# Mary Wickes

Mary Wickes (born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser; June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses, nuns, therapists, teachers and housekeepers, who made sarcastic quips when the leading characters fell short of her high standards.

## Early life

Wickes was born to Frank Wickenhauser and his wife, Mary Isabella (née Shannon), in University City which is a suburb of Saint Louis County Missouri on June 13, 1910, of German, Scottish, and Irish extraction, and raised Protestant. Her parents were theater buffs, and they took her to plays from the time that she could stay awake through a matinee. An excellent student, she skipped two grades and graduated at 16 from Beaumont High School. She was accepted into Washington University in St. Louis, where she joined the debate team and the Phi Mu sorority, and she was initiated into Mortar Board in 1929. She graduated in 1930 with a double major in English literature and political science. Although she had planned a career in law, a favorite professor encouraged her to try drama.

## Career

Wickes's first Broadway appearance was in Marc Connelly's The Farmer Takes a Wife in 1934 with Henry Fonda. She began acting in films in the late 1930s and became a member of the Orson Welles troupe on his radio drama The Mercury Theatre on the Air; she also appeared in Welles's film Too Much Johnson (1938). One of her early film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage role of Nurse Preen.
A tall (5 ft 10 in, 1.78 m) woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes proved to be an adept comedienne. She attracted attention in Now, Voyager (1942) as the wisecracking nurse who helped Bette Davis's character during her mother's illness. She appeared earlier that year with Davis in The Man Who Came to Dinner and joined her six years later in June Bride. Wickes and Davis reteamed in 1965 when Wickes played a supporting role to Davis in a television pilot titled The Decorator.)
In 1942, she also had a large part in the Abbott and Costello comedy Who Done It? She continued playing supporting roles in films during the next decade, usually playing wisecracking characters. A prime example was her deadpan characterization of the harassed housekeeper in the Doris Day vehicles On Moonlight Bay and By the Light of the Silvery Moon, a character type she would repeat in the holiday classic White Christmas (1954), starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. She played similar roles in two later movies with Rosalind Russell in the 1960s: The Trouble with Angels and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.
Wickes moved to television in 1949, starring in the title role of a Westinghouse Studio One version of Mary Poppins. In the 1950s, Wickes played the warm, jocular maid Katie in the Mickey Mouse Club serial Annette and regular roles in the sitcoms Make Room for Daddy and Dennis the Menace. She also played the part of a ballet teacher in the I Love Lucy episode "The Ballet" (1952). Wickes also served as the live-action reference model for Cruella De Vil in Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), and played Mrs. Squires in the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's The Music Man (1962). In 1953, Wickes played Martha the housekeeper to Ezio Pinza's character in the short-lived Bonino. In 1954–1955, she played Alice on The Halls of Ivy, starring Ronald Colman.
In 1956, Wickes appeared with Thelma Ritter in "The Babysitter" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Wickes also appeared in two episodes of Zorro. In the 1961–1962 season, she appeared as Maxfield opposite Gertrude Berg and Cedric Hardwicke in Mrs. G. Goes to College. For her work in the sitcom, Wickes was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress. In 1964, she appeared on The Donna Reed Show in the episode "First Addition".
In 1964, she appeared as Ida Goff in five episodes of the series Temple Houston. She played Adeline Ashley in "The Social Climbers", a 1967 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. In the 1960s, she appeared in commercials for Ajax.
A longtime friend of Lucille Ball, Wickes played frequent guest roles on I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, and Here's Lucy. In 1970–1971, she guest-starred on The Doris Day Show. She was also a regular on the Sid and Marty Krofft children's television show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and the sitcom Doc. She made numerous appearances as a celebrity panelist on the game show Match Game. By the 1980s, her appearances in television series such as Our Man Higgins, M*A*S*H, Columbo, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Murder, She Wrote had made her a widely recognizable character actress. She also appeared in a variety of Broadway shows, including a 1979 revival of Oklahoma! as Aunt Eller.
Wickes's career had a resurgence in the late 1980s and 1990s. She was cast as the mother of Shirley MacLaine's character in the film Postcards from the Edge (1990) and portrayed Marie Murkin in the television movie and series adaptations of The Father Dowling Mysteries (1989–1991). She played notable roles in these years when she was cast as Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (1992) and in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She appeared in the 1994 film version of Little Women.

## Death and legacy

Wickes suffered from numerous ailments in the last years of her life that cumulatively resulted in her hospitalization, where she fell and broke her hip. She died of complications following hip surgery on October 22, 1995, at the age of 85 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Her final film role, voicing Laverne in Disney's animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was released posthumously in 1996. Wickes reportedly had only one voice recording session left for the film when she died. Jane Withers came in to finish the character's remaining six lines of dialogue.
Wickes was inducted posthumously into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 2004.

## Personal life

Wickes left a large estate and made a $2 million bequest in memory of her parents, establishing the Isabella and Frank Wickenhauser Memorial Library Fund for Television, Film and Theater Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Wickes was a lifelong Republican. She never married, nor did she have any children.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1942 | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Nurse Preen | Both Monty Woolley and Wickes reprised their roles from the original Broadway production; Screen debut |
| 1942 | Blondie's Blessed Event | Sarah Miller | |
| 1942 | Private Buckaroo | Bonnie-Belle Schlopkiss | |
| 1942 | The Mayor of 44th Street | Mamie | |
| 1942 | Now, Voyager | Nurse Dora Pickford | Based on the 1941 novel by Olive Higgins Prouty; Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" |
| 1942 | Who Done It? | Juliet Collins | |
| 1943 | How's About It | 'Mike' Tracy | |
| 1943 | Rhythm of the Islands | Susie Dugan | |
| 1943 | My Kingdom for a Cook | Agnes Willoughby | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Happy Land | Emmy | |
| 1943 | Higher and Higher | Sandy | |
| 1948 | June Bride | Rosemary McNally | |
| 1948 | The Decision of Christopher Blake | Clara | |
| 1949 | Anna Lucasta | Stella | |
| 1950 | The Petty Girl | Professor Whitman | |
| 1951 | On Moonlight Bay | Stella | Based loosely on the Penrod stories by Booth Tarkington |
| 1951 | I'll See You in My Dreams | Anna | |
| 1952 | Young Man with Ideas | Mrs. Jarvis Gilpin | |
| 1952 | The Story of Will Rogers | Mrs. Foster | Biography of humorist and movie star Will Rogers |
| 1952 | Bloodhounds of Broadway | Lady at Laundry | Uncredited |
| 1953 | By the Light of the Silvery Moon | Stella | Sequel to On Moonlight Bay |
| 1953 | Half a Hero | Mrs. Watts | |
| 1953 | The Actress | Emma Glavey | |
| 1954 | Ma and Pa Kettle at Home | Ms. Wetter | |
| 1954 | White Christmas | Emma Allen | Loosely based on the 1942 film Holiday Inn; First to be released in VistaVision |
| 1954 | Destry | Bessie Mae Curtis | |
| 1955 | Good Morning Miss Dove | Miss Ellwood | |
| 1956 | Dance with Me Henry | Miss Mayberry | Final Abbott and Costello film |
| 1957 | Don't Go Near the Water | Janie | |
| 1958 | The Proud Rebel | Mrs. Ainsley | Uncredited role |
| 1959 | It Happened to Jane | Matilda Runyon | Re-released in 1961 as Twinkle and Shine |
| 1960 | Cimarron | Mrs. Neal Hefner | |
| 1961 | One Hundred and One Dalmatians | Freckles (Voice) | Also served as Cruella de Vil's live model |
| 1961 | The Sins of Rachel Cade | Marie Grieux | |
| 1962 | The Music Man | Mrs. Squires (Pick-a-little Ladies) | In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" |
| 1964 | Fate Is the Hunter | Mrs. Llewlyn | Features an early film score by prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith; Nominated for a 1964 Academy Award in Best Cinematography (Black-and-White) |
| 1964 | Dear Heart | Miss Fox | |
| 1965 | How to Murder Your Wife | Harold's secretary | |
| 1966 | The Trouble with Angels | Sister Clarissa | |
| 1967 | The Spirit Is Willing | Gloria Tritt | |
| 1968 | Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows | Sister Clarissa | Sequel to The Trouble with Angels |
| 1972 | Napoleon and Samantha | Clara | |
| 1972 | Snowball Express | Miss Wigginton | |
| 1980 | Touched by Love | Margaret | Also called To Elvis, with Love |
| 1985 | The Canterville Ghost | Mrs. Umney | |
| 1986 | The Christmas Gift | Henrietta Sawyer | |
| 1990 | Postcards from the Edge | Grandma | Screenplay by Carrie Fisher is based on her 1987 semi-autobiographical novel |
| 1992 | Sister Act | Sister Mary Lazarus | |
| 1993 | Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit | Sister Mary Lazarus | |
| 1994 | Little Women | Aunt March | |
| 1996 | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Laverne | Voice, posthumous release |

### Short films

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1935 | Watch the Birdie | | Uncredited role |
| 1938 | Too Much Johnson | Mrs. Battison | Believed to be lost, but in 2008 a print was discovered in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy; Film premiered Wednesday, October 9, 2013, at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival; In 2014 the film was made available online by the National Film Preservation Foundation |
| 1939 | Seeing Red | Mrs. Smith | Uncredited role |
| 1942 | Keeping Fit | Ann | Andy's wife |
| 1972 | Open Window | Mrs. Sappleton | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1948 | Actors Studio | Guest star | Episodes: "The Catbird Seat" (S 1:Ep 5) "Good Bye, Miss Lizzie Borden" (S 1:Ep 9) |
| 1949 | Ford Theatre | Daisy Stanley | Episode: "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (S 1:Ep 4) |
| 1949 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Amelia Coop | Episode: "Dark Hammock" (S 1:Ep 18) |
| 1949 | Studio One in Hollywood | Mary Poppins | Episode: "Mary Poppins" (S 2:Ep 15) |
| 1950 | The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre | Guest star | Episode: "Highly Recommended" (S 2:Ep 36) |
| 1951 | Four Star Revue | Guest host | Episode: "December 22, 1951" (S 2:Ep 17) |
| 1952 | I Love Lucy | Madame Lamond | Episode: "The Ballet" (S 1:Ep 19) |
| 1952 | Studio One in Hollywood | Guest star | Episode: "Miss Hargreaves" (S 4:Ep 28) |
| 1953–1964 | The Danny Thomas Show | Liz O'Neal | Main cast Also known as Make Room for Daddy from 1953 to 1956 |
| 1954 | Studio One in Hollywood | Guest star | Episode: "The Runaway" (S 6:Ep 16) |
| 1954–1955 | The Halls of Ivy | Alice | Many episodes are missing so that some credits and episode titles are unknown |
| 1955 | The Alcoa Hour | Sally Brass | Episode: "The Small Servant" (S 1:Ep 2) |
| 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Armstedder | Season 1 Episode 32: "The Baby Sitter" |
| 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Foster | Season 2 Episode 6: "Toby" |
| 1957 | Playhouse 90 | Grace | Episode: "Circle of the Day" (S 1:Ep 35) |
| 1958 | Annette | Katy | Television serial that ran on The Mickey Mouse Club during the show's third season (1957-1958) |
| 1958 | Zorro | Dolores Bastinado | Episodes: "The Cross of the Ande" (S 1:Ep 32) "The Deadly Bolas" (S 1:Ep 33) "The Well of Death (S 1:Ep 34) |
| 1959–1962 | Dennis the Menace | Esther Cathcart | Recurring role |
| 1959 | Ford Startime | Widow Parke | Episode: "Cindy's Fella" (S 1:Ep 11) |
| 1960 | Shirley Temple Theatre | Hannah | Episode: "Little Men" (S 1:Ep 6) |
| 1961–1962 | Mrs. G. Goes to College | Maxfield | Mid-season changed to The Gertrude Berg Show |
| 1961 | The Dinah Shore Chevy Show | Edith Gunther | Episode: "Autumn Crocus" (S 5:Ep 20) |
| 1961 | Shirley Temple Theatre | Lootie | Episode: "The Princess and the Goblins" (S 1:Ep 24) |
| 1963–1964 | Temple Houston | Ida Goff | Main cast |
| 1963 | Bonanza | Martha | Episode: "The Colonel" (S 4:Ep 15) |
| 1963 | Our Man Higgins | Mme. Amethyst | Episode: "Love is Dandy" (S 1:Ep 33) |
| 1963 | The Lucy Show | Frances | Episodes: "Lucy Plays Cleopatra (S 2:Ep 1) "Lucy and Viv Play Softball" (S 2:Ep 3) "Lucy Puts Out a Fire at the Bank" (S 2:Ep 9) |
| 1963 | Kraft Suspense Theatre | Mrs. Mike | Episode: "The Machine That Played God" (S 1:Ep 7) |
| 1963 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Nurse | Episode: "It's Mental Work" (S 1:Ep 9) |
| 1967 | The Lucy Show | Aunt Agatha | Episode: "Lucy's Mystery Guest" (S 6:Ep 10) |
| 1967 | The Lucy Show | Miss Hurlow | Episode: "Lucy and Robert Goulet" (S 6:Ep 8) |
| 1968–1971 | Julia | Melba Chegley | Multiple |
| 1969 | Here's Lucy | Isabel | Episodes: "Lucy Goes on Strike" (S 1:Ep 16) "Lucy Gets Her Man" (S 1:Ep 21) |
| 1969 | Here's Lucy | Nurse | Episode: "Lucy and Harry's Tonsils" (S 2:Ep 5) |
| 1969 | The Doris Day Show | Emma Flood | Episode: "The Buddy" (S 1:Ep 17) |
| 1969 | The Queen & I | Hazel Becker | Episode: "Requiem for Becker" (S 1:Ep 4) |
| 1970 | The Debbie Reynolds Show | Aunt Harriet | Episode: "Advice and Dissent" (S 1:Ep 18) |
| 1970 | Here's Lucy | Mrs. Whitmark's Maid | Episode: "Lucy, the Diamond Cutter" (S 3:Ep 10) |
| 1971 | Here's Lucy | Sister Paula Carter | Episode: "Lucy and Her All-Nun Band" (S 4:Ep 8) |
| 1971 | Columbo | Landlady | Episode: "Suitable for Framing" (S 1:Ep 6) |
| 1971 | The Man and the City | Cora | Episode: "Running Scared" (S 1:Ep 8) |
| 1972 | Here's Lucy | Nurse Sylvia Ogilvy | Episodes: "Lucy's Big Break" (S 5:Ep 1) "Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies" (S 5:Ep 2) |
| 1972 | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Nurse Preen | Episode: "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (S 22:Ep 2) Production adapted by Sam Denoff and Bill Persky, directed by Buzz Kulik; The New York Times criticized Denoff's updating of the original play, listing the production in its 1972 Worst of Television; Welles's Whiteside was a television personality competing with Johnny Carson |
| 1972 | Sanford and Son | Mary | Episode: "The Light Housekeeper" (S 2:Ep 14) |
| 1973 | Here's Lucy | Violet Barker | Episode: "Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers" (S 6:Ep 14) |
| 1973–1975 | Sigmund and the Sea Monsters | Zelda Marshall | Main cast |
| 1974 | Here's Lucy | Clara Simpson | Episode: "Lucy, the Sheriff" (S 6:Ep 18) |
| 1974 | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Dr. Bess Winestock | Episode: "They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be..." (S 1:Ep 3) |
| 1975–1976 | Doc | Nurse Beatrice Tully | Main cast |
| 1975 | M*A*S*H | Colonel Rachel Reese | Episode: "House Arrest" (S 3:Ep 18) |
| 1976–1978 | Match Game | Herself | 25 daytime episodes, 4 in syndication. |
| 1977 | Lucy Calls the President | Aunt Millie | A Lucille Ball Special |
| 1977–1978 | Tabitha | Cassandra | Episodes: "Halloween Show" (S 1:Ep 3) "Tabitha's Party" (S 1:Ep 12) |
| 1981 | The Waltons | Octavia | Episode: "The Hostage" (S 9:Ep 21) |
| 1981 | Trapper John, M.D. | Miranda | Episode: "Hate Is Enough" (S 3:Ep 4) |
| 1982 | Trapper John, M.D. | Hazel | Episode: "The Good Life" (S 4:Ep 9) |
| 1984 | Matt Houston | Nellie Cochran | Episode: "Wanted Man" (S 3:Ep 1) |
| 1984 | Punky Brewster | Sister Bernadette | Episode: "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (S 1:Ep 6) |
| 1984 | Trapper John, M.D. | Rocy Flanagan | Episode: "Of Cats, Crashes, and Creeps" (S 6:Ep 6) |
| 1985 | ABC Afterschool Special | Ms. Crandall | Episode: "First the Egg" (S 13:Ep 6) |
| 1985 | Murder, She Wrote | Mrs. Alva Carne | Episode: "Widow, Weep for Me" (S 2:Ep 1) |
| 1987 | Almost Partners | Aggie Greyson | Television film |
| 1987–1991 | Father Dowling Mysteries | Marie Murkin | Main cast |
| 1987 | Punky Brewster | Mrs. Dempsey | Episode: "So Long, Studio" (S 3:Ep 19) |
| 1988 | Highway to Heaven | Minnie | Episode: "Country Doctor" (S 4:Ep 14) |
| 1995 | Life With Louie | Grandma | Voice, Main cast |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref |
| 1962 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress | Mrs. G. Goes to College | Nominated | |
| 1993 | American Comedy Awards | Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture | Sister Act | Nominated | |