Madge Kennedy

Madge Kennedy built a career across stage, silent films, and television, beginning on Broadway in 1912. Born in Chicago, she made her Broadway debut in the farce Little Miss Brown and critics praised her comic ability. She scored a major hit in the 1915 farce Fair and Warmer, and later played opposite W.C. Fields in Poppy and starred in Paris Bound and Private Lives. Goldwyn Pictures signed her in 1917, and she appeared in a run of silent features. She returned to the screen in The Marrying Kind (1952) and went on to roles in The Catered Affair (1956), Lust for Life (1956), Houseboat (1958), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), and The Day of the Locust (1975). On television, she had a recurring part as Aunt Martha on Leave It to Beaver and guest roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. In 1960 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.