Marjorie Rambeau

Marjorie Burnet Rambeau (July 15, 1889 – July 6, 1970) was an American film and stage actress.Marjorie Rambeau – North American Theatre Online She began her stage career at age 12, and appeared in several silent films before debuting in her first sound film, Her Man (1930). She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Primrose Path (1940) and Torch Song (1953), and received the 1955 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in A Man Called Peter and The View from Pompey's Head.

Early life Rambeau was born in San Francisco. She had a sister. Her parents separated when she was a child. Her mother and her went to Nome, Alaska, where young Marjorie dressed as a boy, sang, and played the banjo in saloons and music halls. Her mother insisted she dress as a boy to thwart amorous attention from drunken grown men in such a wild and woolly outpost as Nome.Great Stars of the American Stage by Daniel Blum Profile #62 c. 1952 (this second edition c. 1954) She began performing on the stage at the age of 12. She attained theatrical experience in a rambling early life as a strolling player. Finally, she made her Broadway debut on March 10, 1913, in a tryout of Willard Mack's play, Kick In.Great Stars of the American Stage by Daniel C. Blum "Profile #62", c. 1952 (2nd edition c. 1954), no page numbers, pages are referred to as Profiles

Career

In her youth, she was a Broadway leading lady, starring in plays such as the 1915 comedy Sadie Love. In 1921, Dorothy Parker memorialized her in verse:

If all the tears you shed so lavishly / Were gathered, as they left each brimming eye. / And were collected in a crystal sea, / The envious ocean would curl up and dry— / So awful in its mightiness, that lake, / So fathomless, that clear and salty deep. / For, oh, it seems your gentle heart must break, / To see you weep. ...Parker, Dorothy. "To Marjorie Rambeau." Life. December 8, 1921. p. 7;

Her silent films with the Mutual company included Mary Moreland and The Greater Woman (1917). The films were not major successes, but did expose Rambeau to film audiences. By the time talkies came along, she was in her early 40s and began to take on character roles in films such as Min and Bill (1930), The Secret Six (1931) starring Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow and Clark Gable, Laughing Sinners (1931) with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, Grand Canary (1934) with Warner Baxter and Madge Evans, Palooka (1934) with Jimmy Durante, and Primrose Path (1940) with Ginger Rogers and Joel McCrea, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Rambeau played a supporting role in Min and Bill (1930) with Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Tugboat Annie was a follow-up to Min and Bill, though it was not a sequel. Rambeau replaced Dressler after her death as Tugboat Annie in the sequel Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940), also starring Alan Hale Sr., Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, and Chill Wills. Also in 1940, she had second billing under Wallace Beery (the co-star of the original Tugboat Annie) in 20 Mule Team; she also played an Italian mother in East of the River with John Garfield and Brenda Marshall. In 1943, she played a supporting role in In Old Oklahoma with John Wayne, Martha Scott, and Gabby Hayes. Her other films included second billing in Tobacco Road (1941) and Broadway (1942) starring George Raft and Pat O'Brien. In 1953, she was again nominated for an Oscar, this time for Torch Song. She appeared in A Man Called Peter with Richard Todd and Jean Peters in 1955. She appeared in a supporting role in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a biographical film about the life of Lon Chaney Sr. starring James Cagney as Chaney, although she never worked with the real Chaney in silent films.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Rambeau has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6336 Hollywood Blvd.

Legacy Rambeau plays a role in one of the origin stories of the Reuben sandwich. According to author and theatre critic Bernard Sobel, the sandwich was invented for her upon a visit to Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen in New York City.

Personal life Rambeau was descended from colonial immigrant Peter Gunnarsson Rambo, who immigrated in the 1600s from Sweden to New Sweden and served as a justice of the Governor's Council. He was the longest living of the original settlers and became known as the "Father of New Sweden"."The Rambo Family Tree: Descendants of Peter Gunnarson Rambo 1611-1986", Beverly Nelson Rambo, p. 690

Rambeau was married three times and had no children. She was first married in 1913 to Canadian writer, actor, and director Willard Mack. They divorced in 1917. She then married actor Hugh Dillman McGaughey in 1919, a marriage which also ended in divorce in 1923. Rambeau's last marriage was to Francis Asbury Gudger in 1931, with whom she remained until his death in 1967. Gudger was from Asheville, North Carolina. In the winter, they often stayed there, and in the summer, they lived in Sebring, Florida. His previous wife was killed in an automobile accident in Tampa two years before, but Rambeau and Gudger had been sweethearts years before when the former was the "toast of Broadway".St. Petersburg Times, November 28, 1932

In 1945, a truck struck the automobile Rambeau and her sister were in. Their car slammed into a tree, killing the latter. Rambeau sustained multiple injuries, including crushed legs and a possible skull fracture. Doctors informed her she might never walk again, and she used a wheelchair for a year. Rambeau did recover and successfully returned to acting.

Death Rambeau died in 1970 at her home in Palm Springs, California, following a long illness. She was 80 years old. She was buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City.

Filmography Silent Year Title Role Notes1917 The Greater Woman Auriole Praed Lost film Motherhood Louise Lost film The Debt Countess Ann Lost film The Mirror Blanche Lost film The Dazzling Miss Davison Rachel, The Dazzling Miss Davison Lost film Mary Moreland Mary Moreland Lost film National Red Cross Pageant America Final episodeLost film 1919 The Common Cause Columbia PrologueLost film 1920 The Fortune Teller Renee Browning Lost film1922 On Her HonorKelly, Mary (1922). "'On Her Honor'", review, The Moving Picture World, March 25, 1922, p. 402. Internet Archive. Retrieved December 6, 2019. Rachel Davison Presumed Lost 1926 Syncopating Sue Herself Lost film

Sound Year Title Role Notes1930 Her Man Annie Min and Bill Bella Pringle Great Day film never completed or released1931 Inspiration Lulu Trader Horn Edith Trent (scenes deleted) The Easiest Way Elfie St. Clair A Tailor Made Man Kitty Dupuy Strangers May Kiss Geneva The Secret Six Peaches Laughing Sinners Ruby Son of India Mrs. Darsey Silence Mollie Burke This Modern Age Diane Winters (scenes deleted) Leftover Ladies The Duchess Hell Divers Mame Kelsey1933 Strictly Personal Annie Gibson The Warrior's Husband Hippolyta Man's Castle Flossie1934 Palooka Mayme Palooka A Modern Hero Madame Azais Grand Canary Daisy Hemingway Ready for Love Goldie Tate1935 Under Pressure Amelia "Amy" Hardcastle Dizzy Dames Lillian Bennett / Lillian Marlowe 1937 First Lady Belle Hardwick1938 Merrily We Live Mrs. Harlan Woman Against Woman Mrs. Kingsley1939 Sudden Money Elsie Patterson The Rains Came Mrs. Simon Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence Mamie Laugh It Off Sylvia Swan1940 Santa Fe Marshal Ma Burton Primrose Path Mamie Adams Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 20 Mule Team Josie Johnson Tugboat Annie Sails Again Capt. Annie Brennan East of the River Mama Teresa Lorenzo1941 Tobacco Road Sister Bessie Rice Three Sons o' Guns Aunt Lottie 1942 Broadway Lillian "Lil" Rice 1943 In Old Oklahoma Bessie Baxter1944 Oh, What a Night Lil Vanderhoven Army Wives Mrs. Shannahan1945 Salome, Where She Danced Madam Europe It's Murder, She Says Anopheles Annie Short, Voice, Uncredited 1948 The Walls of Jericho Mrs. Dunham1949 The Lucky Stiff Hattie Hatfield Any Number Can Play Sarah Calbern Abandoned Mrs. Donner1953 Torch Song Mrs. Stewart Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Forever Female Older Actress at Bar Bad for Each Other Mrs. Roger Nelson1955 A Man Called Peter Miss Laura Fowler The View from Pompey's Head Lucy Devereaux Wales1957 Slander Mrs. Manley Man of a Thousand Faces Gert (final film role)

Marjorie Rambeau

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