Billie Burke

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Billie Burke

Billie Burke in the film Topper Returns
Born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke
August 7, 1884 (1884-08-07)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Died May 14, 1970 (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouse(s) Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (1914-1932)

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an Oscar-nominated American actress primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Billie Burke in 1909
Billie Burke in 1909[1]

Known as Billie Burke, she toured the U.S. and Europe with a circus because her father, Billy Burke, was employed with them as a singing clown. Her family ultimately settled in London where she was fortunate to see plays in London's historic West End.

She wanted to be a stage actress. In 1903, she began acting on stage, making her debut in London, and eventually returning to America to become the toast of Broadway as a musical comedy star. She was praised by The New York Times for her charm and her brightness.

[edit] Career

Thanks to her representation by famed producer Charles Frohman, Burke went on to play leads on Broadway in Mrs. Dot, Suzanne, The Runaway, The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl, and The Land of Promise from 1910 to 1913, along with a supporting role in the revival of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s The Amazons.

There she caught the eye of producer Florenz Ziegfeld, marrying him in 1914. In 1916, they had one daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson.[2] She was quickly signed for the movies, making her film debut in the title role of Peggy (1916). She continued to appear on the stage, and sometimes she starred on the screen. She loved the stage more than movie-business, not only because it was her first love, but also because it allowed her to have speaking parts (impossible in silent movies). But when the family's savings were wiped out in the Crash of 1929, she had no choice but to return to the screen.

in Dinner at Eight (1933)
in Dinner at Eight (1933)

In 1932 Billie Burke made her Hollywood comeback, starring as Margaret Fairfield in A Bill of Divorcement, directed by George Cukor, though the film is better known as Katharine Hepburn's film debut (Burke played Hepburn's mother). Despite the death of Florenz Ziegfeld during the film's production, Billie Burke resumed filming shortly after his funeral.

In 1936, MGM filmed a biopic of her deceased husband (The Great Ziegfeld), a film that won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actress (Luise Rainer as Ziegfeld's common-law wife, Anna Held). Burke was herself a character in the film, but she was not cast as herself. Instead, prominent actress Myrna Loy essayed the role of Burke. Coincidentally, Ray Bolger who was later cast as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939) also starred as himself in the movie.

In 1933, Burke was cast as Mrs. Millicent Jordan, a scatterbrained high-society woman hosting a dinner party in the comedy Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor, co-starring with Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery. The movie was a great success, and revived Burke's career. She subsequently starred in many comedies and musicals, typecast as a ditzy, fluffy and feather-brained upper-class matron, due to her helium-filled voice.

In 1937 she appeared in the first of the Topper series of films, about a man haunted by two socialite ghosts (played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett), in which she played the tremulous and daffy Clara Topper. Her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live (1938) resulted in her only Oscar nomination.

In 1938 (at age 53) she was chosen to play Glinda, "the Good Witch of the North", in the Oscar-winning seminal 1939 musical film The Wizard of Oz, directed by Victor Fleming, with Judy Garland. Another successful series followed with Father of the Bride (1950) and Father's Little Dividend (1951), both directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor.

She wrote two autobiographies, both with Cameron Van Shippe: With a Feather on My Nose (Appleton 1949) and With Powder on My Nose (Coward McCann, 1959).

[edit] Radio and television

On CBS radio, The Billie Burke Show was heard on Saturday mornings from April 3, 1943 to September 21, 1946. Sponsored by Listerine, this situation comedy was initially titled Fashions in Rations during its first year. Portraying herself as a featherbrained Good Samaritan who lived "in the little white house on Sunnyview Lane," she always offered a helping hand to those in her neighborhood. She worked often in early TV, appearing in the short-lived sitcom Doc Corkle (1952).

Burke tried to make a comeback on the New York stage. She starred in two short-lived productions: This Rock and Mrs. January and Mr. Ex. Although Burke got good reviews, the plays did not. She appeared in several plays in California as well, although her mind became clouded, and she had trouble remembering lines. In the late 1950s, her failing memory led to her retirement from show business, although her explanation for that was, "Acting just wasn't any fun anymore."

Memorial statue at Billie Burke's grave in Kensico Cemetery
Memorial statue at Billie Burke's grave in Kensico Cemetery

Her last screen appearance was in Sergeant Rutledge, a Western directed by John Ford in 1960.

[edit] Death

Billie Burke died in Los Angeles, California of dementia, thought to be Alzheimer's and natural causes, aged 85, in 1970 and was interred at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, survived by her daughter, Patricia, and four grandchildren.[3]

[edit] Legacy

For many years, Burke's framed photo was displayed above the exit staircase at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre, but it curiously vanished after renovations to it. However, an opening night program, bearing a picture of Burke, from her 1912 triumph The Mind The Paint Girl (Sir Arthur Wing Pinero) is still displayed in the lobby of the Lyceum Theatre in New York City.

[edit] Quote

"Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."

[edit] Listen to

[edit] Radio

  • The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air - 1932
  • Good News of 1939 - 1938
  • The Rudy Vallee Hour - 1939
  • The Gulf Screen Guild Theater - 1939
  • The Rudy Vallee Sealtest Show - 1940-41
  • The Pepsodent Show - 1941
  • The Billie Burke Show - 1943-1946
  • Duffy's Tavern - 1944
  • The Sealtest Village Store - 1944
  • Mail Call - 1944
  • The Charlie McCarthy Show - 1944-47
  • Tribute to Ethel Barrymore - 1945
  • The Rudy Vallee Show - 1945
  • Show Stoppers - 1946
  • The Danny Kaye Show - 1946
  • WOR 25th Anniversary - 1947
  • Your Movietown Radio Theatre - 1948
  • The Eddie Cantor Pabst Blue Ribbon Show - 1948
  • Family Theater - 1948-52
  • This Is Show Business - 1949
  • The Martin and Lewis Show - 1949
  • The Bill Stern Colgate Sports Newsreel - 1949
  • Stagestruck -1954
  • Biography in Sound - 1955-56

[edit] Broadway

  • My Wife - 1907
  • Love Watches - 1908
  • Mrs. Dot - 1910
  • Suzanne - 1910
  • The Philosopher in the Apple Orchard - 1911
  • The Runaway - 1911
  • The Amazons - 1913
  • The Land of Promise - 1913
  • Jerry - 1914
  • The Rescuing Angel - 1917
  • A Marriage of Convenience - 1918
  • Caesar's Wife - 1919
  • The Intimate Strangers - 1921
  • Rose Briar - 1922
  • Annie Dear - 1924
  • The Marquise - 1927
  • The Happy Husband - 1928
  • Family Affairs - 1929
  • The Truth Game - 1930
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 - 1934
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 - 1936
  • This Rock - 1943
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 - 1943
  • Mrs. January and Mr. X - 1944

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Franklin, Barnett (February 1909). "That Extraordinary Personage, The Theatrical Press Agent". Overland Monthly LIII (2): 93. 
  2. ^ "Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson, Daughter of Legendary Broadway Impresario", Jazz News, 2008-04-25. Retrieved on 2008-05-11. 
  3. ^ "Billie Burke Dead; Movie Comedienne; Billie Burke, Film Comedienne And Once a Stage Beauty, Dies.", New York Times, May 16, 1970. Retrieved on 2008-05-11. "Billie Burke, a great Broadway beauty when the century was young and later renowned as a movie comedienne, died last night at the age of 84." 

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Burke, Billie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burke, Mary William Ethelbert Appleton
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actress
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, D.C., U.S.
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1970
PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles, California, U.S.