Janet Beecher

Janet Beecher, born Janet Meysenberg on October 21, 1884, in Jefferson City, Missouri, was an American actress whose career spanned both the Broadway stage and Hollywood film. Her father, E. A. Von Meysenburg, served as a vice-consul for Germany, a circumstance that brought the family to Chicago, where Beecher grew up. Her sister was actress Olive Wyndham, and the two sisters were connected through their mother's side of the family to author Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Beecher's Broadway career extended from 1905 to 1944, encompassing roles as both a supporting player and a lead. She made her debut on the New York stage in The Education of Mr. Pipp in 1905 and went on to appear in a wide range of productions over the following four decades. Among her Broadway credits were The Lottery Man (1909), The Concert (1910), The Purple Road (1913), Fair and Warmer (1915), The Woman in Room 13 (1919), Call the Doctor (1920), A Bill of Divorcement (1921), The Love Child (1922), A Kiss in a Taxi (1925), Courage (1928), Slightly Scandalous, The Great Adventure, and Woman of the Year. Her final Broadway appearance came in The Late George Apley in 1944.

Alongside her stage work, Beecher appeared in nearly fifty motion pictures between 1915 and 1943. She became a recognizable character actress during Hollywood's golden age, taking on the role of Ginger Rogers' mother in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Tyrone Power's mother in the adventure film The Mark of Zorro (1940), and Henry Fonda's mother in Preston Sturges' screwball comedy The Lady Eve (1941). After retiring from film in 1943, she made one additional screen appearance in the television series Lux Video Theatre in 1952.

Beecher was married twice, first to Harry R. Guggenheimer and subsequently to Richard H. Hoffman, with whom she had a son named Richard. Her second marriage ended in divorce following a prolonged dispute centered on the practice of automatic writing. Beecher's mother, Mrs. Oral J. Wyndham, produced written messages she attributed to spirits, a claim Hoffman rejected as the product of Wyndham's subconscious. After six years of marriage, both parties filed for separation, citing the contested messages as well as disagreements over the role of religion in raising their son. Beecher, her sister, and their mother were all members of the Unity Scientific Christianity Association. The presiding judge noted in granting the divorce that the spirit writing and its contents had materially affected the household, with some messages directly criticizing Hoffman's character and conduct.

Beecher died on August 6, 1955, at her sister's home in Washington, Connecticut, at the age of 70.