Josephine Hull

Marie Josephine Hull (née Sherwood; January 3, 1877 – March 12, 1957) was an American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Harvey, a role she originally played on the Broadway stage. She was sometimes credited as Josephine Sherwood.

Background Hull was born January 3, 1877, in Newtonville, Massachusetts, one of four children born to William H. Sherwood and Mary Elizabeth "Minnie" Tewkesbury, but would later shave years off her age.

Career

Stage Hull made her stage debut in 1905, and after some years as a chorus girl and touring stock player, she married actor Shelley Hull (the elder brother of actor Henry Hull) in 1910. After her husband's death as a young man, the actress retired until 1923, when she returned to acting using her married name, Josephine Hull. The couple had no children.

She had her first major stage success in George Kelly's Pulitzer-winning Craig's Wife in 1926. Kelly wrote a role especially for her in his next play, Daisy Mayme, which also was staged in 1926. She continued working in New York theater throughout the 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, Hull appeared in three Broadway hits, as a batty matriarch in You Can't Take It with You (1936), as a homicidal old lady in Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), and in Harvey (1944). The plays all had long runs, and took up ten years of Hull's career.

After Harvey, Hull made only one more film, The Lady from Texas (1951); she had also appeared in the CBS-TV version of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1949, with Ruth McDevitt, an actress who often succeeded Hull in her Broadway roles, as her sister.

Death Hull died on March 12, 1957, aged 80, from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Broadway performances

The Law and the Man (December 20, 1906 – Feb 1907, billed as Josephine Sherwood) Role: Cosette (Replacement) The Bridge (September 4, 1909 – Oct 1909, billed as Josephine Sherwood) Neighbors (December 26, 1923 – Jan 1924, billed as Josephine Hull) Role: Mrs. Hicks Fata Morgana (March 3, 1924 – October 11, 1924) Role: George's Mother Rosmersholm (May 5, 1925 – May 1925) Role: Madame Helseth Craig's Wife (October 12, 1925 – Aug 1926) Role: Mrs. Frazier Daisy Mayme (October 25, 1926 – Jan 1927) Role: Mrs. Olly Kipax The Wild Man of Borneo (September 13, 1927 – Sep 1927) Role: Mrs. Marshall March Hares (April 2, 1928 – Apr 1928) Role: Mrs. Janet Rodney The Beaux Stratagem (June 4, 1928 – Jun 1928) Role: Servant in the Inn Hotbed (November 8, 1928 – Nov 1928) Role: Hattie Before You're 25 (April 16, 1929 – May 1929) Role: Cornelia Corbin Those We Love (February 19, 1930 – Apr 1930) Role: Evelyn Midnight (December 29, 1930 – Feb 1931) Role: Mrs. Weldon Unexpected Husband (June 2, 1931 – Sep 1931) Role: Mrs. Egbert Busty After Tomorrow (August 26, 1931 – Nov 1931) Role: Mrs. Piper A Thousand Summers (May 24, 1932 – Jul 1932) Role: Mrs. Thompson American Dream (February 21, 1933 – Mar 1933) Role: Martha, Mrs. Schuyler Hamilton A Divine Drudge (October 26, 1933 – Nov 1933) Role: Frau Klapstuhl By Your Leave (January 24, 1934 – Feb 1934) Role: Mrs. Gretchell On to Fortune (February 4, 1935 – Feb 1935) Role: Miss Hedda Sloan Seven Keys to Baldpate (May 27, 1935 – Jun 1935) Role: Mrs. Quinby Night In the House (November 7, 1935 – Nov 1935) Role: Lucy Amorest You Can't Take It with You (December 14, 1936 – December 3, 1938) Role: Penelope Sycamore An International Incident (April 2, 1940 – April 13, 1940) Role: Mrs. John Wurthering Blackett Arsenic and Old Lace (January 10, 1941 – June 17, 1944) Role: Abby Brewster Harvey (November 1, 1944 – January 15, 1949) Role: Veta Louise Simmons Minnie and Mr. Williams (October 27, 1948 – October 30, 1948) Role: Minnie The Golden State (November 25, 1950 – December 16, 1950) Role: Mrs. Morenas Whistler's Grandmother (December 11, 1952 – January 3, 1953) Role: Kate The Solid Gold Cadillac (November 5, 1953 – February 12, 1955) Role: Mrs. Laura Partridge

Broadway director credits

Why Not? (December 25, 1922 – Apr 1923, billed as Mrs. Shelley Hull) The Rivals (May 7, 1923 – May 1923, billed as Mrs. Shelley Hull) The Habitual Husband (December 24, 1924 – Jan 1925)

Filmography

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source 1952 Theatre Guild on the Air The Meanest Man in the World