Sarah Edwards (actress)
Sarah Edwards was a Welsh-born American film and stage actress. She often played dowagers or spinsters in numerous Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in minor roles.
Career
Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular with West End theatre-goers".
She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in six Broadway plays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies like The Merry Malones by George M. Cohan. Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musical Glorifying the American Girl, where she portrayed the mercenary mother of the character played by lead actress Mary Eaton. She came to Hollywood in the mid-1930s where she appeared in about 190 films until her retirement 1951, mostly in uncredited, small character roles. Edwards died in Hollywood in 1965, aged 83.
Edwards seemed older than she was and often portrayed a "kindly grandmother, imperious dowager, hardy pioneer wife, ill-tempered teacher and strict governess". She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother of Mary Hatch in Frank Capra's film classic It's a Wonderful Life who tries to keep her daughter away from George Bailey. Edwards also played a customer in Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner with James Stewart. She also appeared in another Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt. Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in the Charlie Chan movie Charlie Chan in the Secret Service.
Partial filmography
Glorifying the American Girl - Mrs. HughesWayward - Nurse American Madness - Gossip on Phone Smarty - Mrs. Crosby's Mother Side Streets - Second Customer The World Accuses - Lucille WeymouthSweepstake Annie - Friend of Mrs. Foster Shadow of Doubt - Dowager in Taxi Ruggles of Red Gap - Mrs. Myron Carey People Will Talk - Martie BeemishMan on the Flying Trapeze - Motorcar Owner Welcome Home - Mrs. EdwardsAnna Karenina - Wife - Second Couple The Dark Angel - Josephine Bidley I Live My Life - Professor Douglas Two-Fisted - Abigail AdamsIt's in the Air - Old Maid Stars Over Broadway - Woman Dancing with Fat Man One Way Ticket - Miss Aldridge Miss Pacific Fleet - Woman with Mrs. Freytag in Snuggle-Up Inn Dangerous Intrigue - Superintendent of Nurses The Walking Dead - Female Doctor - Guest at Party Colleen - First Society Woman The Great Ziegfeld - Wardrobe Woman Moonlight Murder - Autograph Seeker The Golden Arrow - Mrs. MeyersEarly to Bed - Miss Barton Palm Springs - Miss PinchonMy American Wife - Townswoman Two-Fisted Gentleman - Mrs. O'SheaThe General Died at Dawn - American's Companion Stage Struck - Schoolteacher at Aquarium Theodora Goes Wild - Mrs. Moffat We're on the Jury - Miss Evelyn BottomleyMaytime - Minor Role The Jones Family in Big Business - Miss Collins - School Principal Public Wedding - Mrs. J.P. Van Drexel Varsity Show - Mrs. Biddle Life Begins in College - Teacher It's Love I'm After - Mrs. HinklePartners in Crime - Committee Woman The Awful Truth - Lucy's Attorney's Wife Second Honeymoon - Woman in Airplane Love Is a Headache - Mrs. Warden, Fan from New Jersey Gold Is Where You Find It - Party Guest Merrily We Live - Mrs. Fleming Fools for Scandal - Tourist Buying Rug Judge Hardy's Children - Miss Adams, Cotillion Hostess Women Are Like That - Mrs. SnellThe Beloved Brat - Miss Brundage A Trip to Paris - Woman in Bank Woman Against Woman - Party Guest Keep Smiling - Governess Three Loves Has Nancy - Autograph Session Chairwoman Sons of the Legion - Mrs. HynesTouchdown, Army - Mrs. Rawlings A Man to Remember - Clerk The Cowboy and the Lady - Dinner Party Guest The Shining Hour - Chairman of Morals Society Boy Trouble - Mrs. MootsPersons in Hiding - Beauty Shop Proprietor The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mrs. Annie Rucker Blondie Meets the Boss - Saleswoman Inside Story - Unmarried - Mrs. Jones6,000 Enemies - Fourth Lady Coast Guard - Florence Espionage Agent - Militant American Tourist Here I Am a Stranger - Chaperone at Dance Sabotage - Laura Austin - Judgmental Woman on Street Too Busy to Work Meet Dr. Christian - Mrs. MinnowsThe Amazing Mr. Williams - Citizens Committee Woman Remember? - Lady in Revolving Door The Shop Around the Corner - Woman CustomerFree, Blonde and 21 - Minor Role Star Dust - Woman in Dining Car Curtain Call - Literary Committee Member Opened by Mistake - Mrs. Karff Lucky Cisco Kid - Choir Leader Anne of Windy Poplars - New Moon - Marquise della Rosa Young People - Mrs. StinchfieldThe Bride Wore Crutches - Mrs. Hopkins, Landlady The Howards of Virginia - Neighbor Girl Strike Up the Band - Miss HodgesArise, My Love - Spinster Little Men - Landlady The Invisible Woman - Showroom Buyer The Face Behind the Mask - Mrs. Perkins Ride, Kelly, Ride - Teacher Footsteps in the Dark - Mrs. Belgarde Meet John Doe - Mrs. Hawkins Mr. District Attorney - Miss PetherbyShe Knew All the Answers - Tom, Dick and Harry - Mrs. Burton Sunset in Wyoming - Susanna Hawkins PeabodyPrivate Nurse - Nurse One Foot in Heaven - Mrs. Spicer You Belong to Me - Mrs. Snyder Three Girls About Town - Clubwoman Birth of the Blues - Dowager in Cafe I Wake Up Screaming - Customer Miss Polly - Angie TurnerH. M. Pulham, Esq. - Mrs. Motford - Kay's Mother Glamour Boy - Second Matron Bedtime Story - Housekeeper Reap the Wild Wind - Dowager at Tea Rings on Her Fingers - Mrs. ClancyMy Favorite Blonde - Mrs. Weatherwax Moonlight Masquerade - Minor Role Flight Lieutenant - Customer Sons of the Pioneers - Housekeeper The Gay Sisters - Lady in Elevator Apache Trail - Stagecoach Passenger Scattergood Survives a Murder - Selma QuentinThe Forest Rangers - Mrs. Hansen Happy Go Lucky - Spinster Shadow of a Doubt - Doctor's Wife on Train The Powers Girl - School Board Membner Calaboose - The Colonel Dixie Dugan - Mrs. KellyAll by Myself - Mrs. VincentHers to Hold - Graduate Nurse Let's Face It - Woman in Court My Kingdom for a Cook - Woman in Employment Office Nearly Eighteen - Miss PerkinsWhere Are Your Children? - MatronCharlie Chan in the Secret Service - Mrs. HargueYou Can't Ration Love - Miss Hawks Rationing - Mrs. Beachman Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid - Mrs. Bradley The Story of Dr. Wassell - 'Janssen' Passenger The Adventures of Mark Twain - Townswoman Henry Aldrich's Little Secret - Mrs. BradleyBathing Beauty - Faculty Member Three Little Sisters - Addie Pepperdine Storm Over Lisbon - Maude Perry-TonidesThe Thin Man Goes Home - Passenger on Train asking 'Why Should I?' Music for Millions - Lady in Train Station Eadie Was a Lady - Mrs. Meeker The Clock - Clerk at Blood Lab The Corn Is Green - Mrs. Watty's Friend Two O'Clock Courage - Mrs. Tuttle Lady on a Train - Waring Cousin Girls of the Big House - Dormitory MatronAllotment Wives - SadieSaratoga Trunk - Miss DiggsGirl on the Spot - Mrs. Richards Song of Arizona - Dolly FinnuccinThe Hoodlum Saint - Apartment Seeker Renegades - Townswoman Easy to Wed - Mrs. Dibson Shadowed - TillieNo Leave, No Love - Irate Woman The Verdict - Housekeeper Undercurrent - Cora Cross My Heart - Matron It's a Wonderful Life - Mrs. HatchIt's a Joke, Son! - Annabelle My Brother Talks to Horses - Townswoman That Way with Women - Mrs. Irwin The Devil Thumbs a Ride - Minnie The Romance of Rosy Ridge - Mrs. Dessark That Hagen Girl - Charlotte Miller The Bishop's Wife - Mrs. DuffyGood News - Miss Pritchard The Voice of the Turtle - Woman Seeking Theater Tickets The Main Street Kid - Mrs. ClausonCalifornia Firebrand - Granny Hortense MasonGood Sam - Mrs. Gilmore Isn't It Romantic? - Bird-Like Woman Family Honeymoon - Mrs. Carp Air Hostess - Bertha HallumSamson and Delilah - Spectator The Petty Girl - Prof. Morrison The Fuller Brush Girl - Mrs. East The Glass Menagerie - Mrs. Miller The Lemon Drop Kid - Woman in Home Honeychile - SarahCarson City - Spinster on Stagecoach