Mary Boland

Mary Boland, born Marie Anne Boland on January 28, 1882, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American stage and film actress whose Broadway career spanned from 1907 to 1954. She was the daughter of repertory actor William Augustus Boland and his wife, Mary Cecilia Hatton, and had an older sister named Sara. The family relocated to Detroit, where Boland attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She left school at fifteen to perform on stage, and by 1901 had joined a local stock theater company.

Boland made her Broadway debut in 1907 in The Ranger, opposite Dustin Farnum. Over the following years she appeared in eleven Broadway productions, establishing herself as the leading lady of John Drew both in New York and on tour. She made her silent film debut for Triangle Studios in 1915, and during World War I she traveled to France to entertain soldiers before returning to the United States. After completing nine films, she stepped away from Hollywood in 1920 and resumed her stage career, appearing in productions including The Torch-Bearers in 1922.

Her most celebrated stage achievement of the 1920s was the comedy Cradle Snatchers, which ran from 1925 to 1926. In the production, Boland appeared alongside Edna May Oliver and Margaret Dale as a wife who, after being abandoned by her husband, takes on a young lover. That young lover was played by Humphrey Bogart in one of his earliest roles. Boland and Bogart had previously shared the stage in the 1923 comedy Meet the Wife at the Klaw Theatre, where she played the role of Gertrude Lennox. Cradle Snatchers proved instrumental in defining the comedic persona Boland would carry throughout the rest of her career.

Following an eleven-year absence from Hollywood, Boland returned to film in 1931 under contract to Paramount Pictures, achieving considerably greater success than in her silent film years. She became one of the most popular character actresses of the 1930s, frequently starring opposite Charles Ruggles in a series of comedies. Among her most recognized film performances were her portrayal of Countess DeLave in The Women in 1939 and Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice in 1940. Her other film credits include Ruggles of Red Gap, The Big Broadcast of 1936, Danger - Love at Work, Nothing but Trouble, and Julia Misbehaves.

Throughout the latter portion of her career, Boland continued to work across stage, film, and television. On Broadway, she starred in the 1935 Cole Porter musical Jubilee and appeared in additional productions including Facing the Music, Open House, The Lullaby, and Much Ado About Everything. In 1948 she appeared in One Fine Day alongside Charles Ruggles. Her final Broadway appearance came in 1954, at the age of seventy-two, in the play Lullaby. Her last acting credit was a 1955 television adaptation of The Women, in which she reprised her film role of Countess DeLave.

Boland holds a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6150 Hollywood Boulevard, recognizing her contributions to film. She died of a heart attack on June 23, 1965, at her home in New York and was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Vespers.