Moroni Olsen

Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889 – November 22, 1954) was an American actor born in Ogden, Utah, to Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha (née Hoverholst) Olsen, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His parents named him after the figure of Moroni from the Book of Mormon. His father served as Bishop of the Fourth Ward of Ogden.

Olsen received his early education at Weber Stake Academy, the institution that would later become Weber State University, before continuing his studies at the University of Utah, where Maud May Babcock was among his teachers. During World War I, he sold war bonds on behalf of the United States Navy while also studying and performing in the eastern United States. By 1920, he had taken a position teaching drama at the Cornish School in Seattle, Washington, the institution now known as Cornish College of the Arts. In 1923, he founded the Moroni Olsen Players, a company based in Ogden that performed at the city's Orpheum Theatre as well as at venues ranging from Salt Lake City to Seattle.

Olsen's Broadway career spanned from 1920 to 1935 and included appearances in several notable productions. He appeared in The Trial of Joan of Arc, Candida, Her Man of Wax, and The Barretts of Wimpole Street, among other productions. In the 1933 production of Mary of Scotland, he played the role of John Knox.

Following his Broadway work, Olsen made his film debut in a 1935 adaptation of The Three Musketeers, a story he would revisit in a 1939 comedy version starring Don Ameche as D'Artagnan and the Ritz Brothers. He went on to appear in scores of films throughout his career. Among his most recognized contributions was providing the voice of the Slave in the Magic Mirror in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. He also voiced the senior angel in It's a Wonderful Life. His on-screen roles included a Secret Service officer in Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 film Notorious, as well as the father-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor's character in the comedies Father of the Bride (1950) and Father's Little Dividend (1951).

An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Olsen served as a youth teacher in the Hollywood Ward. He also directed the Pilgrimage Play of Hollywood for several years. Olsen died of a heart attack on November 22, 1954, at the age of 65, and is buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.