Mary Wickes

Mary Wickes (born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser, June 13, 1910 – October 22, 1995) was an American film and television character actress. She often played supporting roles as prim, professional women, secretaries, nurses, and housekeepers, who made sarcastic quips when the leading characters fell short of her high standards.
== Early life ==
Mary Wickes was born to Frank Wickenhauser (1880–1943) and his wife Mary Isabella (née Shannon; died 1965) in St. Louis, Missouri of German, Scottish, and Irish extraction, and raised Protestant.[1][2] Her parents were theater buffs, and 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 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, and she shifted direction.[3]
== 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 was 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 earlier significant film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage role of Nurse Preen.
A tall (5'10"), gangling woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes would ultimately prove herself adept as a comedian. She attracted attention in Now, Voyager(1942) as the wisecracking nurse who helped Bette Davis's character during her mother's illness. (She had already appeared earlier that year with Davis in The Man Who Came To Dinner, and joined her again six years later in June Bride). 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 the new medium of television in 1949, starring in the title role of a Westinghouse Studio One version of Mary Poppins. In the 1950s, Wickes played the warm yet 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, Madame Lamond, 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),[4] and played Mrs. Squires in the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's The Music Man(1962).
With cast of Doc. Standing, L-R: Irwin Corey and Mary Wickes. Seated: Elizabeth Wilson and Barnard Hughes (1975)
In 1953, Wickes played Martha the housekeeper to Ezio Pinza's character in the short-lived Bonino. In 1954-55, 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 1961-62 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".[5][6] In 1964, she appeared on The Donna Reed Show in the episode "First Addition".[7]
In 1964, she appeared as Ida Goff in five episodes of the series Temple Houston, with Jeffrey Hunter as a historical figure, the frontier lawyer Temple Lea Houston, youngest son of Sam Houston.[8]. She played Adeline Ashley in The Beverley Hillbillies 1967 episode 'The Social Climbers".
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 (Day was another of her friends). She was also a regular on the Sid and Marty Krofftchildren'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, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Murder, She Wrote had made her a widely recognizable character actress.[7] She also appeared in a variety of Broadway shows, including a 1979 revival of Oklahoma! as Aunt Eller, for which she received rave reviews.
== Later career ==
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 Father Dowling Mysteries (1989–91). She played Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (1992) and in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She appeared in the film version of Little Women (1994) before she became ill.
== Death and legacy ==
Wickes suffered from numerous ailments in the last years of her life which cumulatively resulted in her death from surgical complications on October 22, 1995 at age 85.
Her final film role, voicing the gargoyle 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.
She was interred beside her parents at the Shiloh Valley Cemetery in Shiloh, Illinois.
Wickes was inducted posthumously into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 2004.[9]
== Personal life ==
Unmarried and without children, 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.[10] Wickes was a lifelong Republican.[11]
== 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;[13]
* Screen debut[14]
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;[15]
* Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"[16]
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;[17]
* 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 Shin[18]
1960	Cimarron 	Mrs. Neal Hefner 	
1961	One Hundred and One Dalmatians 	Cruella De Vil 	Animation 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"[16]
1964	Fate Is the Hunter 	Mrs. Llewlyn 	
* Features an early film score by prolific composer Jerry Goldsmith;[19]
* Nominated for a 1964 Academy Award in Best Cinematography (Black-and-White)[20]
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 	Sequel to Sister Act
1994	Little Women 	Aunt March 	
1996	The Hunchback of Notre Dame 	Laverne 	
* Voice; Released posthumously
=== 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)
1953–64	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)
1954–55	The Halls of Ivy 	Alice 	Many episodes are missing so that some credits and episode titles are unknown[24][25]
1955 	The Alcoa Hour 	Sally Brass 	Episode: "The Small Servant" (S 1:Ep 2)
1956 	Alfred Hitchcock Presents 	Mrs. Armstedder 	Episode: "The Baby Sitter" (S 1:Ep 32)
1956 	Alfred Hitchcock Presents 	Mrs. Foster 	Episode: "Toby" (S 2:Ep 6)
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)[26]
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)
1959–62	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)
1961–62	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)
1963–64	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)
1968-71	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;[27]
* 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)
1973–75	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)
1975–76	Doc 	Nurse Beatrice Tully	Main cast
1975 	M*A*S*H 	Colonel Rachel Reese	Episode: "House Arrest" (S 3:Ep 18)
1977–78	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
1987–91	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 	Voice of Grandma 	Main cast
== Awards and nominations ==
Year	Award 	Category 	Result 	Ref
1962	Emmy Award	Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress	Nominated	[5][6]