Katherine Emery

Katherine Drewry Emery (October 11, 1906 – February 7, 1980) was an American actress who worked in both stage and film. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, where she acted in semi-professional productions and directed plays for children before pursuing a professional career. She graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1928 and made her professional debut in 1932 with the University Players in West Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Emery's Broadway career spanned from 1932 to 1944 and included a range of dramatic productions. Among her most significant stage achievements was creating the role of Karen Wright in the original 1934 Broadway production of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. Her additional Broadway credits included The Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters, Proof Thro' the Night, Everywhere I Roam, Roosty, As You Like It, Strangers at Home, and Carry Nation.

Alongside her stage work, Emery built a substantial film career. Her screen credits include Eyes in the Night (1942), Isle of the Dead (1945), The Locket (1946), The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946), The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947), Arch of Triumph (1948), Chicken Every Sunday (1949), Strange Bargain (1949), Payment on Demand (1951), Hiawatha (1952), and Untamed Frontier (1952). Her final film appearance was in The Maze (1953).

In her personal life, Emery was married to literature professor Paul Conant Eaton. She was the mother of television and film producer Rebecca Eaton and James E. C. Eaton. Emery died on February 7, 1980, at a medical center in Portland, Maine, from lung disease at the age of 73.