May Robson

Mary Jeanette Robison (19 April 1858 – 20 October 1942), known professionally as May Robson, was an Australian-born America-based actress whose career spanned 58 years, starting in 1883 when she was 25. A major stage actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, she is remembered for the dozens of films she appeared in during the 1930s, when she was in her 70s.

Robson was the earliest-born person, and the first Australian to be nominated for an Academy Award (for her leading role in Lady for a Day in 1933).<ref name=Nissen184>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Academy Award nom">Template:Cite news</ref>

Early life

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May Robson carte de visite

Mary Jeanette Robison was born 19 April 1858 at Moama,Template:Efn in the Colony of New South Wales,<ref name="Town like Moama" />Template:Efn in what she described as "the Australian bush".<ref name=Theatre>Template:Cite journal</ref> She was the fourth child of Julia, née Schlesinger (or Schelesinger) and Henry Robison;<ref name=Berkshire>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=Nissen185/> her siblings were Williams, James and Adelaide.<ref name="Town like Moama">Template:Cite news</ref>

Henry Robison was born in Penrith, Cumberland, England<ref name="Master's certificate" /> and lived in Liverpool.<ref name="Melbourne shop" /> He served 24 years in the foreign trade of the British Merchant Navy as a mate and a sea captain.<ref name=Theatre /><ref name="Master's certificate">Template:Citation</ref> He retired at half-pay due to his poor health<ref name=Theatre /> and travelled with Julia Robison to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in 1853 on the SS Great Britain.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By April 1855, he was a watchmaker, jeweller, silversmith and ornamental hairworker in Melbourne.<ref name="Melbourne shop">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Robson, her parents both suffered from phthisis pulmonalis, and moved to "the bush" for their health.<ref name=Theatre /> Henry bought a large brick mansion in Moama, New South Wales in August 1857 and opened the Prince of Wales Hotel. From there, he co-operated Robison & Stivens, coach proprietors for the Bendigo-Moama-Deniliquin service.<ref name=Bendigo>Template:Cite news</ref> The hotel was Robson's first home.<ref name="Town like Moama" /> Henry died in Moama Maiden's Punt on 27 January 1860.<ref name="Henry's obit">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn

On 19 November 1862, Julia married Walter Moore Miller, solicitor and mayor of Albury, New South Wales, at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Julia, Walter and the four children moved to Melbourne in 1866.<ref name="Town like Moama" /> Miller was a partner with De Courcy Ireland in the firm of Miller & Ireland in Melbourne in November 1867, and until 20 January 1870, when it was mutually dissolved.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1870, the family moved to London.<ref name="Town like Moama" />Template:Efn Robson attended Sacred Heart Convent School at Highgate in north London<ref name=Nissen185 /><ref name=Theatre /> and studied languages in Brussels. She went to Paris for her examinations in French.<ref name=Theatre /> According to her obituary, she was also educated in Australia.<ref name=Berkshire/>

Marriages and children

Robson ran away from home to marry her first husband, 18 year-old Charles Leveson Gore, in London.<ref name=Theatre /><ref name=Nissen185/> They were married on 1 November 1875 at the parish church in Camden Town, London.<ref name="Gore marriage">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn They traveled on the steamer SS Vaderland and arrived in New York on 17 May 1877. They purchased 380 acres of land in Fort Worth, Texas where they built a house and established a cattle ranch. According to Jan Jones, "the Gores survived two years in their prairie manor house before homesickness, rural isolation, and repeated bouts of fever convinced them to sell and try their fortunes in the more settled East."<ref name=Jones /> They moved to New York City<ref name=Nissen185 /> with little money and Robson said that Gore died shortly thereafter.<ref name=Nissen185 />Template:Efn

Robson supported her children by crocheting hoods and embroidery, designing dinner cards, and teaching painting.<ref name=Nissen185>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Theatre /> By the time she began her acting career in 1883, two of her three children had died from illnesses,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn leaving only Edward Hyde Leveson Gore.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn

Six years after beginning her stage career, Robson married Augustus Homer Brown, a police surgeon, on 29 May 1889. They were together until his death on 1 April 1920.<ref name=James>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Robson's son, Edward Gore, was her business manager.<ref name=Berkshire>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Career

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May Robson in 1907

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Warren William and May Robson in Lady for a Day (1933)

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May Robson in A Star is Born (1937)

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May Robson in Four Daughters (1938)

On 17 September 1883, Robison became an actress in Hoop of Gold at the Brooklyn Grand Opera House stage.<ref name=Nissen184-5 /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her name was misspelled "Robson" in the billing, and she used it from that point forward "for good luck".<ref name=Nissen184-5>Template:Cite book</ref> Over the next several decades, she flourished on the stage as a comedian and character actress. Her success was due partly to her affiliation with powerful manager and producer Charles Frohman and the Theatrical Syndicate. She established her own touring theatrical company in 1911.<ref name=Jones/>

Robson's initial appearances in film date back as early as 1903 or 1904 with uncredited roles in Edison short film productions. She appeared as herself in a cameo in the 1915 silent film How Molly Made Good;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which was probably her first feature film and starred in the 1916 silent film A Night Out, an adaptation of the play she co-wrote, The Three Lights.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She picked up another film role in 1916 appearing in the Marguerite Clark version of Snow White and in 1919 made a guest appearance in the Jack Pickford In Wrong. Respected and firmly established in the theatre Robson's fame and recognition allowed her to appear in films uncredited. As so many silent films are missing or lost, she may have appeared in many more.

In 1927, she went to Hollywood, where she began a successful film career as a senior woman often in comedic roles and nearly rivaling her long time friend Marie Dressler.<ref name=Nissen3>Template:Cite book</ref> Among her starring roles was in The She-Wolf (1931) as a miserly millionaire businesswoman, based on real-life miser Hetty Green.<ref name=Palmer>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

She also starred in the final segment of the anthology film If I Had a Million (1932) as a rest-home resident who gets a new lease on life when she receives a $1,000,000 check from a dying business tycoon.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> She played the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1933), Countess Vronsky in Anna Karenina (1935), Aunt Elizabeth in Bringing Up Baby (1938), Aunt Polly in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), and a sharp-tongued Granny in A Star Is Born (1937). She was top-billed as late as 1940, starring in Granny Get Your Gun at 82. Her last film was 1942's Joan of Paris.<ref name=Palmer/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Academy Award nomination

In 1933, at age 75, Robson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for Lady for a Day, but lost to Katharine Hepburn.<ref name="Nissen 3, 187"/><ref name="Edwards"/> Both actresses appeared in the Hepburn–Grant classic Bringing Up Baby (1938).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Robson was the first Australian to be nominated for an acting Oscar, and, for many years, was also the oldest performer nominated.<ref name="Nissen 3, 187">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Edwards">Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

Robson died in 1942 at her Beverly Hills, California, home at age 84.<ref name="James p. 185">Template:Cite book</ref> In its obituary, the Nevada State Journal said that she died of "a combination of ailments, aggravated by neuritis and advanced age."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn Her remains were cremated<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and buried at the Flushing Cemetery in Queens, New York, next to those of her second husband, Augustus Brown.<ref name=James/><ref name="Nisson p. 189"/>

The New York Times called Robson the "dowager queen of the American screen and stage".<ref name=Nissen184/>

Works

Stage

The following is a partial list of her stage performances:<ref name=James/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Div col

• Called Back (1884)
• An Appeal to the Muse (1885)
• Robert Elsmere (1889)
• The Charity Ball (1890)
• Nerves, adapted from Les Femmes Nerveuses (1891)
• Gloriana (1892)
• Lady Bountiful (1892)
• Americans Abroad (1893)
• The Family Circle (1893)
• The Poet and the Puppets (1893)
• Squirrel Inn (1893)
• No. 3A (1894)
• As You Like It (1894)
• Liberty Hall (1894)
• The Fatal Card (1895)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
• A Woman's Reason (1895)
• The First Born (1897)
• His Excellency, The Governor (1900)
• Are You a Mason? (1901)
• The Billionaire (1902)
• Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1904)
• Cousin Billy (1905–1907)
• The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary (1907)
• The Three Lights (A Night Out) (1911)

Filmography

Silent

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1906	The Terrible Kids		Short
1907	Getting Evidence		Short
1915	How Molly Made Good	Herself
1916	A Night Out	Granmum
	Snow White	Hex Witch	Replaced originally scheduled Alice Washburn
1919	In Wrong	Woman visiting store	Uncredited
1920	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Prostitute outside of music hall	Uncredited
1926	Pals in Paradise	Esther Lezinsky
1927	Rubber Tires	Mrs. Stack
	The King of Kings	Mother of Gestas
	The Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary	Aunt Mary Watkins
	The Angel of Broadway	Big Bertha
	A Harp in Hock	Mrs. Banks
	Turkish Delight	Tsakran
	Chicago	Mrs. Morton - Matron
1928	The Blue Danube

Sound

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1931	The She-Wolf	Harriet Breen
1932	Letty Lynton	Mrs. Lynton, Letty's Mother
	Red-Headed Woman	Aunt Jane
	Strange Interlude	Mrs. Evans
	Little Orphan Annie	Mrs. Stewart
	If I Had a Million	Mrs. Mary Walker
1933	Men Must Fight	Maman Seward
	The White Sister	Mother Superior
	Reunion in Vienna	Frau Lucher
	Dinner at Eight	Mrs. Wendel, the cook
	One Man's Journey	Sarah
	Broadway to Hollywood	Veteran Actress
	Beauty for Sale	Mrs. Merrick
	Lady for a Day	Apple Annie	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress
	The Solitaire Man	Mrs. Vail
	Dancing Lady	Dolly Todhunter
	Alice in Wonderland	Queen of Hearts
1934	You Can't Buy Everything	Mrs. Hannah Bell
	Straight Is the Way	Mrs. Horowitz
	Lady by Choice	Patricia Patterson
	Mills of the Gods	Mary Hastings
1935	Grand Old Girl	Laura Bayles
	Vanessa: Her Love Story	Madame Judith Paris
	Reckless	Granny
	Strangers All	Anna Carter
	Age of Indiscretion	Emma Shaw
	Anna Karenina	Countess Vronsky
	Three Kids and a Queen	Mary Jane 'Queenie' Baxter
1936	Wife vs. Secretary	Mimi Stanhope
	The Captain's Kid	Aunt Marcia Prentiss
	Rainbow on the River	Mrs. Harriet Ainsworth
1937	Woman in Distress	Phoebe Tuttle
	A Star Is Born	Grandmother Lettie Blodgett
	The Perfect Specimen	Mrs. Leona Wicks
1938	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer	Aunt Polly
	Bringing Up Baby	Aunt Elizabeth
	Four Daughters	Aunt Etta
	The Texans	Granna
1939	They Made Me a Criminal	Grandma
	Yes, My Darling Daughter	'Granny' Whitman
	The Kid from Kokomo	Margaret 'Maggie' / 'Ma' Manell
	Daughters Courageous	Penny, the Housekeeper
	Nurse Edith Cavell	Mme. Rappard
	That's Right—You're Wrong	Grandma
	Four Wives	Aunt Etta
1940	Granny Get Your Gun	Minerva Hatton
	Irene	Granny O'Dare
	Texas Rangers Ride Again	Cecilia Dangerfield
1941	Four Mothers	Aunt Etta
	Million Dollar Baby	Cornelia Wheelwright
	Playmates	Grandma Kyser
1942	Joan of Paris	Mlle. Rosay	Final film role

See also

• List of Australian Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

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