouse Club serial Walt Disney Presents: Annette and regular roles in the sitcoms Make Room for Daddy and Dennis The Menace, as well as appearing as Emma the housekeeper in the holiday classic White Christmas (1954), starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Walt Disney Presents Annette was a television serial that ran on The Mickey Mouse Club during the show's third season (1957-1958 The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first four seasons is a Sitcom which ran from 1953 to 1957 White Christmas is a 1954 Jukebox musical movie starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that featured the songs of Irving Berlin Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby ( May 3, 1903 &ndash October 14, 1977) was an Academy Award winning American Popular Danny Kaye ( January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American award-winning Actor, Singer and Comedian Rosemary Clooney ( May 23, 1928 &ndash June 29, 2002) was an American Singer and actress whose warm radiant Vera-Ellen ( February 16, 1921 - August 30, 1981) was an American actress and stage and Film She served as the live-action reference model for Cruella De Vil in Walt Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and played Mrs. Cruella de Vil is a fictional character and the primary villain in Dodie Smith 's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney's 1961 Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter One Hundred and One Dalmatians (often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians) is the seventeenth Animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. Squires in the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's The Music Man (1962). Robert Meredith Willson ( 18 May 1902 – 15 June 1984) was an American composer songwriter conductor and playwright The Music Man is a musical with book music and lyrics by Meredith Willson. A lifelong friend of Lucille Ball, she played frequent guest roles in Ball's three television series, I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy and The Lucy Show. Lucille Ball (August 6 1911 – April 26 1989 was an American comedienne, film television stage and radio Actress, model, film I Love Lucy is an American Situation comedy, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball 's third network television sitcom The Lucy Show is a Television series which ran from 1962 until 1968 In 1970-1971 she guest starred on CBS's The Doris Day Show. The Doris Day Show is a 128-episode American Television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September (Day was another of her long-term friends. )
She was also a regular on the Sid and Marty Krofft children's television show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and the sitcom Doc. Sid and Marty Krofft are a sibling team of prolific television producers who were influential in children's television and variety show programs particularly throughout the 1970s and early Sigmund and the Sea Monsters was a Children's television series that ran from 1973 to 1975. Doc is an American sitcom which aired on CBS from September 1975 to October 1976 By the 1980s, her appearances in television series such as M*A*S*H, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Murder, She Wrote had made her a widely recognisable character actress. M*A*S*H was a Medical drama / Black comedy produced by 20th Television Fox for CBS. The Love Boat (simply Love Boat in its final season is an American Television series set on a Cruise ship, which Kolchak The Night Stalker is an American Television series that aired on ABC in 1974 Murder She Wrote is a television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. A character actor is an Actor who predominantly plays a particular type of role rather than leading ones She also appeared in a variety of Broadway shows, including a 1979 revival of Oklahoma! where she portrayed Aunt Eller. Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II.
She appeared in the 1990 film Postcards From the Edge cast as Shirley MacLaine's mother, and from 1989 to 1991 portrayed Marie Murkin in the television movie and series adaptations of Father Dowling Mysteries. Postcards from the Edge is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Carrie Fisher, first published in 1987. Shirley MacLaine (born April 24, 1934) is an American Academy Award -winning Film and Theater Actress, well-known Father Dowling Mysteries (also known as Father Dowling Investigates in the UK) is an American Television mystery series However, she achieved the biggest success of her career in Sister Act (1992). Sister Act is a 1992 American Comedy film released by Touchstone Pictures. As Sister Mary Lazarus, Wickes' portrayal of a very gruff, strict but vulnerable elderly nun contributed to the film's popularity, and she reprised the role in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). A sequel is a work in Literature, Film, or other media that portrays events following those of a previous work Sister Act 2 Back in the Habit is a 1993 Comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg, directed by Bill Duke, and released by Touchstone She also did the voice of Maxine on the line of greeting cards that are still in publication.
She appeared in the 1994 film version of Little Women before she became ill. Little Women is the 1994 film version of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel Little Women adapted by Robin Swicord She was hospitalized the following year suffering from numerous ailments, including renal failure, massive gastrointestinal bleeding, severe hypotension, ischemic cardiomyopathy, anemia and breast cancer (stage of cancer unknown), which cumulatively resulted in her death during surgery in 1995. Renal failure or kidney Gastrointestinal bleeding or gastrointestinal hemorrhage describes every form of Hemorrhage (loss of Blood) in the Gastrointestinal tract In Physiology and Medicine, hypotension refers to an abnormally low Blood pressure. Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease" is the deterioration of the function of the Myocardium (i Anemia ( AmE) or anæmia/anaemia ( BrE) (from the Ancient Greek grc-Latn anaîmia, meaning “without blood” is defined as a qualitative Breast cancer is a Cancer that starts in the cells of the Breast in women and men Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995
Although the nature of their relationship has been disputed, she was for many years the companion of playwright Abby Conrad. A registered Republican who had never been married, Wickes left a large estate and made a $2 million bequest, in memory of her parents, for the Isabella and Frank Wickenhauser Memorial Library Fund for Television, Film and Theater Arts.
Her final film role, voicing the gargoyle Laverne in the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released posthumously in 1996. In Architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone Grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1996 Animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar)
In 2004, Wickes was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The St Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St Louis Missouri who made contributions to Culture of the United States.
External links
- Mary Wickes at the Internet Movie Database
- Washington University Library Site - Papers of Mary Wickes including photograph
- Wickes' Entry on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
- Mary Wickes at Find A Grave
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