Aline MacMahon
Encyclopedia
Aline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her performance in Dragon Seed (1944).
. Her parents married on July 14, 1898 in Columbus, Ohio
. According to the 1910 United States Federal Census, her father was born in 1878 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania to an Irish-born father, whose occupation was a telegraph operator. Her mother, Jennie, was born in 1879 in Russia of Jewish origin; Jennie MacMahon died in 1984, aged 105.
and educated at Erasmus Hall High School
(Brooklyn
) and Barnard College
.
in 1921. Her first film role was in 1931 in Five Star Final
; she alternated between Broadway and Hollywood throughout her career.
, an architect and city planner, who founded the Regional Planning Association in 1928. He died in 1975. They had no children. Aline MacMahon died in 1991, aged 92, of pneumonia in New York City
, only seven years after the death of her own mother.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for her performance in Dragon Seed (1944).
Early life
Aline Laveen MacMahon was born to William M. MacMahon and Jennie C. Simon in McKeesport, PennsylvaniaMcKeesport, Pennsylvania
McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in the United States; it is located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and is part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The population was 19,731 at the 2010 census...
. Her parents married on July 14, 1898 in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. According to the 1910 United States Federal Census, her father was born in 1878 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania to an Irish-born father, whose occupation was a telegraph operator. Her mother, Jennie, was born in 1879 in Russia of Jewish origin; Jennie MacMahon died in 1984, aged 105.
Education
Aline MacMahon was raised in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and educated at Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall Campus High School is a four-year public high school in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, United States operated by the New York City Department of Education....
(Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
) and Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
.
Career
MacMahon began appearing on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1921. Her first film role was in 1931 in Five Star Final
Five Star Final
Five Star Final is a 1931 American film about crime and the excesses of tabloid journalism. It was written by Robert Lord and Byron Morgan from the play by Louis Weitzenkorn, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The movie stars Edward G. Robinson and features H. B...
; she alternated between Broadway and Hollywood throughout her career.
Personal life
MacMahon was married to Clarence SteinClarence Stein
Clarence Samuel Stein was an American urban planner, architect, and writer, a major proponent of the "Garden City" movement in the United States.- Biography :...
, an architect and city planner, who founded the Regional Planning Association in 1928. He died in 1975. They had no children. Aline MacMahon died in 1991, aged 92, of pneumonia in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, only seven years after the death of her own mother.
Select filmography
- Five Star FinalFive Star FinalFive Star Final is a 1931 American film about crime and the excesses of tabloid journalism. It was written by Robert Lord and Byron Morgan from the play by Louis Weitzenkorn, and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The movie stars Edward G. Robinson and features H. B...
(1931) - The MouthpieceThe MouthpieceThe Mouthpiece is a 1932 crime drama film directed by James Flood and Elliott Nugent.-Selected cast:*Warren William as Vincent 'Vince' Day*Sidney Fox as Celia Farraday*Aline MacMahon as Miss Hickey, Day's secretary*John Wray as Mr. Barton...
(1932) - Life BeginsLife Begins (film)Life Begins is a drama film set in a 1930s maternity ward and deals with unwed mothers. It was adapted from the play of the same name by Mary M. Axelson.-Cast:*Loretta Young as Grace Sutton*Eric Linden as Jed Sutton...
(1932) - One Way PassageOne Way PassageOne Way Passage is a romantic film starring William Powell and Kay Francis as star-crossed lovers, directed by Tay Garnett and released by Warner Bros.It was remade in 1940 as Til We Meet Again, featuring Merle Oberon and George Brent.-Plot:...
(1932) - Gold Diggers of 1933Gold Diggers of 1933Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pre-code Warner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin , staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley...
(1933) - The Life of Jimmy DolanThe Life of Jimmy DolanThe Life of Jimmy Dolan is a 1933 starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young. It features John Wayne in a small supporting role as a frightened boxer. It was remade in 1939 as They Made Me a Criminal.-Cast:* Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as Jimmy Dolan* Loretta Young as Peggy* Aline MacMahon as...
(1933) - Heroes for SaleHeroes for SaleHeroes for Sale is a Depression-era film directed by William Wellman, starring Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, and Loretta Young, and released by Warner Bros. A veteran of World War I, Thomas Holmes, struggles to make his way in civilian life in almost every way imaginable...
(1933) - The World ChangesThe World ChangesThe World Changes is a 1933 drama film starring Paul Muni as an ambitious farm boy who becomes rich, but does not handle success well. Aline MacMahon and Mary Astor play his mother and wife respectively.-Cast:*Paul Muni as Orin Nordholm Jr....
(1933) - Babbitt (1934)
- Heat LightningHeat Lightning (film)Heat Lightning is a 1934 drama film starring Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, and Preston Foster. It is based on the play of the same name by Leon Abrams and George Abbott....
(1934) - I Live My LifeI Live My LifeI Live My Life is a 1935 film, starring Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne, and Frank Morgan, and is based on the story Claustrophobia, by A. Carter Goodloe.-Plot summary:...
(1935) - Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! (film)Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel...
(1935) - Kind LadyKind Lady (1935 film)Kind Lady is a 1935 drama film starring Aline MacMahon and Basil Rathbone. It is based on the play of the same name by Edward Chodorov and a short story called "The Silver Mask" by Hugh Walpole....
(1935)
- When You're in LoveWhen You're in Love (film)When You're in Love is a 1937 musical film starring Grace Moore, Cary Grant, and Thomas Mitchell. Moore sings "Minnie the Moocher" in one scene. She also sings the wonderful Ernesto Lecuono classic "Siboney" drooled over by Cary Grant. The movie was directed by Robert Riskin...
(1937) - Out of the FogOut of the FogOut of the Fog may refer to:*Out of the Fog , a 1941 film noir featuring John Garfield and Ida Lupino*Out of the Fog , starring Alla Nazimova*Out of the Fog , 1962 film...
(1941) - The Lady is WillingThe Lady is WillingThe Lady is Willing is a 1942 Columbia Pictures screwball comedy film starring Marlene Dietrich and Fred MacMurray, directed by Mitchell Leisen....
(1942) - Dragon Seed (1944)
- The Mighty McGurkThe Mighty McGurkThe Mighty McGurk is a 1947 film starring Wallace Beery as a boozing ex-boxer working as a bouncer in a Bowery saloon. The movie was directed by John Waters, although not the same John Waters who directed Pink Flamingos and Hairspray .-Cast:*Wallace Beery as Slag McGurk*Dean Stockwell as...
(1947) - Roseanna McCoyRoseanna McCoyRoseanna McCoy is a 1949 American drama film directed by Irving Reis. The screenplay by John Collier, based on the 1947 novel of the same title by Alberta Hannum, is a romanticized and semi-fictionalized account of the Hatfield-McCoy feud.-Plot:...
(1949) - The Flame and the ArrowThe Flame and the ArrowThe Flame and the Arrow is a 1950 American adventure film made by Warner Bros. and starring Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo and Nick Cravat. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Harold Hecht and Frank Ross from a screenplay by Waldo Salt. The music score was by Max Steiner and the...
(1950) - The Man from LaramieThe Man from LaramieThe Man from Laramie is an American Technicolor Western film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in the fifth and final of their Western collaborations, and their seventh collaboration overall. It was adapted from a story of the same title by Thomas T...
(1955) - CimarronCimarron (1960 film)Cimarron is a 1960 western film based on the Edna Ferber novel Cimarron, featuring Glenn Ford and Maria Schell. It was directed by Anthony Mann, known for his westerns and film noirs....
(1960) - The Young DoctorsThe Young Doctors (film)The Young Doctors is a 1961 film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Ben Gazzara, Fredric March, Dick Clark, Ina Balin, Eddie Albert, Phyllis Love, Aline MacMahon, George Segal and Dolph Sweet. The film is based on the 1959 novel "The Final Diagnosis" by Arthur Hailey...
(1961) - Diamond HeadDiamond Head (film)Diamond Head is a film starring Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, George Chakiris, and James Darren, directed by Guy Green, and released by Columbia Pictures. The original music score was composed by John Williams, Hugo Winterhalter composed the theme, and Darren sang the title song...
(1963) - I Could Go On SingingI Could Go On SingingI Could Go On Singing is a 1963 film starring Judy Garland and Dirk Bogarde.Although not a huge box office success on release, it won Garland much praise for her performance...
(1963) - All the Way HomeAll the Way Home (film)All the Way Home is a 1963 drama film about a young boy and his mother dealing with the sudden death of his father. It stars Jean Simmons, Robert Preston, and Pat Hingle, with the boy being portrayed by Michael Kearney...
(1963)
Census and other data
- The 1910 United States Federal Census for Brooklyn, New York, April 16, 1910, Enumeration District 1409, Sheet 5.
- The 1920 United States Federal Census for Manhattan Assembly District 13, January 25, 1920, Enumeration District 943, Sheet 9A.
- U.S. Passport Applications 1795–1925, Roll 1533-6376-6749, 19 March 1921-21 March 1921, Ancestry.com.