Margaret Hamilton
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Margaret Hamilton |
Bucks County Playhouse productions
Hay Fever - Clara - 1965
Internet Movie Database - Margaret Hamilton
Internet Broadway Database - Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton
(1902 - 1985)
Margaret Hamilton Meserve was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, the youngest of four children and obtained her teaching certificate in 1923 from the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School in Boston.
On June 13, 1931, Margaret Hamilton married Paul Boynton Meserve, a landscape architect. Together they had one son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve. The marriage ended in divorce in 1938 and Margaret raised her son alone in California.
For nearly fifteen years, Margaret Hamilton lived in Los Angeles, California before establishing permanent residence in New York City in 1951. Wherever her home was, she regularly traveled back and forth between coasts to perform in both movies and the theatre and later in television.
Among her other accomplishments, Margaret Hamilton was an honorary trustee of the Cleveland Play House and was the recipient in 1977 of the Governor's Award of the State of Ohio. She was also a member of the Veterans Hospital Radio and TV Guild. She would visit hospitals to work with disabled veterans interested in the theatre and broadcasting.
Margaret Hamilton's performances included some seventy-five movies, at least as many stage plays, countless radio and television dramas, and even television commercials. Her most famous roles were as Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in MGM's 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz" and as television's Cora, the New England storekeeper who sold Maxwell House coffee.
Margaret Hamilton had already played in some twenty-five films before she accepted the role of Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz". Margaret Hamilton once said this about her role as the Wicked Witch, "I don't look on it as any great shakes of acting," she explained to Al Cohn in an interview for Newsday (March 19, 1978). "It's not subtle or restrained. It isn't any of the things you like to think might apply to your acting."
Some other memorable films that Margaret Hamilton appeared in after "The Wizard of Oz" included: "My Little Chickadee", "The Oxbow Incident", "Guest in the House","George White's Scandals", "State of the Union", "The Red Pony", "The Beautiful Blonde", "Bashful Bend", "13 Ghosts" and "Brewster McCloud".
One of Margaret Hamilton's assets as a character actress has been her distinctive nose, whose bump she inherited from her father.
Margaret Hamilton once told Robert C. Roman in an interview for After Dark Magazine that the The Wizard of Oz keeps coming back every year "because it's such a beautiful film. I don't think any of us knew how lovely it was at first. But, after a while, we all began to feel it coming together--and knew we had something. I can watch it again and again and remember wonderful Judy, Bert, Ray, Jack, Billie, Frank and how wonderful they all were. The scene that always gets to me, though, and I think it's one of the most appealing scenes I've ever seen, is the one where the Wizard gives the gifts to them at the end. Frank [Morgan] was just like that as a person. And every time I see him do it, the tears come to my eyes. I listen to the words. I think of Frank, and I know how much he meant what he said, and how much the words themselves mean."
Margaret Hamilton's role as the Wicked Witch of the West is loved by many Oz fans. As a result, she was frequently called upon to reflect on her experiences in MGM's classic film. Two such examples are introductions that Margaret wrote for the following books: "The Wizard of Oz" by L.Frank Baum, beautifully illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt, published by The Unicorn Publishing House in 1985 just before her death. And, the 1977 edition of "The Making of The Wizard of Oz" by Aljean Harmetz.
Margaret Hamilton's enormous stage and screen presence far outweighed her physical stature as she stood only five feet tall and weighed only 115 pounds.
Margaret Hamilton died May 16, 1985 from a heart attack in a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Thank you to James R. Whitcomb for providing this Margaret Hamilton timeline. Please visit his web site at A Tribute to my Favorite Oz Character.