Symona Boniface
Symona Ferner Boniface was an American film actress, most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of The Three Stooges. She appeared in 120 films between 1925 and 1950.
Early life
Symona Boniface was born in New York City, the daughter of actor George C. Boniface and his wife, Norma Boniface, an inventor. Her father was of English descent and her mother of German ancestry. Both parents were born in New York.
Career
Boniface developed an early interest in theater and participated in writing and performing for the stage. She transitioned to film in 1925, joining the Hal Roach Studios, which was known for producing short comedies. At Roach, she appeared in films alongside performers such as Charley Chase, the Our Gang children, Max Davidson, and Laurel and Hardy. Her roles typically cast her as society women, vamps, or matronly figures, due in part to her screen presence and bearing. These performances spanned both short subjects and feature films.
She began appearing in Columbia Pictures' two-reel comedies in 1935 and became a frequent supporting player in the studio's short-subject unit. Boniface worked with a variety of Columbia comedians, including Andy Clyde, Monte Collins and Tom Kennedy, Buster Keaton, Hugh Herbert, Vera Vague and The Three Stooges. In Stooge comedies, her roles often placed her in contrast to the trio's physical humor. Her characters were placed in comic scenarios involving wardrobe malfunctions, pratfalls, or slapstick mishaps, such as the mouse gag in Loco Boy Makes Good or water-soaked scenes in Spook Louder and Vagabond Loafers.
Director Edward Bernds regularly cast Boniface in larger roles in his scripts for Columbia shorts. She was featured in Micro-Phonies and continued to portray wealthy or authoritative women in comedies alongside performers such as Gus Schilling, Richard Lane, and Harry Von Zell.
One of her most notable scenes occurred in Half-Wits Holiday, a remake of the earlier Stooge short Hoi Polloi. In the film, Moe Howard tosses a pie into the air to avoid detection, and it lands on Boniface's character, Mrs. Smythe-Smythe, after a moment of comedic suspense. The gag was considered effective enough to be reused in later shorts, including Pest Man Wins, Scheming Schemers, and Pies and Guys, through stock footage after Boniface's death.
Her final on-screen performance was in the unaired television pilot Jerks of All Trades, featuring The Three Stooges and Emil Sitka.
Personal life
Boniface was married to Frank Pharr Simms, a salesman and real estate broker originally from Decatur, Georgia.
She died from pancreatic cancer on September 2, 1950, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, at the age of 56.
Selected filmography
Baby Brother - Party guestThe Mysterious Lady - Party Guest Forgotten Faces - Roulette Player Show Girl - Show Girl Show People - Guest The Fatal Warning - Marie JordanThe Kiss - Gossip in Museum The Vagabond Lover - Musicale Guest Sunny Side Up - Woman in hallucination montage Daybreak - Bystander at Baccarat Table The Public Defender - Auction Attendee Dragnet Patrol - Ethel BainbrickThe Man Who Played God - Woman in Audience Arsène Lupin - Party Guest It's Tough to Be Famous - Autograph Seeker Back Street - Lady at Casino Pack Up Your Troubles - Wedding Guest Call Her Savage - Gambling Lady The Mind Reader - Gossip in Phone Montage Reunion in Vienna - Noblewoman Tarzan the Fearless - Sara Skyway - Baker's Girlfriend Beauty for Sale - Mrs. Fletcher Christopher Bean - Auction Participant The House on 56th Street - Blackjack Player Girl Without a Room - Woman Easy to Love - Roulette Table Player The Black Cat - Cultist The Murder in the Museum - Katura the SeeressThe Count of Monte Cristo - Party Guest One Night of Love - Minor Role British Agent - Ball Guest at British Embassy Among the Missing - Prisoner Broadway Bill - Shanghai - Night Club Patron Pardon My Scotch - Party Guest The Last Days of Pompeii - Slave Auction Observer The Golden Arrow - Marihuana - Helen - Burma's Customer Girls' Dormitory - Professor Clotilde FederaSlippery Silks - Mrs. Morgan Morgan That Girl from Paris - Wedding Guest Confession - Actress Termites of 1938 - Guest Tassels in the Air - One of Mrs. Smirch's card-playing friends Women Are Like That - Lady Behind Claudius on Boat In Early Arizona - Doc's Saloon Sweetheart On Your Toes - Woman in Audience Ninotchka - Gossip A Plumbing We Will Go - Party Guest No Census, No Feeling - Bridge Party Hostess Souls in Pawn - Nurse at 'The Manger'All the World's a Stooge - Party Guest An Ache in Every Stake - Party Guest In the Sweet Pie and Pie - Mrs. Gottrocks Some More of Samoa - Mrs. Winthrop Loco Boy Makes Good - Nightclub Patron with Mouse Down Dress Woman of the Year - Tess' Party Guest Born to Sing - Audience Member One Dangerous Night - Woman Murder in Times Square - Theatre Patron Spook Louder - Well-Dressed Woman Clancy Street Boys - Dress Saleslady The Fallen Sparrow - Guest Crash Goes the Hash - Mrs. Van Bustle Wilson - White House Reception Guest Mrs. Parkington - Clothing Fitter Lost in a Harem - Slave Girl Her Highness and the Bellboy - Maid Girls of the Big House - Matron Micro-Phonies - Mrs. BixbyThe Notorious Lone Wolf - Grand Dame at Airport Gilda - Gambler at Roulette Table Talk About a Lady - Ladies' League Woman Two Sisters from Boston - Opera Cast Member Earl Carroll Sketchbook - Screaming Woman The Mysterious Mr. Valentine - Landlady Gallant Journey - Dance Floor Extra G.I. Wanna Home - Landlady The Jolson Story - Woman in Audience The Beast with Five Fingers - Mourner Half-Wits Holiday - Mrs. Smythe-Smythe Angel and the Badman - Dance Hall Madam Born to Kill - Gambler at Roulette Table All Gummed Up - Mother-in-law Heavenly Daze - Mrs. DePuyster The Untamed Breed - Milly The Return of October - Hedwig Joan of Arc - Peasant The Man from Colorado - Matron Slightly French - Party Guest Vagabond Loafers - Mrs. NorfleetAppointment with Danger - Woman Beware of Blondie - A Gossip Rogues of Sherwood Forest - Charcoal Burner's Wife Between Midnight and Dawn - Minor Role Pirates of the High Seas - Lotus LadyPest Man Wins - Mrs. Smythe-Smythe Bedlam in Paradise - Mrs. De Puyster Scheming Schemers - Mrs. Norfleet Pies and Guys - Stop! Look! and Laugh! - Mrs. Bixby / Party Guest