Norma Varden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norma Varden (20 January 1898 - 19 January 1989) was an English actress with a long film career in Hollywood.
Born in London, the daughter of a retired sea-captain, Varden was a child prodigy. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris and performed in England before deciding to take up acting. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and made her first appearance as Mrs Darling in Peter Pan.
She acted in rep and made her West End theatre debut in The Wandering Jew in 1920. From Shakespeare to farce, she established herself as a regular member of the Aldwych Theatre company where she appeared in plays from 1929 to 1933. She then began to appear in British films, usually in haughty upper-class roles.
Visiting California with her ailing mother in the 1940s, she decided to settle permanently there and began her American film career. She appeared in Casablanca (1942), The Major and the Minor (1942), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), National Velvet (1944), The Green Years (1946), Forever Amber (1947), Strangers on a Train (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and The Sound of Music (1965).
She had a recurring role in the 1960s sitcom Hazel as Harriet Johnson, the Baxters' dotty neighbor.
She died of natural causes on the day before her 91st birthday.
