Edna May Oliver

Edna May Oliver (née Nutter, November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the better-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters.

Career Born in Malden, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, Oliver quit school at age 14 to pursue a stage career.

She achieved her first success in 1917 on Broadway in Jerome Kern's musical comedy Oh, Boy!, playing the hero's comically dour Aunt Penelope. In 1923 she appeared as Hannah in the Broadway version of Owen Davis's Icebound. She would later reprise the Hannah role in William C. De Mille's silent film of Icebound the following year. In 1925, Oliver appeared on Broadway in The Cradle Snatchers, costarring Mary Boland, Gene Raymond, and Humphrey Bogart. Oliver's most notable stage appearance was as Parthy, wife of Cap'n Andy Hawks, in the original 1927 stage production of the musical Show Boat. She reprised her role in the 1932 Broadway revival, but turned down the chance to play Parthy in the 1936 film version to play the Nurse in that year's film version of Romeo and Juliet.

Her film debut was in 1923 in Wife in Name Only.

Awards and honors Oliver received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939).

Stage (This list is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions.)

Filmography + Silent filmsYearTitleRoleStudio/distributor 1923 Wife in Name Only Mrs. DornhamPyramid Pictures 1923Three O'Clock in the MorningHettyC. C. Burr Pictures 1924Restless WivesBenson's SecretaryC. C. Burr Pictures 1924IceboundHannahFamous Players–Lasky 1924 ManhattanMrs. TrapesFamous Players–Lasky 1925The Lucky DevilMrs. McDeeFamous Players–Lasky 1925Lovers in QuarantineAmelia PincentFamous Players–Lasky 1925The Lady Who LiedFirst National Pictures1926The American VenusMrs. NilesFamous Players–Lasky 1926Let's Get MarriedJ. W. SmithFamous Players–Lasky

Radio Oliver was a regular cast member from 1941 to 1942 on the Bob Burns series The Arkansas Traveler. She often played the character of an off-beat nurse, the type of role she had already performed earlier during her movie career.

On July 7, 1942 Oliver started a new summer radio series titled The Remarkable Miss Tuttle. She played the lead role of Josephine Tuttle, and the program had a planned 13-week run. However, Oliver quickly became ill and her role was taken over by her friend Mary Boland. When it became apparent that Oliver could not return, the title of the program was changed to The Remarkable Miss Crandall, with Boland playing the new lead character. This new format only lasted two weeks, and for the remaining four weeks the program was replaced by a new series, Mayor of the Town, starring Lionel Barrymore.