Aline MacMahon
Biography
Aline MacMahon was an American actress whose stage, film, and television career lasted more than fifty years. Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, she was raised there and in Brooklyn, and received early training in elocution. She made her Broadway debut in 1920 in a minor part in The Mirage, an Edgar Selwyn drama, and later appeared in over thirty Broadway productions, among them Beyond the Horizon, The Confidential Clerk, and All the Way Home. After traveling to Los Angeles in the road company of Once in a Lifetime, she was spotted by director Mervyn LeRoy and made her screen debut in Five Star Final (1931). Under a long-term contract with Warner, she often played acerbic comic characters or women unlucky in love. She earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Dragon Seed (1944) and was a pioneering Method actor. She retired in 1975.
92years old at death
- Born McKeesport
- Died New York City
- Star sign: TaurusThe sign runs April 20 to May 20
- Also credited as Aline Laveen MacMahon
Movie Career
- Films
- 10
- Career span
- 29 years1931 to 1960
First and latest
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A role that slipped away
The part of O-Lan in The Good Earth (1937) went to Luise Rainer instead of MacMahon, and Rainer's performance in it earned her an Academy Award. MacMahon called losing that starring role her biggest professional regret.
Big break
MacMahon was noticed by Warner Bros. director Mervyn LeRoy while touring in Once in a Lifetime, which led to her film debut in Five Star Final in 1931.
Early training
MacMahon studied acting in Barnard College's theater program, Wigs and Cues, run by her first great mentor Minor Latham, and appeared in nearly every program the school mounted in her four years.
First role
In 1920, MacMahon first appeared on Broadway, uncredited, playing a debutante who shoots craps in Edgar Selwyn's drama The Mirage.
Aline MacMahon movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Anthony Mann directed two of these films, Mervyn LeRoy two. Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Jerome Cowan's page
Anne Baxter's page
Robert Elliott's page
Anthony MannDirector, 2 films, 1955 to 1960
All films by Anthony Mann
Mervyn LeRoyDirector, 2 films, 1931 to 1933
All films by Mervyn LeRoy
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.