Constance Purdy
Constance Purdy | |
|---|---|
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1934–1952 |
Constance Purdy (August 3, 1887 – April 1, 1960) was an
film actress and classical music performer.[1]
Early life
Purdy was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, on August 3, 1887, to American railroad executive Thomas C. Purdy and Janet Campbell Purdy.[2] As a young girl she reportedly sang for Tsar Nicholas in Russia. At the age of 16 Purdy studied voice in Paris, rooming with future opera diva and film actress Geraldine Farrar,[3] before embarking on a career as a contralto singer, lecturer, and translator of traditional Russian songs. Her friend and personal representative Mabel F. Hammond,[4] often accompanied her on piano.[5]
Career
Purdy did not enter into film acting until 1934, with her first appearance, uncredited, being in the film Pursued starring
television series appearance. She appeared in a 1951 episode of the TV series The Lone Ranger entitled "Trouble at Black Rock." During this period Purdy remained active in music circles, teaming up with Grace Widney Mabee,[6] chair of the National Film Music Council, to launch Film Music Notes,[7] and serving as the journal's co-editor.[8][9]
Death
Purdy retired after 1952, and was living in
Los Angeles at the time of her death on April 1, 1960, aged 72. Her gravesite is at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.[10]
Partial filmography
- Pursued (1934) - Tourist Welfare Worker (uncredited)
- Thunder in the Night (1935) - Cafe Owner's Wife (uncredited)
- Star for a Night (1936) - Townswoman (uncredited)
- Lloyd's of London (1936) - Singer (uncredited)
- The Bashful Bachelor (1942) - Widder Abernathy
- Rings on Her Fingers (1942) - Shopper (uncredited)
- Hi, Neighbor (1942) - Mrs. Wilson (uncredited)
- Now, Voyager (1942) - Rosa (uncredited)
- Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - Mrs. Martin (uncredited)
- The Powers Girl (1943) - School Board Member (uncredited)
- Air Raid Wardens (1943) - Disturbed Sleeper (uncredited)
- White Savage (1943) - Blossom
- Doughboys in Ireland (1943) - Miss Wood (uncredited)
- My Kingdom for a Cook (1943) - Woman in Employment Office (uncredited)
- Flesh and Fantasy (1943) - Sally (uncredited)
- Swing Out the Blues (1943) - Mrs. Ridgeway (uncredited)
- True to Life (1943) - Woman in Subway (uncredited)
- This Is the Life (1944) - Mrs. Ferguson (uncredited)
- Going My Way (1944) - Mrs. Quimp's Neighbor at Window (uncredited)
- Sensations of 1945 (1944) - Mme. Angostina (uncredited)
- Double Indemnity (1944) - Shopper in Market (uncredited)
- Louisiana Hayride (1944) - Mrs. Vandergrift (uncredited)
- Summer Storm (1944) - (uncredited)
- The National Barn Dance (1944) - Opera Singer (uncredited)
- My Buddy (1944) - Woman (uncredited)
- One Mysterious Night (1944) - Woman in Daley's Office (uncredited)
- And Now Tomorrow (1944) - Carrie (uncredited)
- Together Again (1944) - Fat Townswoman (uncredited)
- Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945) - Woman in Ladies Spa (uncredited)
- Roughly Speaking (1945) - Tub Customer (uncredited)
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) - (uncredited)
- Swing Out, Sister (1945) - Mrs. Bradstreet
- Bedside Manner (1945) - Mrs. Moriarty (uncredited)
- Penthouse Rhythm (1945) - Party Guest (uncredited)
- Rhapsody in Blue (1945) - Party Guest (uncredited)
- Love Letters (1945) - Fat Old Hag (uncredited)
- Men in Her Diary (1945) - Mrs. Williams (uncredited)
- This Love of Ours (1945) - Character Woman (uncredited)
- Spellbound (1945) - Dr. Brulov's Housekeeper (uncredited)
- Scarlet Street (1945) - Matron (uncredited)
- Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) - Mrs. Gerrity (uncredited)
- Cluny Brown (1946) - Onlooker Outside Bookstore (uncredited)
- One Exciting Week (1946) - Mrs. Lumley (uncredited)
- Vacation in Reno (1946) - Eleanor's Mother (uncredited)
- The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947) - Sarah Glidden (uncredited)
- Living in a Big Way (1947) - Committee Woman (uncredited)
- Unconquered (1947) - Fat Mother at the Ball (uncredited)
- Song of Love (1947) - Mrs. Hein (uncredited)
- Merton of the Movies (1947) - Landlady (uncredited)
- That Hagen Girl (1947) - Ruth Laverty - Gossip (uncredited)
- Jiggs and Maggie in Society (1947) - Mrs. Kelsey Chelsae Blackwell
- I Remember Mama (1948) - Fat Night Nurse (uncredited)
- Hollow Triumph (1948) - Mrs. Neyhmer (uncredited)
- Family Honeymoon (1948) - Helen Hockinson (uncredited)
- In the Good Old Summertime (1949) - Gushing Woman (uncredited)
- Madame Bovary (1949) - Mme. Foulard (uncredited)
- Love Happy (1949) - Woman with Chihuahua Dog (uncredited)
- Blonde Dynamite (1950) - Second Dowager at Opera
- Please Believe Me (1950) - Fat Woman (uncredited)
- Pretty Baby (1950) - Stout Lady (uncredited)
- The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) - Guest (uncredited)
References
- ^ Campbell, Viola Vaille (Barnes) (1914). "An Exponent of American and Russian Songs". The Musical Monitor. 4. Mrs David Allen Campbell, Publisher: 316.
- ^ Who's Who in Railroading in North America. Vol. 96. Simmons-Boardman. 1906. p. 486.
- ^ "Opera Star, 1903 S.B. Queen, At Opening of Civic Light Opera". CDNC. San Bernardino County. May 10, 1959. p. 37.
- ^ National Federation of Music Clubs, ed. (1916). "Constance Purdy and Russian Music". The Musical Monitor. 6. Mrs David Allen Campbell, Publisher: 14, 233.
- ^ Constance Purdy (1916). "Costume Recital". The Musical Monitor. 6. Mrs David Allen Campbell, Publisher: 366.
- ^ "Grace Widney Mabee". Pacific Coast Musical Review. 42. A Metzger: 140. 1922.
- S2CID 221047389.
- ^ Film Music Notes. Vol. IX. New York. 1949. pp. 5ff.
- ^ Jack Alicoate, ed. (1945). The 1945 Film Daily Year Book of Motion Pictures. The Film Daily Year Book. Vol. 27 (Annual ed.). p. 746.
- ISBN 9780786450190. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
External links
- Constance Purdy at IMDb
- Constance Purdy at Find a Grave