Biography for
Mary Wickes More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

13 June 1910, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Date of Death

22 October 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA (renal failure, massive gastrointestinal bleeding, severe hypotension, ischemic cardiomyopathy, anemia and breast cancer)

Birth Name

Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

From the old school of wisecracking, loud and lanky Mary Wickes had few peers while forging a career as a salty scene-stealer whose abrupt, tell-it-like-it-is demeanor made her a consistent audience favorite on every medium for over six decades. She was particularly adroit in film parts that chided the super rich or exceptionally pious, and was a major chastiser in generation-gap comedies. TV holds a vault full of not-to-be-missed vignettes where she served as a brusque foil to many a top TV comic star. Case in point: who could possibly forget her merciless ballet taskmaster, Madame Lamond, putting Lucille Ball through her rigorous paces at the ballet bar in a classic "I Love Lucy" (1951) episode?

Unlike the working-class characters she embraced, this veteran character comedienne was actually born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser on June 13, 1910, in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of a well-to-do banker. Of Irish and German heritage, she grew into a society débutante following high school and graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in political science. She forsook a law career, however, after being encouraged by a college professor to try theater, and she made her debut doing summer stock in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The rest, as they say, is history.

With the encouragement of stage legend Ina Claire whom she met doing summer theater, Mary transported herself to New York where she quickly earned a walk-on part in the Broadway play "The Farmer Takes a Wife" starring Henry Fonda in 1934. In the show she also understudied The Wizard of Oz (1939)'s "Wicked Witch" Margaret Hamilton, and earned excellent reviews when she went on in the part. Plain and hawkish in looks while noticeably tall and gawky in build, Mary was certainly smart enough to see that comedy would become her career path and she enjoyed showing off in roles playing much older than she was. New York stage work continued to pour in, and she garnered roles in "Spring Dance" (1936), "Stage Door" (1936), "Hitch Your Wagon" (1937), "Father Malachy's Miracle (1937) and, in an unusual bit of casting, Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre production of "Danton's Death." All the while she kept fine-tuning her craft in summer stock.

A series of critically panned plays followed until a huge door opened for her in the form of Miss Preen, the beleaguered nurse to an acid-tongued, wheelchair-bound radio star (played by the hilarious Monty Woolley) in the George S. Kaufman/Moss Hart comedy "The Man Who Came to Dinner." Oddly enough, for once, it was Mary doing the cowering. The play was the toast of Broadway for two wacky years and she went on tour with it as well. She also become a Kaufman favorite.

Hollywood took notice as well, and when Warner Bros. decided to film the play, it allowed both Mary and Woolley to recreate their parts. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), which co-starred Bette Davis and Ann Sheridan, was a grand film hit and Mary was now officially on board in Hollywood, given plenty of chances to freelance.

At Warners she lightened up the proceedings a bit in the Bette Davis tearjerker Now, Voyager (1942) as nurse to Gladys Cooper. Elsewhere she traded quips with Lou Costello as a murder suspect in the amusing whodunit Who Done It? (1942); played a WAC in Private Buckaroo (1942) with The Andrews Sisters; and dished out her patented smart-alecky services in both Happy Land (1943) and My Kingdom for a Cook (1943).

She returned to Broadway for a few seasons, often for Kaufman, and did some radio work, but returned to Hollywood and played yet another nurse in The Decision of Christopher Blake (1948), a part written especially for her. She appeared with 'Bette Davis (I)' for a third time in June Bride (1948), finding some fine moments as a magazine editor. Playing characters that were born to butt heads with the stars, she went on to perform yeoman work in On Moonlight Bay (1951) and its sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953); I'll See You in My Dreams (1951); White Christmas (1954) and The Music Man (1962) as one of the "Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little" housewives of River City.

Television roles also began filtering in for Mary as she continued to put her cryptic comedy spin on her harried housekeepers and working women. Mary played second banana to a queue of comedy's best known legends in the 1950s and 1960s, notably Lucille Ball (who was a long-time neighbor and pal off-screen), Danny Thomas, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Peter Lind Hayes and Gertrude Berg. Her work with Berg on the series "The Gertrude Berg Show" (1961) earned Mary an Emmy nomination. Among babyboomers, she is probably best remembered as Miss Cathcart in "Dennis the Menace" (1959).

In later years Mary's gangly figure filled out a bit as she continued to appear here and there on the small screen as both a guest and regular. Later in life she enjoyed a bit of a resurgence. Perhaps remembered earlier for her Sister Clarissa in the madcap comedy film The Trouble with Angels (1966) with Rosalind Russell, Mary donned the habit once again as crabby musical director Sister Mary Lazarus in the box-office smash Sister Act (1992) and its sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She also churned out a few roles as cranky relatives as in Postcards from the Edge (1990) as Meryl Streep's grandmother & 'Shirley Maclaine''s mother; and as Aunt March in Little Women (1994) with Winona Ryder. True to form, one of her last roles was voicing a gargoyle in the animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), which was released after her death.

The never-married Los Angeles-based performer died in October of 1995 after entering the hospital with respiratory problems. While a patient, Mary suffered a broken hip from an accidental fall and complications set in following surgery. She was 85. When it came to deadpan comedy, Mary was certainly no second banana. She was a truly a star.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Trivia

Perhaps remembered best as Nurse Preen, opposite a delightfully irascible Monty Woolley, in William Keighley's The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) or, on TV, as Miss Cathcart in "Dennis the Menace" (1959) (1959-63).

She appeared as her Sister Act (1992) character in Lady Soul's "If My Sister's In Trouble" music video.

Mary and Lucille Ball were neighbors and the closest of friends for decades.

She was a sister in Phi Mu Fraternity, Zeta Epsilon Chapter (Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri).

Longtime companion of playwright Abby Conrad.

She served as the live-action reference model for the villainous Cruella De Vil in Disney's animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Mary originated the role of "Mary Poppins" on CBS-TV in 1949.

Was given an honorary Doctor of Arts from her alma mater, Washington University, in 1969. She earned her Master's degree at UCLA when she was in her 80s.

More than 30 years after a role that brought her fame on Broadway, she once again played the role of Nurse Preen ("Miss Bedpan") in a special TV version of The Man Who Came to Dinner (1972) (TV), with Orson Welles replacing the late Monty Woolley in the role of Sheridan Whiteside.

Was a volunteer at the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles for years.

Played a bus driving nun in two movie franchises: as Sister Clarissa in The Trouble with Angels (1966) and its sequel Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), and as Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (1992) and its sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).

Personal Quotes

"Women like me. They think I'm wholesome or something."

"I can't stand those who talk only acting. That's pretty bad."

"I love playing good comedy with a heart, comedy which touches the audience."

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