# Mary Finney

Mary Finney (born Mary Whaley; September 30, 1906 – February 26, 1973) was an American comic character actress of stage and television. She co-starred on Celeste Holm's short-lived sitcom Honestly, Celeste!.

## Early life and career

Finney, born Mary Whaley in Spokane, Washington, was the second child born to burlesque performers Mary Hindman and James Whaley, alias Frank Finney. (The first, James Mathew Whaley—a.k.a. James Finney—had died five months after his first birthday on December 1, 1905.) She attended North Central High School, class of 1924 (where she contributed a regular column to the school's award-winning newspaper), and then the University of Oregon, majoring in journalism.
On March 31, 1924, as reported by both The Spokane Press and Spokesman-Review the following day, Finney, then 17 and a senior at North Central High, made her professional debut with her father's company, the Laughlanders.
   Marye Finney [sic], daughter of Frank Finney, was introduced to the dramatic world by her father Monday night at the Auditorium in the Laughlanders' show, 'A Trip to Hollywood.' Finney's daughter stopped the show when she sang 'I'm Not That Kind of a Girl.' Flowers were rushed over the footlights and Marye now ranks as assistant comedian of the 'Laughlanders.' [...] Finney possesses the something that makes a comedienne and she won't have to hold her place on the stage in reflected glory. Her poise and savoir faire suggest a stage training and not a first night.
She was rewarded with considerably larger roles in the company's next two shows: the secretly married maid of Tiddledy Winks and the fairy queen in Woogie Woogie Land.
Finney performed in little theatre productions in the mid 1930s in Spokane, Washington, and a decade later at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts, where, for what appears to the first and only time in her career (stretching as far back as high school), she was credited under her birth name, Mary Whaley. This continued for more than two years, until November 1946, when, as the mother in Vina Delmar's A Rich, Full Life, she reverted to the family stage name.), that Mary resumed use of the stage name, Finney.
Beginning in the fall of 1948 and continuing through the winter, Finney appeared in numerous productions of Margo Jones' Theater '48, including revivals of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Molière's The Learned Ladies, portraying Lady Bracknell and Philamente, respectively.
In 1950, under the direction of Jones, Finney made her Broadway debut as Mary Belle Tucker in Owen Crump's Southern Exposure, prompting Daily News critic John Chapman to hail the arrival of "the funniest character woman" he had seen since the performance, three decades earlier, of comedienne May Vokes in the Mary Rinehart/Avery Hopwood hit play The Bat.
   Miss Finney, as the tourist-leader, must be seen. It is an adventure to watch her walk down a few stairs and another adventure to see her separate herself from a sofa.
Subsequent Broadway appearances elicited praise from critics such as Joe Morgenstern of the Herald Tribune, Howard Taubman of the Times, and Martin Gottfried of Women's Wear Daily. Louis Sheaffer of The Brooklyn Eagle, reviewing the 1952 playwright-helmed revival of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour, commends Finney's "brilliant characterization" for "catch[ing] all the anemic viciousness of the aunt". Just three days later, the Eagle's critic felt compelled to elaborate.
   I don't think Mary Finney was given sufficient credit by most of the other reviewers for her vivid, merciless portrayal as the aunt. She illuminated the woman's skinny little soul so completely that I couldn't help feeling a grudging pity for the spiteful, pathetic character.
Regarding Finney's modest television resume, little has been written. One brief but notable exception concerns the Kraft Television Theatre episode "We Haven't Seen Her Lately," described by Herald Tribune critic Sid Bakal as a "flimsy affair that wallowed along in dull confusion" and clearly represented "a step in the wrong direction for this series," and, more to the point, one in which only "George Scott [i.e. George C. Scott], Angela Thornton and Mary Finney managed to rise above the script. The rest of the cast did not."

## Death

On February 26, 1973, unmarried and with no living next of kin, Finney died at age 66 of emphysema in Manhattan.

## Acting credits
### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1944 | It's a Wild Child | Mother (as Mary Whaley) | Little Theatre (Pasadena Playhouse) |
| 1944 | Ned McCobb's Daughter | Carrie McCobb (as Mary Whaley) | Little Theatre (Pasadena Playhouse) |
| 1945 | Mary, Queen of Scots | Elizabeth Tudor (as Mary Whaley) | Little Theatre (Pasadena Playhouse) |
| 1945 | Blithe Spirit | Madame Arcati (as Mary Whaley) | Little Theatre (Pasadena Playhouse) |
| 1947 | Night Must Fall | Mrs. Bramson | Summer stock |
| 1948 | Lemple's Old Man | | Regional theater (Theater '48) |
| 1948 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | Regional theater (Theater '48) |
| 1948 | The Learned Ladies | Philaminte | Regional theater (Theater '48) |
| 1948 | Here's to Us | Kit Tremaine | Regional theater (Theater '48) |
| 1949 | Skaal | Ragna | Regional theater (Theater '49) |
| 1949 | Sting in the Tail | Louisa Hackett | Regional theater (Theater '49) |
| 1949 | Coast of Illyria | Mrs. Kelly | Regional theater (Theater '49) |
| 1950 | Southern Exposure | Duchess of Orleans | Regional theater (Theater '50) |
| 1950 | My Granny Van | Granny Van | Regional theater (Theater '50) |
| 1950 | Southern Exposure | Mary Belle Tucker | Broadway |
| 1950 | The Cellar and the Well | Miss Triumph | Broadway |
| 1951 | Make a Wish | The Madam; Dr. Didier (understudy) | Broadway |
| 1952 | The Children's Hour | Mrs. Lily Mortar | Broadway |
| 1954 | The Magic and the Loss | Anita Dawson (replacement) | Broadway |
| 1955 | The Honeys | Nellie Fleischman | Broadway |
| 1955 | Janus | Miss Addy | Broadway |
| 1956 | Happy Hunting | Maud Foley | Broadway |
| 1959 | First Impressions | Lady Catherine de Bourgh | Broadway |
| 1960 | Whisper to Me | Sister Sammye | Off Broadway |
| 1964 | Too Much Johnson | Mrs. Batterson | Off Broadway |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1950 | Armstrong Circle Theatre | | 1 episode |
| 1953 | Lux Video Theatre | | 1 episode |
| 1954 | Honestly, Celeste! | Mr. Wallace's secretary | 2 episodes |
| 1958 | Decoy | Gladys Shriner | 1 episode: "Blind Date" |
| 1958 | Kraft Television Theatre | Aunt Lucy, Aunt Violet, ? | 3 episodes: "The Spell of the Tigress", "We Haven't Seen Her Lately", "Trick or Treat" |
| 1960 | CBS Television Workshop | | 1 episode: "The Limbo Kid" |
| 1960 | U.S. Steel Hour | Ring One (telephone operator) | 1 episode: "Shame the Devil" |
| 1960 | Play of the Week | Leonide Mangebois | 1 episode: "The Enchanted" |
| 1961 1962 | The Defenders | Mrs. Johnson Genevieve Clarendon | 2 episodes: "The Young Lovers", "Grandma TNT" |