BILLIE BURKE

'Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke' (August 7, 1885 – May 14, 1970) was an Oscar-nominated American actress primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda the ''Good Witch of the North'' in the musical ''The Wizard of Oz''.

Contents

Early life

Career

Radio and television

Later life and progeny

Listen to

Radio

Broadway

Filmography

External links

Early life

Known as 'Billie Burke', she toured the U.S. and Europe with a circus because her father, Billy Burke, was employed with them as a singing clown. Her family ultimately settled in London where she was fortunate to see plays in London's historic West End.
She wanted to be a stage actress. In 1903, she began acting on stage, making her debut in London, and eventually returning to America to become the toast of Broadway as a musical comedy star. She was praised by ''The New York Times'' for her charm and her brightness.

Career

Thanks to her representation by famed producer Charles Frohman, Burke went on to play leads on Broadway in ''Mrs. Dot'', ''Suzanne'', ''The Runaway'', ''The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl'', and ''The Land of Promise'' from 1910 to 1913, along with a supporting role in the revival of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero’s ''The Amazons''. There she caught the eye of producer Florenz Ziegfeld, marrying him in 1914. In 1916, they had one daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld.
She was quickly signed for the movies, making her film debut in the title role of ''Peggy'' (1916). She continued to appear on the stage, and sometimes she starred on the screen. She loved the stage more than movie-business, not only because it was her first love, but also because it allowed her to have speaking parts (impossible in silent movies). But when the family's savings were wiped out in the Crash of 1929, she had no choice but to return to the screen.
In 1932 Billie Burke made her Hollywood comeback, starring as Margaret Fairfield in ''A Bill of Divorcement'', directed by George Cukor, though the film is better known as Katharine Hepburn's first movie appearance (Burke played Hepburn's mother). Despite the death of Florenz Ziegfeld during the film's production, Billie Burke resumed filming shortly after his funeral.

In 1936, MGM filmed a biopic of her deceased husband (''The Great Ziegfeld''), a film that won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actress (Luise Rainer as Ziegfeld's first wife, Anna Held). Burke was herself a character in the film, but she was not cast as herself. Instead, prominent actress Myrna Loy essayed the role of Burke, a fact that amused Hollywood at the time.
In 1933, Burke was cast as Mrs. Millicent Jordan, a scatterbrained high-society woman hosting a dinner party in the witty comedy ''Dinner at Eight'', directed by George Cukor, co-starring with Lionel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, John Barrymore, Jean Harlow and Wallace Beery. The movie was a great success, and revived Burke's career. She subsequently starred in many comedies and musicals, typecast as a ditzy, fluffy and feather-brained upper-class matron, due to her delightful comedic talent and helium-filled voice.
In 1937 she appeared in the first of the ''Topper'' series of films, about a man haunted by two socialite ghosts (played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett), in which she played the tremulous and daffy Clara Topper. Her performance as Emily Kilbourne in ''Merrily We Live'' (1938) resulted in her only Oscar nomination.
In 1938 (at age 53) she was chosen to play Glinda, the 'Good Witch of the North' in the Oscar-winning seminal 1939 musical film ''The Wizard of Oz'', directed by Victor Fleming, with Judy Garland. As Glinda, the Good Witch, Burke combined pathos, humor and her inimitable dizziness into a character known as an icon of goodness, strength and wisdom.
Another successful series followed with ''Father of the Bride'' (1950) and ''Father's Little Dividend'' (1951), both directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor.
She wrote two autobiographies, both with Cameron Van Shippe: ''With a Feather on My Nose'' (Appleton 1949) and ''With Powder on My Nose'' (Coward McCann, 1959).

Radio and television

On CBS radio, ''The Billie Burke Show'' was heard on Saturday mornings from April 3, 1943 to September 21, 1946. Sponsored by Listerine, this situation comedy was initially titled ''Fashions in Rations'' during its first year. Portraying herself as a featherbrained Good Samaritan who lived "in the little white house on Sunnyview Lane," she always offered a helping hand to those in her neighborhood. She worked often in early TV, appearing in the short-lived sitcom ''Doc Corkle'' (1952).
At the age of 60, Billie Burke tried to make a comeback on the New York stage. She starred in two short-lived productions: ''This Rock'' and ''Mrs. January and Mr. Ex''. Although Burke got good reviews, the plays did not. She appeared in several plays in California as well, although her mind became clouded, and she had trouble remembering lines. In the late 1950s, her failing memory led to her retirement from the show business, although her explanation for that was, "Acting just wasn't any fun anymore."

Her last screen appearance was in ''Sergeant Rutledge'', a Western directed by John Ford in 1960.

Later life and progeny

Billie Burke died in Los Angeles, California of natural causes at the age of 85 in 1970 and was interred at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, survived by her daughter, Patricia, four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. Patricia married William Robert Stephenson, with whom she had four children: Florenz, Celie, Robert and Susie. Florenz Crossley and her late husband David have 2 children, Dale and Stephen. Celie Duncan is married to Don, and has 2 children from her first marriage, Billie Jean and Rob Adkisson. Robert Stephenson and his wife Violette have 3 children: Nicole, Daniel and Kathryn. Susie Plemons and husband Mickey have 2 children, Christopher and Betsy. Patricia and Bill are still alive; she is 91, and he is 95. They live next door to the house that Billie and Patricia lived in when Billie moved to Los Angeles.
For many years, Billie's framed photo was displayed above the exit staircase at New York's Ziegfeld Theater, but it curiously vanished after renovations to it.
She is known for the quote, "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."

Listen to

★ Heritage Radio Theatre: "The Tramp" (April 27, 1946) ''The Billie Burke Show'' (with three other shows)

Radio

★ ''The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air'' - 1932

★ ''Good News of 1939'' - 1938

★ ''The Rudy Vallee Hour'' - 1939

★ ''The Gulf Screen Guild Theater'' - 1939

★ ''The Rudy Vallee Sealtest Show'' - 1940-41

★ ''The Pepsodent Show'' - 1941

★ ''The Billie Burke Show'' - 1943-1946

★ ''Duffy's Tavern'' - 1944

★ ''The Sealtest Village Store'' - 1944

★ ''Mail Call'' - 1944

★ ''The Charlie McCarthy Show'' - 1944-47

★ ''Tribute to Ethel Barrymore'' - 1945

★ ''The Rudy Vallee Show'' - 1945

★ ''Show Stoppers'' - 1946

★ ''The Danny Kaye Show'' - 1946

★ ''WOR 25th Anniversary'' - 1947

★ ''Your Movietown Radio Theatre'' - 1948

★ ''The Eddie Cantor Pabst Blue Ribbon Show'' - 1948

★ ''Family Theater'' - 1948-52

★ ''This Is Show Business'' - 1949

★ ''The Martin and Lewis Show'' - 1949

★ ''The Bill Stern Colgate Sports Newsreel'' - 1949

★ ''Stagestruck'' -1954

★ ''Biography in Sound'' - 1955-56

Broadway

★ ''My Wife'' - 1907

★ ''Love Watches'' - 1908

★ ''Mrs. Dot'' - 1910

★ ''Suzanne'' - 1910

★ ''The Philosopher in the Apple Orchard'' - 1911

★ ''The Runaway'' - 1911

★ ''The Amazons'' - 1913

★ ''The Land of Promise'' - 1913

★ ''Jerry'' - 1914

★ ''The Rescuing Angel'' - 1917

★ ''A Marriage of Convenience'' - 1918

★ ''Caesar's Wife'' - 1919

★ ''The Intimate Strangers'' - 1921

★ ''Rose Briar'' - 1922

★ ''Annie Dear'' - 1924

★ ''The Marquise'' - 1927

★ ''The Happy Husband'' - 1928

★ ''Family Affairs'' - 1929

★ ''The Truth Game'' - 1930

★ ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1934'' - 1934

★ ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1936'' - 1936

★ ''This Rock'' - 1943

★ ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1943'' - 1943

★ ''Mrs. January and Mr. X'' - 1944

Filmography

★ ''Peggy'' - 1916

★ ''Gloria's Romance'' - 1916

★ ''The Mysterious Miss Terry'' - 1917

★ ''Arms and the Girl'' - 1917

★ ''The Land of Promise'' - 1917

★ ''Eve's Daughter'' - 1918

★ ''Let's Get a Divorce'' - 1918

★ ''In Pursuit of Polly'' - 1918

★ ''The Make-Believe Wife'' - 1918

★ ''Good Gracious, Annabelle'' - 1919

★ ''The Misleading Widow'' - 1919

★ ''Sadie Love'' - 1919

★ '' - 1919

★ ''Away Goes Prudence'' - 1920

★ ''The Frisky Mrs. Johnson'' - 1920

★ ''The Education of Elizabeth'' - 1921

★ ''A Bill of Divorcement'' - 1932

★ ''Christopher Strong'' - 1933

★ ''Dinner at Eight'' - 1933

★ ''Only Yesterday'' - 1933

★ ''Where Sinners Meet'' - 1934

★ ''Finishing School'' - 1934

★ ''We're Rich Again'' - 1934

★ ''Forsaking All Others'' - 1934

★ ''Society Doctor'' - 1935

★ ''After Office Hours'' - 1935

★ ''Becky Sharp'' - 1935

★ ''Doubting Thomas'' - 1935

★ ''She Couldn't Take It'' - 1935

★ ''A Feather in Her Hat'' - 1935

★ ''Splendor'' - 1935

★ ''My American Wife'' - 1936

★ ''Piccadilly Jim'' - 1936

★ ''Craig's Wife'' - 1936

★ ''Parnell'' - 1937

★ ''Topper'' - 1937

★ ''The Bride Wore Red'' - 1937

★ ''Navy Blue and Gold'' - 1937

★ ''Everybody Sing'' - 1938

★ ''Merrily We Live'' - 1938

★ ''The Young in Heart'' - 1938

★ ''Topper Takes a Trip'' - 1939

★ ''Zenobia'' - 1939

★ ''Bridal Suite'' - 1939

★ ''The Wizard of Oz'' - 1939

★ ''Eternally Yours'' - 1939

★ ''Remember?'' - 1939

★ ''The Ghost Comes Home'' - 1940

★ ''Irene'' - 1940

★ ''The Captain Is a Lady'' - 1940

★ ''Dulcy'' - 1940

★ ''Hullabaloo'' - 1940

★ ''And One Was Beautiful'' - 1940

★ ''The Wild Man of Borneo'' - 1941

★ ''Topper Returns'' - 1941

★ ''One Night in Lisbon'' - 1941

★ ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' - 1942

★ ''What's Cookin'?'' - 1942

★ ''In This Our Life'' - 1942

★ ''They All Kissed the Bride'' - 1942

★ ''Girl Trouble'' - 1942

★ ''Hi Diddle Diddle'' - 1943

★ ''So's Your Uncle'' - 1943

★ ''You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith'' - 1943

★ ''Gildersleeve on Broadway'' - 1943

★ ''The Laramie Trail'' - 1944

★ ''Swing Out, Sister'' - 1945

★ ''The Cheaters'' - 1945

★ ''Breakfast in Hollywood'' - 1946

★ ''The Bachelor's Daughters'' - 1946

★ ''Billie Gets Her Man'' - 1948

★ ''The Barkleys of Broadway'' - 1949

★ ''Father of the Bride'' - 1950

★ ''Father's Little Dividend'' - 1951

★ ''Small Town Girl'' - 1953

★ ''The Young Philadelphians'' - 1959

★ ''Sergeant Rutledge'' - 1960

★ ''Pepe'' - 1960

External links

★ [1] "Much More Than a Good Witch" by Anne Fliotsos

★ [2] Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch

★