Nana Bryant

Nana Irene Bryant (November 23, 1888 – December 24, 1955) was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she went on to accumulate credits across more than four decades of professional performance.

Bryant's early career included work with stock companies in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as several seasons on tour. Her first documented musical role came on October 1, 1912, when she appeared as Sylvia, Anthony Bridwell's daughter, in The Man Who Owns Broadway at Morosco's Burbank Theatre, a production staged by David M. Hartford. In that role she performed "Song of the Soul" in the first act, as well as "I'm in Love with One of the Stars," and was accompanied by Sophia Caldwell of Wheeling, West Virginia, who was at the time studying for the opera.

Her Broadway career extended from 1924 to 1945 and encompassed productions in both the dramatic and musical repertoire. Her earliest verified Broadway credit was the 1924 play The Firebrand, followed by No More Women, The Wild Rose, and The Padre, all in 1926. In subsequent years she appeared in Heigh-Ho, Everybody, The Stork is Dead, and The Dubarry in 1932, then The First Apple in 1933, and A Ship Comes In and Baby Pompadour in 1934. Her final Broadway credit was Marriage Is for Single People in 1945. Among her most notable stage roles was Morgan le Fay in Rodgers and Hart's musical A Connecticut Yankee.

Bryant transitioned to film work and appeared in more than 100 pictures between 1935 and 1955. In radio, she held a supporting role on the Frank Morgan Show in 1946, which served as a summer replacement for Jack Benny's program. Her television work included the role of Connie's mother on The First Hundred Years, Mrs. Nestor on Our Miss Brooks, and a recurring role as the mother of Margaret Williams, played by Jean Hagen, during the first three seasons of Make Room for Daddy.

Bryant was married to writer Ted MacLean. Her personal papers, covering the years 1917 to 1955, are held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. She died in Hollywood, California, on December 24, 1955, at the age of 67.