Marjorie Gateson
Marjorie Augusta Gateson was an American stage and film actress.
Biography
Gateson was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Augusta and Daniel Gateson. Her maternal grandfather and brother were clergymen; Some sources state her father was one too, but Axel Nissen in his book Mothers, Mammies and Old Maids: Twenty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood writes that he was a contractor. She attended the Packer Collegiate Institute and the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the latter being where her mother taught elocution. She believed her mother had "an inner longing for the stage", which she passed on to Marjorie, along with diction and poise.
Gateson's musical schooling helped her land a job in the chorus in a play called The Pink Lady. She made her Broadway debut at the age of 21 in the chorus of the musical The Dove of Peace on November 4, 1912; the show closed after 12 performances. During the much longer run of her next Broadway play, The Little Cafe, she played several of the characters. In 1917's Broadway musical Have a Heart, she sang two songs. She performed in musical comedies for another decade, ending with Oh, Ernest!, but also appeared in non-musical comedies and dramas. After the Broadway comedy As Good as New in 1930, she set out for Hollywood.
Gateson made her film debut in 1931, after more than two decades on the stage, playing secondary character roles as women of wealth and breeding, who were often haughty and aloof. She is perhaps best known as the society matron who attempts to thwart Mae West's character's plans for social climbing in the 1935 film Goin' to Town, and as a rather kinder socialite whom Harold Lloyd teaches to box in 1936's The Milky Way.
Other films in which she appeared include The King's Vacation, Bureau of Missing Persons, Private Number, You'll Never Get Rich, International Lady, and Meet The Stewarts. Her film work petered out in the late 1940s, and she jumped into television roles.
She made her small screen debut in 1949. She was featured in the 1949 television soap opera One Man's Family and found success in 1954 at age 63 playing matriarch Grace Harris Tyrell on the daytime soap The Secret Storm, a role she would play until 1968. Gateson also made numerous other television appearances in the 1950s, including episodes of Hallmark Hall of Fame, Robert Montgomery Presents, and United States Steel Hour.
Gateson never married and said: "I wanted nothing but to be an actress. I didn't even consider trying both."
Gateson suffered a stroke, which ended her acting career, and died several years later in 1977 of pneumonia, at the age of 86 in Manhattan.
Selected filmography
The Beloved Bachelor - Hortense ColeThe False Madonna - RoseWorking Girls - Modiste Husband's Holiday - Loretta Society Girl - Alice ConverseStreet of Women - Lois BaldwinOkay, America! - Mrs. Herbert WrightThirteen Women - Hazel's Travel Companion Silver Dollar - Mrs. Adams The King's Vacation - Helen EverhardtEmployees' Entrance - Mrs. HickoxLilly Turner - Mrs. Bessie 'Ma' McGillCocktail Hour - Mrs. Pat LawtonMelody Cruise - Mrs. WellsBlind Adventure - Grace ThorneBureau of Missing Persons - Mrs. PaulWalls of Gold - Cassie StreetFog The World Changes - Mrs. ClintonLady Killer - Mrs. Wilbur MarleyLet's [Fall in Love (film)|Let's Fall in Love] - AgathaHi, Nellie! - Mrs. CanfieldComing Out Party - Mrs. Ada StanhopeOperator 13 - Mrs. ShacklefordSide Streets - Mrs. Thatcher Down to Their Last Yacht - Mrs. Geoffrey Colt-StrattonChained - Mrs. Louise FieldMillion Dollar Ransom - Elita CasserlyBig Hearted Herbert - Amy GoodrichHappiness Ahead - Mrs. BradfordGentlemen Are Born - Mrs. HarperGoin' to Town - Mrs. Crane BrittonyHis Family Tree - Margaret 'Maggie' Murfree - aka MurphyYour Uncle Dudley - Mabel DixonThe Milky Way - Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyneWife vs. Secretary - Eve MerrittThe First Baby - Mrs. WellsBig Brown Eyes - Mrs. ColePrivate Number - Mrs. WinfieldAnthony Adverse - Minor Role The Gentleman from Louisiana - Fay CostiganThree Married Men - ClaraThe Man I Marry - Eloise HartleyArizona Mahoney - Safroney JonesWe Have Our Moments - Mrs. RutherfordTurn Off the Moon - Myrtle TweepWalter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 - Mrs. George Curtis-LemkeFirst Lady - Sophy PrescottNo Time to Marry - Mrs. PettensallMaking the Headlines - Muffin WilderGateway - Mrs. Arabella McNuttStablemates - Mrs. ShepherdSpring Madness - Miss RitchieThe Duke of West Point - Mrs. DrewThe Spirit of Culver - Mrs. Macy, June Mother My Wife's Relatives - Mrs. EllisToo Busy [to Work (1939 film)|Too Busy to Work] - Mrs. Randolph RussellGeronimo - Mrs. SteeleParole Fixer - Mrs. Thorton Casserly'Til We Meet Again - Mrs. HesterIn Old Missouri - Mrs. PittmanEscape to Glory - Mrs. WinslowPop Always Pays - Mrs. BrewsterAndy Hardy Meets Debutante - Mrs. Desmond Fowler Third Finger, [Left Hand (film)|Third Finger, Left Hand] - Mrs. Russell I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now - Mrs. MorganBack Street - Mrs. AdamsHere Comes Happiness - Emily VanceYou'll Never Get Rich - Aunt LouisePassage from Hong Kong - Aunt JuliaMoonlight in Hawaii - Aunt Effie FlotoInternational Lady - Bertha GrennerHonolulu Lu - Mrs. Van DerholtObliging Young Lady - Mira PotterRings on Her Fingers - Mrs. FenwickJuke Box Jenny - Mrs. HortonMeet the Stewarts - Mrs. GoodwinNo [Time for Love (1943 film)|No Time for Love] - SophieThe Youngest Profession - Mrs. DrewRhythm of the Islands - Mrs. HoltonThe [Sky's the Limit (1943 film)|The Sky's the Limit] - Canteen HostessI Dood It - Mrs. SpelvinCasanova in Burlesque - Lucille ComptonHi, Good Lookin'! - Mrs. Clara HardacreSeven Days Ashore - Mrs. Elizabeth ArlandEver Since Venus - Maude HackettOne More Tomorrow - Aunt Edna CollierThe Caddy - Mrs. Grace Taylor