# Clara Blandick

Clara Blandick (born Clara Blanchard Dickey; June 4, 1876 – April 15, 1962) was an American character, film, stage and theater actress who portrayed Aunt Em in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's The Wizard of Oz (1939). As a character actress, she often played eccentric elderly matriarchs.

## Early life

She was born Clara Blanchard Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. Dickey and Harriet “Hattie” Dickey (née Mudgett), aboard the Willard Mudgett – an American ship captained by her father (named after one of her maternal relatives), and docked in Victoria Harbour, British Hong Kong. She was delivered by Captain William H. Blanchard, whose ship, Wealthy Pendleton, was anchored nearby. His wife, Clara Pendleton Blanchard, was also present. To thank the Blanchards, Captain and Mrs. Dickey named their daughter Clara Blanchard Dickey. When she became successful as an actress, she took the first syllable of "Blanchard" and the first syllable of "Dickey" to create her stage name, "Clara Blandick". While she often used 1880 as her year of birth for professional purposes, she was actually born in 1876. According to the newspaper Daily Alta California, both the Willard Mudgett and the Wealthy Pendleton were in Hong Kong Harbor in June 1876. By 1880, Captain Dickey was in command of a different ship (the William Hales), and the rest of the family was in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Her parents had settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1879 or 1880. Sources vary on when the Dickeys settled there, and Clara may have been two or three years old when they made the move. In nearby Boston she met the Shakespearean actor E. H. Sothern, with whom she appeared in a production of Richard Lovelace. She moved from Boston to New York City by 1900, and began pursuing acting as a career.

## Acting

In 1897, Blandick was an understudy with The Walking Delegate company in Boston and her stage debut came in that production at the Tremont Theatre. In 1901, she portrayed Jehanneton in the play If I Were King, which ran for 56 performances at Garden Theatre (an early component of Madison Square Garden). She achieved acclaim for her role in The Christian.
In 1903, she played Gwendolyn in the Broadway premiere of E. W. Hornung's Raffles, The Amateur Cracksman opposite Kyrle Bellew. She started in pictures with the Kalem company in 1908 and made a number of appearances such as in The Maid's Double in 1911. Blandick finally broke onto Broadway in 1912, when she was cast as Dolores Pennington in Widow By Proxy which ran for 88 performances through early 1913 at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway. During this same period she appeared on stages throughout the Northeastern United States as a member of Sylvester Poli's stock theater company, The Poli Players. She continued to achieve acclaim for her stage work, playing a number of starring roles, including the lead in Madame Butterfly. By 1914, she was back on the silver screen, as Emily Mason in the film Mrs. Black is Back.
During World War I, Blandick performed some overseas volunteer work for the American Expeditionary Force in France. She also continued to act on stage and occasionally in silent pictures. In 1924, she earned rave reviews for her supporting role in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, which ran for 122 performances at the Klaw Theatre in New York (later renamed CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2).
In 1929, Blandick moved to Hollywood. By the 1930s, she was well known in theatrical and film circles as an established supporting actress. Though she landed roles like Aunt Polly in the 1930 film Tom Sawyer (a role she reprised in the 1931 film Huckleberry Finn), she spent much of the decade as a character actor, often going uncredited. In Pre-Code films she often played mothers, including those of characters played by Joan Crawford (Possessed) and Joan Blondell (Three on a Match). At a time when many actors were permanently attached to a single studio, she played a wide number of bit parts for almost every major Hollywood studio (though she would later be under contract with 20th Century Fox). In 1930, she acted in nine films. In 1931 she was in thirteen films. As is the case with some other busy character actors, it is difficult to make an exact tally of the films in which Blandick appeared, but a reasonable estimate would fall between 150 and 200.

## The Wizard of Oz and later years

In 1939, Blandick landed her most memorable minor role – Aunt Em in MGM's classic The Wizard of Oz. Though it was a small part (Blandick filmed all her scenes in a single week), the character was an important symbol of protagonist Dorothy's quest to return home to her beloved aunt and uncle. (Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are the only characters from the beginning of the movie, in black-and-white Kansas, not to have alter ego characters in the Land of Oz.) Blandick beat May Robson, Janet Beecher, and Sarah Padden for the role, and earned $750 per week. Some believed Aunt Em's alter ego was to be Glinda, the Good Witch of the North but the studio opted to use different actresses for each role. The reason was they wanted someone younger looking to contrast the good witch from the bad witches, although Billie Burke, who played Glinda, was only eight years younger. Blandick is only credited in the movie's closing credits.
After The Wizard of Oz, Blandick returned to her staple of character acting in supporting and bit roles. She would continue to act in a wide variety of roles in dozens of films. She played Mrs. Morton Pringle in 1940's Anne of Windy Poplars, a department store customer in the 1941 Marx Brothers film The Big Store, a fashionable socialite in the 1944 musical Can't Help Singing, and a cold-blooded murderer in the 1947 mystery Philo Vance Returns. Her final two roles both came in 1950 – playing a housekeeper and a landlady in Key to the City and Love That Brute, respectively. She retired from acting at the age of 74 and went into seclusion at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

## Personal life and death

Blandick was married on December 7, 1905, in Manhattan, to mining engineer Harry Stanton Elliott. Prior to his mining career, he had been an actor, and they had starred together in The Christian. They separated by 1910, and are believed to have divorced in 1912. They had no children.
Throughout the 1950s, Blandick's health steadily began to deteriorate. Her eyesight began to fail and she was suffering from severe, painful arthritis. On April 15, 1962, she returned home from Palm Sunday services at her church. She began rearranging her room, placing her favorite photos and memorabilia in prominent places. She laid out her resume and a collection of press clippings from her lengthy career. She dressed immaculately in an elegant royal blue dressing gown, and with her hair properly styled, she took an overdose of sleeping pills. She lay down on a couch, covered herself with a gold blanket over her shoulders, and tied a plastic bag over her head. She left the following note: "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen." She was 7 weeks short of her 86th birthday.
Blandick's landlady, Helen Mason, discovered her body later that day. Her ashes were interred at the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Security at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale along with those of her sister, Marcia D. Young, and Marcia's husband, George A. Young. Blandick's ashes lie just yards from those of Charley Grapewin, her on-screen husband in The Wizard of Oz.

## Stage credits

Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions.
Broadway credits of Clara Blandick :
| Date | Title | Role |
| Oct 14, 1901 - Dec 1901 | If I Were King | Jehanneton |
| Oct 27, 1903 - Mar 1904 | Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman | Gwendolyn Conron |
| Dec 21, 1903 - Jan 1904 | The Sacrament of Judas | Jeffick Gillou |
| Mar 28, 1904 - May 1904 | The Two Orphans | Marianne |
| Apr 06, 1908 - May 1908 | The Royal Mounted | Rosa Larabee |
| Feb 24, 1913 - May 1913 | Widow by Proxy | Dolores Pennington |
| Apr 21, 1913 - May 1913 | Mrs. Peckham's Carouse | |
| Aug 23, 1915 - Oct 1915 | No. 13 Washington Square | |
| Feb 01, 1917 - May 1917 | The Wanderer | |
| Mar 31, 1923 - May 1923 | The Enchanted Cottage | Mrs. Minnett, First Witch |
| Jan 04, 1924 - Apr 1924 | Hell-Bent Fer Heaven | Meg Hunt |
| Sep 28, 1925 - Dec 12, 1925 | Applesauce | Mrs. Jennie Baldwin |
| Oct 05, 1926 - Oct 1926 | The Good Fellow | Mrs. Kent |
| Apr 01, 1927 - Apr 1927 | Fog-Bound | Mrs. Penny |
| May 11, 1927 - Jun 1927 | Kempy | "Ma" Bence |
| Nov 01, 1927 - Nov 1927 | Ink | Hester Trevelyan |
| Feb 01, 1928 - Feb 1928 | La Gringa | Sarah Bowditch |
| Mar 14, 1928 - Mar 1928 | The Buzzard | Mrs. Burns |
| May 21, 1928 - Jul 1929 | Skidding | Mrs. Hardy |
| Jan 11, 1929 - Jan 1929 | Skyrocket | Mrs. Ewing |

## Filmography

Film credits of Clara Blandick :
| Year | Title | Role | Studio/Distributor |
| 1911 | The Maid's Double | | Short |
| 1914 | Mrs. Black Is Back | Emily Mason | Famous Players Film Company |
| 1916 | The Stolen Triumph | Mrs. Rowley | Rolfe Photoplays |
| 1917 | Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp | Mrs. Donnelly | Rolfe Photoplays |
| 1929 | Wise Girls | Ma | MGM |
| 1929 | One Hysterical Night | Masquerade Guest - Little Bo Peep (uncredited) | Universal |
| 1930 | Romance | Abigail Armstrong | MGM |
| 1930 | The Girl Said No | Mrs. Ward | MGM |
| 1930 | Tom Sawyer | Aunt Polly | Paramount |
| 1930 | The Sins of the Children | Martha Wagenkampf | MGM |
| 1930 | Men Are Like That | Ma Fisher | Paramount Famous Players Film Company |
| 1930 | Burning Up | Mrs. Minnie Winkle (uncredited) | Paramount |
| 1931 | Daybreak | Frau Hoffman | MGM |
| 1931 | New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford | Mrs. Layton | MGM |
| 1931 | Once a Sinner | Mrs. Mason | Fox Film Corporation |
| 1931 | Possessed | Marian's Mother | MGM |
| 1931 | Bought! | Mrs. Sprigg | Warner Bros. |
| 1931 | It's a Wise Child | Mrs. Stanton | MGM |
| 1931 | The Easiest Way | Agnes | MGM |
| 1931 | Huckleberry Finn | Aunt Polly | Paramount |
| 1931 | I Take This Woman | Sue Barnes | Paramount Publix Corp. |
| 1931 | Murder at Midnight | Aunt Julia Gray Kennedy | Tiffany Pictures |
| 1931 | The Drums of Jeopardy | Abbie Krantz | Tiffany |
| 1931 | Inspiration | Madeleine's Mother (uncredited) | MGM |
| 1931 | Laughing Sinners | Salvation Army Woman (uncredited) | MGM |
| 1932 | Two Against the World | Aunt Agatha | Warner Bros. |
| 1932 | The Strange Case of Clara Deane | Mrs. Lyons | Paramount |
| 1932 | Rockabye | Brida | RKO Pictures |
| 1932 | Shopworn | Mrs. Livingston | Columbia Pictures |
| 1932 | Life Begins | Mrs. West | Warner Bros. |
| 1932 | The Wet Parade | Mrs. Tarleton | MGM |
| 1932 | Three on a Match | Mrs. Keaton | Warner Bros. |
| 1933 | Three Cornered Moon | Landlady (uncredited) | Paramount |
| 1933 | Charlie Chan's Greatest Case | Minerva Winterslip | Fox |
| 1933 | The Bitter Tea of General Yen | Mrs. Jackson | Columbia |
| 1933 | The Mind Reader | Auntie | First National Pictures |
| 1933 | Ever in My Heart | Anna | Warner Bros. |
| 1933 | Turn Back the Clock | Joe's Mother | MGM |
| 1933 | One Sunday Afternoon | Mrs. Bush | Paramount |
| 1933 | Child of Manhattan | Aunt Sophie | Columbia |
| 1933 | Going Hollywood | Miss Perkins | MGM |
| 1934 | Beloved | Miss Murfee | Universal |
| 1934 | Harold Teen | Ma Lovewell | Warner Bros. |
| 1934 | Jealousy | Mrs. Douglas | Columbia |
| 1934 | As the Earth Turns | Cora | Warner Bros. |
| 1934 | The Girl from Missouri | Miss Newberry | MGM |
| 1934 | The Show-Off | Ma Fisher | MGM |
| 1934 | Sisters Under the Skin | Miss Gower | Columbia |
| 1934 | Fugitive Lady | Aunt Margaret | Columbia |
| 1934 | Broadway Bill | Mrs. Peterson | Columbia |
| 1935 | The President Vanishes | | Walter Wanger Productions |
| 1935 | Transient Lady | Eva Branham | Universal |
| 1935 | Princess O'Hara | Miss Van Cortland | Universal |
| 1935 | Straight from the Heart | Mrs. Anderson | Universal |
| 1935 | Party Wire | Mathilda Sherman | Columbia |
| 1935 | The Winning Ticket | Aunt Maggie | MGM |
| 1936 | Fury | Judge's wife | MGM |
| 1936 | The Case of the Velvet Claws | Judge Mary F. O'Daugherty | First National |
| 1936 | Hearts Divided | Aunt Ellen | First National |
| 1936 | Make Way for a Lady | Mrs. Dell | RKO |
| 1936 | In His Steps | Martha Adams | B. F. Zeidman Productions, Inc. |
| 1936 | The Gorgeous Hussy | Louisa Abbott | MGM |
| 1936 | The Trail of the Lonesome Pine | Landlady | Walter Wanger |
| 1936 | Anthony Adverse | Mrs. Jorham | Warner Bros. |
| 1937 | You Can't Have Everything | Townswoman | 20th Century Fox |
| 1937 | Wings Over Honolulu | Evie Curtis | Universal |
| 1937 | Her Husband's Secretary | Agatha Kingdon | Warner Bros. |
| 1937 | Small Town Boy | Mrs. Armstrong | Grand National Films Inc. |
| 1937 | A Star is Born | Aunt Mattie | Selznick International Pictures |
| 1937 | The Road Back | Willy's Mother | Universal |
| 1938 | Swing, Sister, Swing | Ma Sisler | Universal |
| 1938 | Crime Ring | Phoebe Sawyer | RKO |
| 1938 | My Old Kentucky Home | Julia "Granny" Blair | Crescent Pictures Corp |
| 1938 | Tom Sawyer, Detective | Aunt Polly | Paramount |
| 1938 | Professor Beware | Mrs. Green - Landlady | Harold Lloyd Corp |
| 1939 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Miss Watson | MGM |
| 1939 | I Was a Convict (1939) | Aunt Sarah Scarlett | Republic Pictures |
| 1939 | Swanee River | Mrs. Griffin | 20th Century |
| 1939 | Drums Along the Mohawk | Mrs. Borst | 20th Century |
| 1939 | The Wizard of Oz | Aunt Em | MGM |
| 1939 | The Star Maker | Miss Esther Jones John Duke | Paramount |
| 1939 | Main Street Lawyer | Uncredited | Republic |
| 1940 | North West Mounted Police | Mrs. Burns | Cecil B. DeMille |
| 1940 | Youth Will Be Served | Miss Bradshaw | 20th Century |
| 1940 | Dreaming Out Loud | Jessica Spence | Voco Productions |
| 1940 | Tomboy | Aunt Martha | Monogram Pictures |
| 1940 | Anne of Windy Poplars | Mrs. Morton Pringle | RKO |
| 1940 | Alice in Movieland | | Warner Bros. |
| 1941 | The Big Store | Customer | MGM |
| 1941 | Private Nurse | Miss Phillips | 20th Century |
| 1941 | The Wagons Roll at Night | Mrs. Williams | Warner Bros. |
| 1941 | The Nurse's Secret | Miss Juliet Mitchell | Warner Bros. |
| 1941 | It Started with Eve | Nurse | Universal |
| 1941 | One Foot in Heaven | Sister Watkins | Warner Bros. |
| 1941 | The Get-Away | Mrs. Higgins | MGM |
| 1942 | Rings on Her Fingers | Mrs. Beasley | 20th Century |
| 1942 | Lady in a Jam | Tourist | Universal |
| 1942 | Road to Morocco | Aunt Lucy in Photo (uncredited) | Paramount |
| 1942 | Gentleman Jim | Woman on train (uncredited) | Warner Bros. |
| 1943 | Dixie | Mrs. Mason | Paramount |
| 1943 | Heaven Can Wait | Grandmother Van Cleve | 20th Century |
| 1943 | Du Barry Was a Lady | Old lady on subway | MGM |
| 1944 | Can't Help Singing | Aunt Cissy | Universal |
| 1944 | Shadow of Suspicion | Mother Randall | Monogram |
| 1945 | Frontier Gal | Abigail | Universal |
| 1945 | Pillow of Death | Belle Kincaid | Universal |
| 1946 | She-Wolf of London | Mrs. McBroom | Universal |
| 1946 | So Goes My Love | Mrs. Meade | Skirball-Manning Productions, Inc. |
| 1946 | A Stolen Life | Martha | Warner Bros. |
| 1946 | People Are Funny | Grandma Wilson | Pine-Thomas Productions |
| 1946 | Claudia and David | Mrs. Barry | 20th Century |
| 1947 | Philo Vance Returns | Stella Blendon | Producers Releasing Corporation |
| 1947 | Life with Father | Miss Wiggins | Warner Bros. |
| 1948 | The Bride Goes Wild | as Aunt Pewtie | MGM |
| 1949 | Mr. Soft Touch | Susan Balmuss | Columbia |
| 1949 | Roots in the Soil | | Wilding Picture Productions |
| 1950 | Key to the City | Liza | MGM |
| 1950 | Love That Brute | Landlady | 20th Century |