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Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American stage and film actress.

Career

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, after graduating from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in theater arts, Mildred Natwick toured with a number of stage productions before her first Broadway production, Carrie Nation.

Throughout the 1930s she starred in a number of plays, frequently collaborating with friend and actor-director-playwright Joshua Logan. Natwick made her film debut in John Ford's The Long Voyage Home as a cockney prostitute, but she did not pursue a Hollywood career in earnest until the mid-1940s. Even after establishing her film career, Natwick could still frequently be seen in stage productions. She was twice nominated for Tony Awards: in 1957 for The Waltz of the Toreadors, and, in 1972 for the musical, 70 Girls 70.

Natwick made her name in small, but memorable roles in several of John Ford classics including Three Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1948), and The Quiet Man (1952), as the sheltered widow Mrs. Tillane. The character actress was often given one-scene parts or shallow roles which she transcended with her personality and talent, such as her role as a birth control advocate in the comedy Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), the "well-preserved woman" in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry, and a sorceress in The Court Jester.

After leaving film in favor of stage and television in the mid-1950s, she returned with Barefoot in the Park as Jane Fonda's mother. The role earned Natwick her first and only Academy Award nomination. For much of the following decade, Natwick appeared exclusively in television, winning an Emmy Award for her role in the limited series The Snoop Sisters, a mystery which paired her with fellow film veteran Helen Hayes. Her final role came with 1988's Dangerous Liaisons. Natwick died of cancer at age 89 in New York City.

Mildred was the first cousin of Myron 'Grim' Natwick, the creator of Betty Boop for the Fliescher Studios, and the primary animator of Snow White for Walt Disney Studios.

Awards

Academy Awards

Nomination:

• Best Supporting Actress (Barefoot in the Park, 1967)

Emmy Awards

Won:

• Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series (The Snoop Sisters, 1973)

Nominations:

• Best Supporting Performance by an Actress (Ford Star Jubilee, 1955)

Tony Awards

Nominations:

• Supporting Actress (Dramatic) (The Waltz of the Toreadors, 1957)
• Leading Actress (Musical) (70 Girls 70, 1972)

Selected filmography

• The Long Voyage Home (1940)
• The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
• Yolanda and the Thief (1945)
• Three Godfathers (1948)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
• The Quiet Man (1952)
• The Trouble with Harry (1955)
• The Court Jester (1956)
• Barefoot in the Park (1967)
• The Snoop Sisters (1973–1974), TV series
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

External links

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