Spring Byington

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Spring Byington

in the Little Women trailer (1933)
Born October 17, 1886
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Died September 7, 1971
Hollywood, California
Years active 1930-1968
Spouse(s) Roy Chandler (1914-1918)
Notable roles Marmee in Little Women (1933)
Louisa Norton in Louisa (1950)
Lily Ruskin in December Bride (1952-1959)
Daisy Cooper in Laramie (1961-1963)

Spring Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an Oscar-nominated American actress.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

She was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She had one younger sister, Helene Kimball Byington, born September 4, 1890 in Colorado. Their father was Prof. Edwin Lee Byington (1852–1891), a well respected educator and superintendent of schools in Colorado. When he died unexpectedly, his wife (Helene Maud Cleghorn Byington) decided to send their daughters to live with her parents, Arthur and Charlotte Cleghorn, in Port Hope, Ontario. While there, Mrs. Byington moved to Boston and became a student at the Boston University School of Medicine where she graduated in 1896. Upon graduation she moved back to Denver, Colorado and began a practice with fellow graduate Dr. Mary Ford.

Spring graduated from North High School in 1904, and shortly afterward began working with the Elitch Garden Stock Company.[1] Her mother had been a friend of Mary Elitch. When Dr. Byington died in 1907, Spring and her sister were legally adopted by their aunt Margaret, wife of Rice Eugene Eddy. However, Spring was already of legal age and took her inheritance to begin an acting career in New York.

[edit] Early Career and Marriage

At 18, the actress married Roy Chandler, a Broadway stage manager. The couple lived in Buenos Aires for three years, where she gave birth to daughters Phyllis (born 1916) and Lois (born approx. 1918). Their marriage ended after four years and Spring returned to New York with her daughters.[1]

[edit] Broadway

Upon returning to New York, Spring divided her time between working in Manhattan and staying with her daughters whom she had placed to live with friends J. Allen and Lois Bobcock in Leonardsville Village, New York (Madison County). She began touring in 1919 with a production of "Birds in Paradise" which brought the Hawaiian culture to the mainland, and in 1921 began work with the Stuart Walker Company for which she played roles in "My Pim Passes By", "The Ruined Lady" and "Rollo's Wild Oats" among others. This connection landed her a role in her first Broadway performance in 1924, George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly's Beggar on Horseback which ran for six months. She renewed the role in March and April 1925 and continued on Broadway with an additional 18 productions in ten years from 1925 to 1935. These included roles in Kaufman and Moss Hart's Once in a Lifetime, Rachel Crothers's When Ladies Meet and Dawn Powell's Jig Saw.

[edit] Hollywood

In her last years of Broadway she began work in films. The first was a short film titled "Papa's Slay Ride" in 1931 and the second, and most famous, was "Little Women" in 1933 as "Marmee" with Katharine Hepburn as her daughter "Jo". She became a household name during "The Jones Family" series of films and continued as a character actress in Hollywood for several years.[1] In 1938, Byington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for You Can't Take it With You, losing to Fay Bainter for Jezebel (in which Byington also had a role, as antebellum society matron Mrs Kendrick).

During World War II she worked in radio and decided to return when her film career began to dwindle after the war. In 1952 she joined CBS Radio to become the lead in the sitcom December Bride. In 1954 Desilu Productions produced a pilot of the show for a television sitcom, also starring Spring. The pilot was successful and the new hit sitcom played every night immediately after I Love Lucy until 1959. From 1961 – 1963, she appeared in the Western series Laramie. Her last role before her death from cancer was as Larry Hagman's mother on I Dream of Jeannie, but she died during the run of the series.

[edit] Death and afterward

She donated her body to medical science upon her death.

After Harry Morgan joined the cast of the television show M*A*S*H in 1975, the photo used for Colonel Potter's wife, Mildred, was one of Spring Byington. Morgan had previously co-starred with Byington in December Bride as neighbor Pete Porter.

[edit] Personal life

Spring Byington was an extremely intelligent and energetic woman her entire life. She spoke Spanish fluently which she learned during a great deal of time spent with her husband in Buenos Aires and also learned Brazilian Portuguese in her golden years. In July 1958 she confided to reporter Hazel Johnson that she had acquired a "small coffee plantation" in Brazil the month before and was learning Portuguese. "Miss Byington explained that she first listens to a 'conditioning record' before she goes to sleep. An hour later her Portuguese lessons automatically begin feeding into her pillow by means of a small speaker." She was also fascinated by science fiction novels and preferred books such as George Orwell's 1984 and is noted to have surprised her costars of December Bride with knowledge of the earth's satellites and constellations in the night sky. In August 1955 she began taking flying lessons in Glendale, California.

In another interview given to Margaret McManes in September 1955 she stated that she didn't care for sewing, gardens only sketchily, and declared cooking is "for those who know how. I'll never solve broccoli." This tomboyish personality helps to validate the claims made by Boze Hadleigh that Spring was a lesbian which was published in his book Hollywood Lesbians (1996). Hadleigh notes in his published interview with character actress Marjorie Main, who insinuated the possibility of Spring's lesbianism - "... it's true that Spring never had any use for men."

Another reference to her relationship with Main is given by author Darwin Porter in his biography of Katharine Hepburn, Katherine the Great, published in 2004. In this Porter wrote:

"In the second week of the shoot, Byington asked Kate if, "I can bring a special and dear friend to your picnic?" Kate gladly extended an invitation, and the next day Byington turned up on the set with actress Marjorie Main. After the first two minutes of watching the two women together, Kate concluded that Laura had been wrong about Byington. She indeed was a lesbian, and made it rather clear that she and Main were locked into a torrid affair."

Other than these two publications, there are no other known points of evidence to suggest Spring's homosexuality.

[edit] Flimography

[edit] Broadway

  • Beggar on Horseback (1924, 1925 revival) - Mrs. Cady
  • Weak Sisters (1925)
  • Puppy Love (1926)
  • The Great Adventure (1926-1927)
  • Skin Deep (1927)
  • The Merchant of Venice (1928)
  • To-Night at 12 (1928-1929)
  • Be Your Age (1929)
  • Jonesy (1929)
  • Ladies Don't Lie (1929)
  • I Want My Wife (1930)
  • Once in a Lifetime (1930) - Helen Hobart
  • Ladies of Creation (1931)
  • We Are No Longer Children (1932)
  • When Ladies Meet (1932-1933)
  • The First Apple (1933-1934)
  • No Questions Asked (1934)
  • Jig Saw (1934)
  • Piper Paid (1934-1935)

[edit] Selected Films

[edit] Jones Family films

  • Every Saturday Night (1936)
  • Educating Father (1936)
  • Back to Nature (1936)
  • Off to the Races (1937)
  • Big Business (1937)
  • Hot Water (1937)
  • Borrowing Trouble (1937)
  • Love on a Budget (1938)
  • A Trip to Paris (1938)
  • Safety in Numbers (1938)
  • Down on the Farm (1938)
  • Everybody's Baby (1939)
  • The Jones Family in Hollywood (1939)
  • The Jones Family in Quick Millions (1939)
  • Too Busy to Work (1939)
  • Young as You Feel (1940)
  • On Their Own (1940)

[edit] Television

  • December Bride (1954-1959) - Lily Ruskin
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) - Alice Wagner, episode "The Man with Two Faces"
  • Laramie (1961-1963) - Daisy Cooper
  • Batman (1966) - J. Pauline Spaghetti, episodes "The Catwoman Goeth" and "The Sandman Cometh"
  • I Dream of Jeannie (1967) - Mother, episode "Meet My Master's Mother"
  • The Flying Nun (1968) - Mother General, episode "To Fly or Not to Fly"

[edit] Awards

Byington has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies at 6507 Hollywood Blvd. and one for television at 6233 Hollywood Blvd.

[edit] Nominations

  • 1933 Alexandrias: Best Supporting Actress, Little Women[2]
    • Won by Mary Astor, The World Changes
  • 1938 Oscars: Best Supporting Actress, You Can't Take It with You[3]
    • Won by Fay Bainter, Jezebel
  • 1950 Golden Globes: Best Actress - Comedy or Musical, Louisa[4]
    • Won by Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday
  • 1957 Emmys: Best Actress - Drama or Comedy Series, December Bride[5]
    • Won by Jane Wyatt, Father Knows Best
  • 1958 Emmys: Best Actress - Drama or Comedy Series, December Bride[6]
    • Won by Jane Wyatt, Father Knows Best

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Stumpf, Charles. "SPRING BYINGTON: Eternal Spring". Classic Images, June 2000.
  2. ^ 1933 Alexandria Awards. Past Awards Database, The Envelope, Los Angeles Times
  3. ^ 1938 Academy Awards. Past Awards Database, The Envelope, Los Angeles Times
  4. ^ 1950 Golden Globe Awards. Past Awards Database, The Envelope, Los Angeles Times
  5. ^ 1957 Emmy Awards. Past Awards Database, The Envelope, Los Angeles Times
  6. ^ 1958-1959 Emmy Awards. Past Awards Database, The Envelope, Los Angeles Times

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


Persondata
NAME Byington, Spring Dell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION American actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 17, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Colorado Springs, Colorado
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH Hollywood, California
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