Norma Varden
Norma Varden Shackleton, known professionally as Norma Varden, was an English-American actress with a long film career.
Life and career
Early life
Born in London, the daughter of a retired sea captain, Varden was a child prodigy. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris and performed in England before deciding to take up acting. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and made her first appearance as Mrs Darling in Peter Pan.
Theatre career
In England, Varden was a protege of actress Kate Rorke. She acted in repertory theatre and made her West End debut in The Wandering Jew in 1920. From Shakespeare to farce, she established herself as a regular member of the Aldwych Theatre company where she appeared in plays from 1929 to 1933. She began to appear in British films, usually in haughty upper-class roles.
Move to America and film career
Varden's English film roles led to offers from Hollywood, and she moved there at the start of World War II, beginning a long career of playing character and supporting roles. Notable films Varden appeared in include Casablanca, The Major and the Minor, The White Cliffs of Dover, National Velvet, The Green Years, Forever Amber, Strangers on a Train, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Jupiter's Darling, and Witness for the Prosecution. She played the housekeeper Frau Schmidt in The Sound of Music. Two years later, she had a minor part as Lady Petherington in Doctor Dolittle.
Television career
She had a recurring role in the 1960s NBC sitcom Hazel as Harriet Johnson. She appeared on CBS's I Love Lucy as Mrs. Benson, the neighbour with whom the Ricardos switch apartments after the birth of Little Ricky in 1953. In 1957, she guest-starred as Mrs. Weddington-Brown in Mr. Adams and Eve episode "The Social Crowd." She was cast as Mrs. Murdock in the 1961 episode "The Swedish Girl" on ABC's The Real McCoys. She appeared on CBS's Perry Mason as Winifred Wileen in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Illicit Illusion". That same year, Varden, along with veteran character actress and comedienne Kathleen Freeman were featured in a third-season episode of The Lucy Show entitled "Lucy Gets Her Maid". In that installment, Varden played yet another snooty socialite named Mrs. Van Vlack who hires Lucy Carmichael as a maid. She also appeared on the seventh-season episode of The Beverly Hillbillies "Problem Bear" as the snobby socialite, Mrs. Vanransenhoff, who went home with Granny to get gossip on Mrs. Drysdale.
Varden played Mrs. Dumont in a 1966 episode of Bewitched entitled "Oedipus Hex", sitting on a "Ways & Means" charity committee with Samantha Stephens to raise funds for a children's playground.
Varden played Mrs. Hermione Monteagle in episode 13 of the Batman series of the 1960s.
She became a naturalised United States citizen on 28 January 1949.
Varden died of heart failure in Santa Barbara, California the day before her 91st birthday. She is interred in Santa Barbara Cemetery.
Complete filmography
The Glorious Adventure as Court Lady The Chance of a Night Time as Mrs. Rashley-Butcher A Night Like This as Mrs. Tuckett Crime on the Hill as Editor's Secretary Happy as Miss Stone, Secretary with Glasses Turkey Time as Ernestine StoattEvergreen as Barmaid The Iron Duke as Duchess of RichmondDirty Work as Tiara Customer The Student's Romance as Dora Streudelmeier, Karl's AuntBoys Will Be Boys as Lady DorkingStormy Weather as Mrs. Dulcie BullockForeign Affaires as Mrs. Hardy HornettGet Off My Foot as Mrs. RawlingcourtMusic Hath Charms as Bit The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss Where There's a Will as Lady Margaret WimpletonEast Meets West as Lady MalloryWindbag the Sailor as Olivia Potter-PorterFire Over England as Elena's Governess Wanted! as Mrs. SmithersThe Lilac Domino Strange Adventures of Mr. Smith as Mrs. BroadbentMake-Up as HostessRhythm Racketeer as Della NashFools for Scandal as Cicely Trevel You're the Doctor as Lady BeatriceEverything Happens to Me as Mrs. ProdderLittle Ladyship as Mrs. Cynthia BigleyHome from Home as Mrs. FairweatherShipyard Sally as Lady Patricia RandallThe Earl of Chicago as Maureen KilmountWaterloo Bridge as Hostess at Restaurant Hit Parade of 1941 The Mad Doctor as Woman at Charity Bazaar Scotland Yard as Lady HeathcoteRoad to Zanzibar as Clara Kimble Glamour Boy as Mrs. LeeWe Were Dancing as Mrs. Bryce-CarewFlying with Music as Miss MullensThe Glass Key as Henrys' Dinner Guest The Major and the Minor as Mrs. OsborneCasablanca as Wife of Pickpocketed Englishman Random Harvest as JuliaJohnny Doughboy as Miss Penticott Slightly Dangerous as Opera Singer Dixie as Mrs. LaPlant The Good Fellows as Mrs. DraytonSherlock Holmes Faces Death as Gracie, Barmaid My Kingdom for a Cook as Margaret, Morley's Cook The Beautiful Cheat as Miss TimmonsThe White Cliffs of Dover as Mrs. BlandMademoiselle Fifi as The Wholesaler's WifeDouble Indemnity as Secretary National Velvet as Miss SimsBring on the Girls as Aunt MarthaThose Endearing Young Charms as Mrs. Woods, Hall's Floor LadyThe Cheaters as Mattie Girls of the Big House as Mrs. Thelma HoltHold That Blonde as Flora CarteretThe Green Years as Mrs. BosomleyThe Searching Wind as Mrs. HayworthMillie's Daughter as Mrs. Sarah HarrisThe Trouble with Women as Mrs. Wilmer DawsonIvy as Joan Rodney Thunder in the Valley as Lady Eleanor Forever Amber as Mrs. Abbott Where There's Life as Mabel JonesMr. Ashton Was Indiscreet as Woman at Banquet My Own True Love as Red Cross Nurse The Amazing Mr. X as Wealthy-Looking Woman The Scar as Mrs. Gerry Let's Live a Little as Nurse BradyAdventure in Baltimore as H. H. HamiltonThe Secret Garden as NurseFancy Pants as Lady MaudeStrangers on a Train as Mrs. CunninghamThunder on the Hill as PierceThe Highwayman as Dowager at Ball Washington Story Les Miserables as Madame Courbet Something for the Birds as Congresswoman Bates Young Bess as Lady TyrwhittLoose in London as Aunt AgathaGentlemen Prefer Blondes as Lady BeekmanElephant Walk as Shop Customer Three Coins in the Fountain as Woman at Cocktail Party Dynamite, the Story of Alfred Nobel The Silver Chalice as Roman Matron Jupiter's Darling as FabiaThe Birds and the Bees as Passenger Sneak Preview Witness for the Prosecution as Mrs. Emily Jane FrenchIn the Money as Mrs. Smythe-Chumley The Buccaneer as Madame HilaireThe Miracle as Mrs. MacGregor Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Jenny Five Minutes to Live as Priscilla AuerbachRome Adventure as Dean of Briarcroft College for Women 13 Frightened Girls as Miss PittfordIsland of Love as Wife in Nightclub Kisses for My President as Miss Dinsendorff The Sound of Music as Frau Schmidt, housekeeperA Very Special Favor as Mother PlumTwo's Company as Lady Ordering Drink at Party Doctor Dolittle as Lady PetheringtonThe Impossible Years as Dr. Jenkins as EnglishwomanDoc as Mrs. Dobson