Person Biography:
Beulah Bondi was a renowned character actress, cherished by directors and audiences alike. She played a vital role in many iconic films from the 1930s and 1940s, often forming part of the ensemble casts in major and great films, including The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936),Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939),Our Town (1940),and Penny Serenade (1941). Bondi earned widespread respect as a top-tier character actress, garnering two Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) and Of Human Hearts (1938),as well as an Emmy Award in 1976 for her performance in The Waltons (1972).
Born Beulah Bondy on May 3, 1888, in Chicago, Bondi initially established herself as a stage actress. She made her Broadway debut in Kenneth S. Webb's "One of the Family" at the 49th Street Theatre on December 21, 1925. The show ran for 238 performances, followed by another hit, Maxwell Anderson's "Saturday's Children," which lasted for 326 performances. She appeared in her first flop, Clemence Dane's "Mariners," in 1927, before starring in Philip Barry's and Elmer Rice's "Cock Robin" in 1928, which reached the century mark (100 performances). However, it was her performance in Rice's "Street Scene" that catapulted her to stardom. This Pulitzer Prize-winning play opened at the Playhouse Theatre on January 10, 1929, and ran for 601 performances. Bondi's role in the play brought her to the movies at the age of 43.
Bondi continued to appear on Broadway until 1934, with only one notable success, "The Late Christopher Bean," a comedy by Sidney Howard. Her last Broadway appearance for nearly three decades was in the flop "Mother Lode" (1934). She made two more appearances on the Great White Way in the 1950s, but neither was a success. For the remainder of her career, she focused primarily on film and television.
Bondi was often typecast as mothers and grandmothers, and played James Stewart's mother four times, most famously as "Ma Bailey" in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Her most iconic role is considered her turn in Leo McCarey's Depression-era melodrama Make Way for Tomorrow (1937),in which she played a mother abandoned by her children.
Beulah Bondi passed away on January 1, 1981, at the age of 92, due to complications from an accident, when she broke her ribs after falling over her cat.
