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Mary Forbes

Mary Forbes

Acting1882Hornsey, Middlesex [now in Haringey, London], England, UK

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Forbes (1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974), born Ethel Louise Young, was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958.

Forbes was born in Hornsey, England.

She made her first public appearance on the concert platform giving recitals. Her acting debut was in 1908 on the London stage at Aldwych Theatre. Her American stage debut came in Romance at Maxine Elliott's Theatre in 1913.

She took over management of the Ambassadors Theatre in 1913 and had several years experience on stage in Britain and America before her appearances in Hollywood films. Two of her three children by her first marriage in the first quarter of 1904 to Ernest J. Taylor, Ralph and Dorothy Brenda, known as Brenda, were also actors. The middle child of the three, Phyllis Mary Taylor, was not in the acting business. Her second husband was British actor Charles Quartermaine, who married in 1925; the union ended in divorce. She married her third husband, Wesley Wall, an American businessman, in 1935; the couple remained married until her death in 1974.

She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1943, with one of her character references being Lucile Webster Gleason, actress and wife of actor James Gleason.

Acting History

1958
Houseboat
as British Society Woman (uncredited)
Suspicion
TVas Mrs. Merton1 eps
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TVas Mrs. Herbert Winthrop1 eps
1952
Les Miserables
as Nun (uncredited)
1948
The Black Arrow
as Nun (uncredited)
You Gotta Stay Happy
as Aunt Martha
1947
It Had to Be You
as Mrs. Kimberly (uncredited)
The Exile
as Second Court Lady
Ivy
as Lady Crail (uncredited)
The Judge Steps Out
as Margaret (uncredited)
Cigarette Girl
as Mrs. Halstead
1946
Terror by Night
as Lady Margaret Carstairs
1945
1944
Tender Comrade
as Jo's Mother (uncredited)
1943
Jane Eyre
as Mrs. Eshton
Mr. Lucky
as War Relief Worker (uncredited)
Dangerous Blondes
as Isabel Fleming (uncredited)
Two Tickets to London
as Dame Dunne Hartley
1942
The Great Impersonation
as Lady Leslie Clayfair
This Above All
as Vicar's Wife
Klondike Fury
as Mrs. Langton
Almost Married
as Mrs. Marvin
1941
Back Street
as Mrs. Williams
Nothing but the Truth
as Mrs. Ralston
1940
All This, and Heaven Too
as Lady at the Theatre (uncredited)
Laddie
as Mrs. Anna Pryor
Florian
as Grandmother
South of Suez
as Mrs. Putnam
Blame It on Love
as Mrs. Wadsworth
Private Affairs
as Mrs. Stanley
1939
Fast and Loose
as Mrs. Torrent
Risky Business
as Mrs. Jameson
Hollywood Cavalcade
as Mrs. Gaynes
I Stole a Million
as Flower Shop Customer (uncredited)
These Glamour Girls
as Mrs. Van Reichton (uncredited)
Outside These Walls
as Gertrude Bishop
The Ice Follies of 1939
as Lady Hilda (uncredited)
The Sun Never Sets
as Mrs. Randolph
Ninotchka
as Lady Lavenham (uncredited)
1938
The Rage of Paris
as Woman in Opera Box (uncredited)
Everybody Sing
as Miss Colvin
You Can't Take It with You
as Mrs. Anthony P. Kirby
Three Loves Has Nancy
as Mrs. Hanson
Always Goodbye
as Aunt Martha Marshall
Outside of Paradise
as Mrs. Stonewall
What Do You Think? (Number Three)
as Mrs. Dosier - John's Mother (uncredited)
1937
100 Men and a Girl
as Concert Hall Patron
Stage Door
as Cast of Stage Play
Another Dawn
as Mrs. Lydia Benton
The Life of the Party
as Mrs. Saunders
Wee Willie Winkie
as Mrs. MacMonachie
Women of Glamour
as Mrs. Stark
The Awful Truth
as Mrs. Vance
1936
The White Angel
as Lady Disapproving of Florence #1 (uncredited)
Theodora Goes Wild
as Mrs. Wyatt (uncredited)
Wedding Present
as Mrs. Dodacker
1935
The Perfect Gentleman
as Lady Clyffe-Pembrook
Roberta
as (uncredited)
Stranded
as Grace Dean (uncredited)
Dizzy Dames
as Mrs. Stokes
Les Misérables
as Mlle. Baptiseme
Anna Karenina
as Princess Sorokina
Captain Blood
as Mrs. Steed
Rendezvous
as Lady Cavendish (uncredited)
Laddie
as Mrs. Anna Pryor
1934
Sadie McKee
as Mrs. Alderson (uncredited)
We Live Again
as Mrs. Kortchagin
Shock
as Lady Heatherly
Happiness Ahead
as Mrs. Travis
Two Heads on a Pillow
as Mrs. Caroline Devonshire
British Agent
as Lady Catherine Trehearne
A Lost Lady
as Mrs. Hardy (uncredited)
Blind Date
as Mrs. Hartwell
She Was a Lady
as Lady Diana Vane
1933
Bombshell
as Mrs. Middleton
Cavalcade
as Duchess of Churt (uncredited)
1932
Vanity Fair
as Mrs. Sedley
The Silent Witness
as Lady Howard
A Farewell to Arms
as Miss Van Campen
1931
The Brat
as Mrs. Forester
Chances
as Mrs. Ingleside
Born to Love
as The Duchess (uncredited)
The Man Who Came Back
as Mrs. Gaynes
Working Girls
as Mrs. Johnstone
1930
Strictly Unconventional
as Mrs. Anna Shenstone
Holiday
as Mrs. Pritchard Ames (uncredited)
Abraham Lincoln
as Actress (uncredited)
East Is West
as Mrs. Benson
The Devil to Pay!
as Mrs. Hope (uncredited)
So This Is London
as Lady Worthing
1929
The Trespasser
as Mrs. Ferguson
Sunny Side Up
as Mrs. Cromwell
The Thirteenth Chair
as Lady Alice Crosby
Her Private Life
as Ladu Wildering
1919
The Lady Clare
as Lady Julia Medwin
1918

Social Media

Personal Info

Known For
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
12/30/1882
Day of Death
7/22/1974
Place of Birth
Hornsey, Middlesex [now in Haringey, London], England, UK