Aileen Stanley Jr.'s mother, Mabel Albertson, embarked on a remarkable movie and TV career at the age of 50, when she landed the supporting role of Mrs. Carter in a Warner Bros. Technicolor musical romance.
Little did Mabel know that she was about to shine as the ultimate haughty judgmental mother-in-law, mother, stepmother, or auntie in a series of films, TV films, and TV series episodes.
Mabel's comic gifts enabled her to bring these often obnoxious characters to life, making them hilarious and memorable.
She is indeed unforgettable as Jerry Lewis' mother-in-law in Don't Give Up the Ship (1959),George Hamilton's mother in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960),and the domineering mother-in-law of poor Anthony Franciosa in Period of Adjustment (1962).
On television, Tom Ewell, Dick Van Dyke, and Dick Sargent, among others, were given the same treatment by their screen mother.
Despite being 50 years old, Mabel was no newcomer to the business. In the 1920s, she was a successful vaudeville performer, a radio star in the 1930s, and a theater actress and director in the 1940s.
She had previously attempted her hand in films twice, in 1928 and 1940, but without much success. Ironically, it was the film business that had previously rejected her which would make her unforgettable from the early 1950s to the late 1970s, when Alzheimer's Disease brought an end to a long and fruitful career.
