Sarah Edwards
Known for: Acting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sarah Edwards (October 11, 1881 – January 7, 1965) was a Welsh-born American film and stage actress. She often played dowagers or spinsters in numerous Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in minor roles. Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular with West End theatre-goers".[1] She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in six Broadway plays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies like The Merry Malones by George M. Cohan. Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musical Glorifying the American Girl (1929), where she portrayed the mercenary mother of leading actress Mary Eaton. She came to Hollywood in the mid-1930s where she appeared in about 190 films until her retirement 1951, mostly in uncredited, small character roles. Sarah Edwards died in Hollywood in 1965, aged 83. Edwards seemed older than she was and often portrayed a "kindly grandmother, imperious dowager, hardy pioneer wife, ill-tempered teacher and strict governess". She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother of Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) in Frank Capra's film classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) who tries to keep her daughter away from George Bailey. Edwards also played a customer in Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with James Stewart. She also appeared in another Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife (1947) with Cary Grant, and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in the Charlie Chan movie Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944).
Filmography
Film
It's a Wonderful Life
Mrs. Hatch
1946
Film
Shadow of a Doubt
Doctor's Wife on Train (uncredited)
1943
Film
The Shop Around the Corner
Woman Customer
1940
Film
Bathing Beauty
Faculty Member (uncredited)
1944
Film
The Awful Truth
Lucy's Attorney's Wife (uncredited)
1937
Film
The Bishop's Wife
Mrs. Duffy
1947
Film
Undercurrent
Cora (uncredited)
1946
Film
The Verdict
Housekeeper (uncredited)
1946
Film
The Walking Dead
1936
Film
The Invisible Woman
Showroom Buyer (uncredited)
1940
Film
Carson City
Spinster on Stagecoach (uncredited)
1952
Film
The Cowboy and the Lady
Dinner Party Guest (uncredited)
1938
Film
Saratoga Trunk
Miss Diggs (uncredited)
1945
Film
Family Honeymoon
Mrs. Carp (uncredited)
1948
Film
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Annie Rucker (uncredited)
1939
Film
Young People
Mrs. Stinchfield
1940
Film
Lady on a Train
1945
Film
The Face Behind the Mask
Mrs. Perkins (uncredited)
1941
Film
Ruggles of Red Gap
Mrs. Myron Carey
1935
Film
Gold Is Where You Find It
Party Guest (uncredited)
1938
Film
Arise, My Love
Spinster (uncredited)
1940
Film
The Howards of Virginia
Neighbor Girl
1940
Film
I Wake Up Screaming
Customer (uncredited)
1941
Sweepstake Annie
Friend of Mrs. Foster (uncredited)
1935
Film
Strike Up the Band
Miss Hodges
1940
Film
It's in the Air
Old Maid (uncredited)
1935
Film
American Madness
Gossip on Phone (uncredited)
1932
Film
The Forest Rangers
Mrs. Hansen (uncredited)
1942
Film
The Fuller Brush Girl
Mrs. East (uncredited)
1950
Film
The Sons of the Pioneers
Housekeeper
1942
Film
Merrily We Live
Mrs. Fleming
1938
Film
The General Died at Dawn
Companion of American without Matches (uncredited)
1936
Film
H.M. Pulham, Esq.
Mrs. Motford - Kay's Mother (uncredited)
1941
Film
Theodora Goes Wild
Mrs. Moffat (uncredited)
1936
Film
One Foot in Heaven
Mrs. Spicer (uncredited)
1941
Film
Good News
Miss Pritchard (uncredited)
1947
Film
My Favorite Blonde
Mrs. Weatherwax (uncredited)
1942
Film
Palm Springs
Miss Pinchon
1936
Film
The Corn Is Green
Mrs. Watty's Friend (uncredited)
1945
Film
Miss Polly
Angie Turner
1941
Film
Apache Trail
Stagecoach Passenger (uncredited)
1942
Film
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service
Mrs. Hargue
1944
Film
Rings on Her Fingers
1942
Film
New Moon
Marquise della Rosa
1940
Film
Mr. District Attorney
Miss Petherby
1941
Film
Coast Guard
Florence (uncredited)
1939
Film
Early to Bed
Miss Barton
1936
Film
I Live My Life
Professor Douglas (Uncredited)
1935
Film
The Beloved Brat
School Board Member Miss Brundage
1938
Film
The Romance of Rosy Ridge
Mrs. Dessark (uncredited)
1947
Film
Love Is a Headache
Mrs. Warden, Fan from New Jersey (uncredited)
1938
Film
The Amazing Mr. Williams
Citizens Committee Woman (uncredited)
1939
Film
Three Loves Has Nancy
Autograph Session Chairwoman (uncredited)
1938
Film
Judge Hardy's Children
Miss Adams (uncredited)
1938
Film
The Shining Hour
Chairwoman of Morals Society (uncredited)
1938
Film
Unmarried
Mrs. Jones
1939
Film
Remember?
Lady in Revolving Door
1939
Film
It's Love I'm After
Mrs. Hinkle
1937
Film
Public Wedding
Mrs. Van Drexel
1937
Film
Little Men
Landlady
1940
Film
Lucky Cisco Kid
Spinster
1940
Film
Tom, Dick and Harry
Mrs. Burton (uncredited)
1941
Film
Wayward
Nurse (uncredited)
1932
Film
Two O'Clock Courage
Mrs. Tuttle (Patty's Landlady) (uncredited)
1945
Film
The Devil Thumbs a Ride
1947
Film
Girl on the Spot
Mrs. Richards (uncredited)
1946
Film
A Man to Remember
Clerk (uncredited)
1938
Film
Espionage Agent
Militant American Tourist
1939
Film
Persons in Hiding
Beauty Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
1939
Film
Sabotage
(uncredited)
1939
Film
Three Girls About Town
Clubwoman
1941
Film
Girls of the Big House
Dormitory Matron
1945
Film
Colleen
First Society Woman (uncredited)
1936
Film
Blondie Meets the Boss
Saleswoman (uncredited)
1939
Film
Dixie Dugan
Mrs. Kelly
1943
Film
All by Myself
Mrs. Vincent
1943
Film
Glorifying the American Girl
Mrs. Hughes
1929
Film
Two-Fisted Gentleman
Mrs. O'Shea
1936
Two Americans
1929
Film
Scattergood Survives a Murder
Selma Quentin
1942
Film
Varsity Show
Mrs. Biddle
1937
Film
Too Busy to Work
1939
Film
We're on the Jury
Evelyn Bottomley
1937
Film
Shadow of Doubt
Dowager in Taxi
1935
Film
The Main Street Kid
Mrs. Clauson
1948
Film
The Golden Arrow
Mrs. Lizzie Burke-Meyers
1936
Film
Song of Arizona
Dolly Finnuccin
1946
Film
Boy Trouble
Mrs. Moots
1939
Film
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
Mrs. Bradley
1944
Film
Stars Over Broadway
Woman Dancing with Fat Man
1935
Film
Curtain Call
Literary Committee Member
1940
Film
Women Are Like That
Mrs. Snell
1938
Film
Sunset in Wyoming
Susanna Hawkins Peabody
1941
Film
Big Business
Miss Collins - School Principal
1937
My Grandfather's Clock
Housekeeper (uncredited)
1934
Film
Dudes Are Pretty People
Miss Priddle
1942
Film
Woman Against Woman
Party Guest
1938
Film
Two-Fisted
Abigail Adams
1935
Film
Nearly Eighteen
Miss Perkins
1943
Film
Opened by Mistake
Mrs. Karff (uncredited)
1940
Film
Air Hostess
Bertha Hallum
1949
Film
Free, Blonde and 21
Undetermined Role
1940
Film
Storm Over Lisbon
Maude Perry-Tonides
1944
Film
A Doggone Mixup
1938
Film
People Will Talk
Martie Beemish
1935
Film
Meet Dr. Christian
Mrs. Minnows
1939
Film
The World Accuses
Lucille Weymouth
1934
Film
Allotment Wives
Sadie
1945
Film
Here I Am a Stranger
Chaperone at Dance
1939
Film
California Firebrand
Granny Hortense Mason
1948
Film
Drunk Driving
Driver (uncredited)
1939
Film
Henry Aldrich's Little Secret
Mrs. Bradley
1944
Film
Calling All Pa's
Grandma Vanderscnooze (uncredited)
1942