Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.

Early life Mildred Natwick was born on June 19, 1905, in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mildred Marion (née Dawes) and Joseph Natwick of Wisconsin. Her father was a sawmill baron and dairy farmer who owned Dunloggin Dairy Farm. He established the farm on land that was cleared of its white oaks; the community of Dunloggin in Ellicott City, Maryland, was so named because Natwick was "done logging" the land. Her grandfather, Ole Natwick, was one of the earliest Norwegian immigrants to the United States, arriving in Wisconsin in 1847. Her first cousin was animator and cartoonist Grim Natwick. Natwick attended the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore and later graduated from Bennett College.

Career Natwick began performing on the stage at age 21 with "The Vagabonds", a non-professional theatre group in Baltimore. She soon joined the University Players on Cape Cod. Natwick made her Broadway debut in 1932 playing Mrs. Noble in Frank McGrath's play Carry Nation, about the famous temperance crusader Carrie Nation. Throughout the 1930s she starred in a number of plays, frequently collaborating with friend and actor-director-playwright Joshua Logan. On Broadway, she played "Prossy" in Katharine Cornell's production of Candida. She made her film debut in John Ford's The Long Voyage Home as a Cockney slattern, and portrayed the landlady in The Enchanted Cottage (1945).

Natwick is remembered for small but memorable roles in several John Ford film classics, including 3 Godfathers (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), and The Quiet Man (1952). She played Miss Ivy Gravely, in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry (1955), and a sorceress in The Court Jester (1956).

She continued to appear onstage, and made regular guest appearances in television series. On May 30, 1950, she starred in "Listen, Listen" on Suspense.

She was twice nominated for Tony Awards: in 1957 for The Waltz of the Toreadors, the same year she also starred in Tammy and the Bachelor with Debbie Reynolds and Leslie Nielsen and in 1972 for the musical 70 Girls 70. She returned to film in Barefoot in the Park (1967) as the mother of the character played by Jane Fonda. The role earned Natwick her only Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting actress. One of Natwick's memorable roles was in The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972), which starred Jason Robards and Lisa Lucas. The program's success spawned three sequels: The Thanksgiving Treasure, The Easter Promise, and Addie and The King of Hearts.

In 1971, Natwick co-starred with Helen Hayes in the ABC Movie of the Week, Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate, in which their characters worked together as amateur sleuths. The success of that telefilm resulted in a similar team-up the next year, portraying two mystery-writing and solving sisters; this spawned the 1973-74 series The Snoop Sisters, which was part of The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie. For her performance, Natwick won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. In 1981, Natwick joined Hayes as the first members of the Board of Advisors to the Riverside Shakespeare Company. Both attended and supported several fund raisers for that off-Broadway theatre company.

She guest-starred on such television series as McMillan & Wife, Family, Alice, The Love Boat, Hawaii Five-O, The Bob Newhart Show and Murder, She Wrote. She made her final film appearance at age 83 in the historical drama Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

Personal life and death Natwick, who never married or had children, lived in a duplex on Park Avenue in Manhattan for the majority of her life. She was a devout Christian Scientist.

On October 25, 1994, Natwick died of cancer at her home in Manhattan at age 89. She is interred at Lorraine Park Cemetery in Baltimore.

Broadway credits Date Production Role Notes October 29 – November 1932 Carry Nation Mrs. Noble September 27 – October 1933 Amourette Drusilla Thorpe October 24 – November 1933 Spring in Autumn Pura February 1 – May 1934 The Wind and the Rain Mrs. McFie September 25, 1934 – February 1935 The Distaff Side Mrs. Venables November 7 – November 1935 Mrs. Venables May Beringer February 17, 1936 – June 1936 End of Summer Mrs. Wyle September 1 – November 1, 1936 Love from a Stranger Ethel March 10 – May 8, 1937 Candida Miss Proserpine Garnett September 29, 1937 – April 1938 The Star-Wagon Mrs. Rutledge September 19 – October 1938 Missouri Legend The Widow Weeks February 9 – May 27, 1939 Stars In Your Eyes Bess December 27–30, 1939 Christmas Eve Mother McGlory January 2–4, 1941 The Lady Who Came to Stay Milly November 5, 1941 – June 5, 1943 Blithe Spirit Madame Arcati April 27 – May 31, 1942 Candida Miss Proserpine Garnett Revival September 6 – October 2, 1943 Blithe Spirit Madame Arcati April 3 – May 2, 1946 Candida Miss Proserpine Garnett Revival October 26, 1946 – January 4, 1947 The Playboy of the Western World Widow Quin March 27 – April 26, 1952 The Grass Harp Dolly Talbo January 17 – May 11, 1957 The Waltz of the Toreadors Mme. St. Pé Nominated—Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play February 20–22, 1958 The Day the Money Stopped Kathie Morrow April 30 – May 31, 1958 The Firstborn Miriam March 2–19, 1960 The Good Soup Marie-Paule and Armand's Mother, Angele December 14, 1960 – May 27, 1961 Critic's Choice Charlotte Orr October 23, 1963 - June 25, 1967 Barefoot in the Park Mrs. Banks November 27 – December 27, 1969 Our Town Mrs. Gibbs April 15 – May 15, 1971 70, Girls, 70 Ida Dodd Nominated—Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical March 29 – November 24, 1979 Bedroom Farce Delia Replacement

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1940 The Long Voyage Home Freda 1945 The Enchanted Cottage Mrs. Abigail Minnett Yolanda and the Thief Aunt Amarilla 1947 The Late George Apley Amelia Newcombe 1948 A Woman's Vengeance Nurse Caroline Braddock The Kissing Bandit Isabella 3 Godfathers The Mother 1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon Abby Allshard 1950 Cheaper by the Dozen Mrs. Mebane 1952 The Quiet Man The Widow Sarah Tillane Against All Flags Molvina MacGregor 1955 The Trouble with Harry Miss Ivy Gravely The Court Jester Griselda 1956 Teenage Rebel Grace Hewitt 1957 Tammy and the Bachelor Aunt Renie 1967 Barefoot in the Park Ethel Banks Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress1969 If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Jenny Grant The Maltese Bippy Molly Fletcher Trilogy Miss Miller Segment: "Miriam"1974 Daisy Miller Mrs. Costello 1975 At Long Last Love Mabel Pritchard 1982 Kiss Me Goodbye Mrs. Reilly 1988 Dangerous Liaisons Madame de Rosemonde Final film role

Partial television credits Year Title Role Notes1949 Starring Boris Karloff Episode: "Five Golden Guineas"1950 Starlight Theatre 2 episodes1950 Somerset Maugham TV Theatre Mrs. Albert Forrester Episode: "The Creative Impulse"1953 Lux Video Theatre Mrs. Boyd Episode: "The Brooch"1954 You Are There Mary, Queen of Scots Episode: "The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots"1956 Ford Star Jubilee Madame Arcati Episode: "Blithe Spirit"1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Aunt Rosalie Tallendier Season 1 Episode 24: "The Perfect Murder"1958 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Millicent Bracegirdle Season 3 Episode 18: "Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty"1961 Naked City Irma MahoneyEpisode: "Take and Put"1962 Arsenic & Old Lace Martha Brewster TV movie1969 Bonanza Mrs. Wharton Episode: "Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds"1971 The Most Deadly Game Janet McLeod Episode: "I, Said the Sparrow"1971 Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate Shelby Saunders ABC Movie of the Week1972 The House Without a Christmas Tree Grandma Mills TV movie1973 Money to Burn Emily Finnegan ABC Movie of the Week1973 The Thanksgiving Treasure Grandma Mills TV movie1973–1974 The Snoop Sisters Gwendolyn Snoop Nicholson 4 episodes1975 McMillan & Wife Beatrice McMillan 2 episodes1976 Family Hattie Episode: "A Right and Proper Goodbye"1977 The Bob Newhart Show Grace Dubois Episode: "A Girl in Her Twenties"1978–1979 Hawaii Five-O Millicent Shand 2 episodes1978 Little Women Aunt Kathryn March TV miniseries1980 Alice Aunt Agatha Episode: "Vera's Aunt Agatha"1981 Trapper John, M.D. Grandma Episode: "Is There a Doctor in the Big House?"1982 Maid in America Mrs. Angstrom TV movie1983 Magnum, P.I. Madge LaSalle Episode: "Limited Engagement" 1985 Hardcastle and McCormick May Hardcastle Episode: "Hardcastle, Hardcastle, Hardcastle and McCormick"1986 Murder, She Wrote Carrie McKittrick Episode: "Murder in the Electric Cathedral "1987 Deadly Deception Sarah Cleason TV movie

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Primetime Emmy Awards Best Supporting Performance by an Actress Blithe Spirit <div style="text-align: center;">1957 Tony Awards Best Featured Actress in a Play The Waltz of the Toreadors <div style="text-align: center;">1972 Best Actress in a Musical 70, Girls, 70 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Barefoot in the Park Laurel Awards Best Female Supporting Performance 1974 Primetime Emmy Awards Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series The Snoop Sisters

References

External links

Mildred Natwick papers, 1932-1985, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts