Josephine Hull
Marie Josephine Hull 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 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, as a homicidal old lady in Arsenic and Old Lace, and in Harvey. The plays all had long runs, and took up ten years of Hull's career. Her last Broadway play, The Solid Gold Cadillac, was later made into a film version with the much younger Judy Holliday in the role.
Film
Hull made only seven films, beginning in 1927 with a small part in the Clara Bow feature Get Your Man, followed by The Bishop's Candlesticks in 1929. That was followed by two 1932 Fox features, After Tomorrow and Careless Lady.She missed out on recreating her You Can't Take It With You role in 1938, as she was still onstage with the show. Instead, Spring Byington appeared in the film version.
Hull played Aunt Abby who, along with Jean Adair as Aunt Martha, was one of the two Brewster sisters in the film version of Arsenic and Old Lace starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane.
Hull then appeared in the screen version of Harvey, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Variety credited Hull's performance: "the slightly balmy aunt who wants to have Elwood committed, is immense, socking the comedy for every bit of its worth".
After Harvey, Hull made only one more film, The Lady from Texas ; 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 Role: Cosette The Bridge Neighbors Role: Mrs. HicksFata Morgana Role: George's MotherRosmersholm Role: Madame HelsethCraig's Wife Role: Mrs. FrazierDaisy Mayme Role: Mrs. Olly KipaxThe Wild Man of Borneo Role: Mrs. MarshallMarch Hares Role: Mrs. Janet RodneyThe Beaux Stratagem Role: Servant in the InnHotbed Role: HattieBefore You're 25 Role: Cornelia CorbinThose We Love Role: EvelynMidnight Role: Mrs. WeldonUnexpected Husband Role: Mrs. Egbert BustyAfter Tomorrow Role: Mrs. PiperA Thousand Summers Role: Mrs. ThompsonAmerican Dream Role: Martha, Mrs. Schuyler HamiltonA Divine Drudge Role: Frau KlapstuhlBy Your Leave Role: Mrs. GretchellOn to Fortune Role: Miss Hedda SloanSeven Keys to Baldpate Role: Mrs. QuinbyNight In the House Role: Lucy AmorestYou Can't Take It with You Role: Penelope SycamoreAn International Incident Role: Mrs. John Wurthering BlackettArsenic and Old Lace Role: Abby BrewsterHarvey Role: Veta Louise SimmonsMinnie and Mr. Williams Role: MinnieThe Golden State Role: Mrs. MorenasWhistler's Grandmother Role: KateThe Solid Gold Cadillac Role: Mrs. Laura PartridgeBroadway director credits
Why Not? The Rivals- ''The Habitual Husband''