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IMDbPro

Beulah Bondi(1889-1981)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Beulah Bondi
Shocking events at a summer resort in this trailer
Play trailer3:10
A Summer Place (1959)
14 Videos
94 Photos
Character actress Beulah Bondi was a favorite of directors and audiences and is one of the reasons so many films from the 1930s and 1940s remain so enjoyable, as she was an integral part of many of the ensemble casts (a hallmark of the studio system) of major and/or great films, including The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Our Town (1940) and Penny Serenade (1941). Highly respected as a first-tier character actress, Bondi won two Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations, for The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) and Of Human Hearts (1938), and an Emmy Award in 1976 for her turn in the television program The Waltons (1972).

She was born Beulah Bondy on May 3, 1888, in Chicago, and established herself as a stage actress in the first phase of her career. 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 was a modest hit, racking up 238 performances. She next appeared in another hit, Maxwell Anderson's "Saturday's Children," which ran for 326 performances, before appearing in her first flop, Clemence Dane's "Mariners" in 1927. Philip Barry's and Elmer Rice's "Cock Robin" was an extremely modest hit in 1928, reaching the century mark (100 performances), but it was Bondi's performance in Rice's "Street Scene," which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on Jamuary 10, 1929, that made her career. This famous play won Rice the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was a big hit, playing for 601 performances. Most importantly, though, it brought Bondi to the movies at the advanced age of 43. She made her motion picture debut in 1931 in the movie adaptation (Street Scene (1931)), recreating the role she had originated on the Broadway stage. The talkies were still new, and she had the talent and the voice to thrive in Hollywood.

Bondi appeared in four more Broadway plays from 1931 to 1934, only one of which, "The Late Christopher Bean", a comedy by Sidney Howard, was a hit. Her last appearance on Broadway for a generation was in a flop staged by Melvyn Douglas, "Mother Lode" (she made two more appearances on the Great White Way, in "Hilda Crane" (1950) and "On Borrowed Time" in 1953; neither was a success). For the rest of her professional life, her career lay primarily in film and television.

She was typecast as mothers and, later, grandmothers, and played James Stewart's mother four times, most famously as "Ma Bailey" in It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Her greatest 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 died on January 1, 1981, from complications from an accident, when she broke her ribs after falling over her cat. She was 92 years old.
BornMay 3, 1889
DiedJanuary 11, 1981(91)
BornMay 3, 1889
DiedJanuary 11, 1981(91)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 2 Oscars

Photos94

Bette Davis and Beulah Bondi in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Beulah Bondi and Lucile Watson in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Beulah Bondi, Donald Buka, Eric Roberts, and Janis Wilson in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Bette Davis and Beulah Bondi in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Beulah Bondi and Lucile Watson in Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Alan Hale and Beulah Bondi in The Good Fairy (1935)
Beulah Bondi in The Good Fairy (1935)
Beulah Bondi in Reign of Terror (1949)
Arlene Dahl, Beulah Bondi, and Robert Cummings in Reign of Terror (1949)
Beulah Bondi in Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Beulah Bondi and Victor Moore in Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Beulah Bondi and Victor Moore in Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Known for

James Stewart and Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
It's a Wonderful Life
8.6
  • Mrs. Bailey
  • 1946
James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Beulah Bondi, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, and Eugene Pallette in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
8.1
  • Ma Smith
  • 1939
Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Victor Moore, and Barbara Read in Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Make Way for Tomorrow
8.2
  • Lucy Cooper
  • 1937
William Collier Jr. and Sylvia Sidney in Street Scene (1931)
Street Scene
7.6
  • Emma Jones
  • 1931

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • The Waltons (1972)
    The Waltons
  • Lincoln (1974)
    Lincoln
  • Jeanette Nolan in Dirty Sally (1974)
    Dirty Sally
  • Patty Duke in She Waits (1972)
    She Waits
  • James Stewart and Julie Adams in The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971)
    The Jimmy Stewart Show
  • Perry Mason (1957)
    Perry Mason
  • Sandra Dee and Peter Fonda in Tammy and the Doctor (1963)
    Tammy and the Doctor
  • Fred Astaire in Alcoa Premiere (1961)
    Alcoa Premiere
  • The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962)
    The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
  • George Maharis and Martin Milner in Route 66 (1960)
    Route 66
  • Sandra Dee and John Gavin in Tammy Tell Me True (1961)
    Tammy Tell Me True
  • The Best of the Post (1960)
    The Best of the Post
  • John McIntire in Wagon Train (1957)
    Wagon Train
  • Georgine Darcy and Roger Perry in Harrigan and Son (1960)
    Harrigan and Son
  • Walter Matthau in Play of the Week (1959)
    Play of the Week

Soundtrack

  • Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in Remember the Night (1940)
    Remember the Night
    • (uncredited)

Videos14

It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:37
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:46
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 1:07
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
Clip 0:55
It's a Wonderful Life
So Dear To My Heart
Clip 1:09
So Dear To My Heart
So Dear To My Heart
Clip 1:31
So Dear To My Heart
Trailer
Trailer 2:48
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 0:32
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:58
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:10
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:47
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:13
Official Trailer

Personal details

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    • May 3, 1889
    • Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • January 11, 1981
    • Woodland Hills, California, USA(pulmonary complications due to broken ribs she suffered in a fall)
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Portrayal
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Died in her California home of injuries she sustained after tripping over her cat.
  • Quotes
    I'm very cooperative, and if you'll just tell me exactly what you want, I'll always try to do it.
    • Often played kind if ill-fated mothers

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