Nancy Carroll

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
AMG AllMovie Guide:

Nancy Carroll

Top

Biography

Celebrated by movie publicist/historian John Springer as the first new star of the talkie era, Nancy Carroll enjoyed a thriving career long before the advent of the microphone. A stage performer from the age of 16, Nancy entered films in 1927, scoring a personal success with her ingenue turn in Abie's Irish Rose (1928). It was in this film--essentially a silent, with a few talking sequences added as an afterthought--that Nancy became the first Hollywood actress ever to sing and dance on a sound stage. From 1929 through 1931, Nancy was one of the brightest stars on the Paramount Pictures lot, headlining several musicals and light comedies, and exhibiting a fine flair for dramatics in such soap opera fare as Stolen Heaven (1931). Her career was irreparably damaged by the notorious flop The Night Angel (1931), and by the end of the 1930s Nancy was accepting undemanding secondary roles in films like There Goes My Heart (1938). Retiring from moviemaking in 1938, Nancy returned to the stage; she was a busy television actress in the 1950s and 1960s, at one point co-starring on a live sitcom, The Aldrich Family. Nancy Carroll died suddenly at the age of 61 while appearing with Bert Lahr in a Nyack, New York stage production of Never Too Late. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Top
Nancy Carroll
Born Ann Veronica Lahiff
November 19, 1903(1903-11-19)
New York City, New York, United States
Died August 6, 1965(1965-08-06) (aged 61)
New York City, New York, United States
Occupation Actress
Years active 1923–1965
Spouse Jack Kirkland (1925–1930)
Francis Bolton Mallory (1931–1935)
C.H. "Jappe" Groen (1953–1965)

Nancy Carroll (November 19, 1903 – August 6, 1965) was an American actress.[1]

Contents

Career

She was christened Ann Veronica Lahiff in New York City. Of Irish parentage, she and her sister once performed a dancing act in a local contest of amateur talent. This led her to a stage career and then to the screen. She began her acting career in Broadway musicals. She became a successful actress in "talkies" because her musical background enabled her to play in the movie musicals of the 1930s. Her film debut was in Ladies Must Dress in 1927.

In 1928 she made eight films. One of them, Easy Come, Easy Go, co-starring Richard Dix, made her a star. In 1930 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Devil's Holiday. Among her other films are Laughter (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Hot Saturday (1932) with Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933) directed by James Whale, and Broken Lullaby aka The Man I Killed (1932) directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

Under contract to Paramount Pictures, Carroll often balked at the roles being offered to her and earned a reputation as a recalcitrant and uncooperative actress. In spite of her ability to successfully tackle light comedies, tearful melodramas, and even musicals, and as well as garnering considerable praise by the critics and public (she received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930s), she was released by the studio. In the mid-1930s under a four-film contract with Columbia Pictures, she made four rather insignificant films and was no longer an A-list actress.

Later years

Carroll retired from films in 1938, returned to the stage, and starred in the early television series The Aldrich Family in 1950. In the following year, she guest starred in the television version of The Egg and I, starring her daughter, Patricia Kirkland.

Death

On August 6, 1965, she was found dead after failing to arrive at the theater for a performance. The cause of her death was an aneurysm. She was 61 years old.

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Nancy Carroll has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1719 Vine Street.

Filmography

Film
Year Film Role Notes
1927 Ladies Must Dress Mazie
1928 Abie's Irish Rose Rosemary Murphy
Easy Come, Easy Go Barbara Quayle
Chicken a La King Maisie Devoe
The Water Hole Judith Endicott
Manhattan Cocktail Babs Clark Lost film except for one-minute montage sequence by Slavko Vorkapich
The Shopworn Angel Daisy Heath (*incomplete; Library of Congress)
1929 The Wolf of Wall Street Gert
Sin Sister Pearl
Close Harmony Marjorie Merwin
The Dance of Life Bonny Lee King
Illusion Claire Jernigan
Sweetie Barbara Pell
1930 Dangerous Paradise Alma Alternate title: Two Against Death
Honey Olivia Dangerfield
The Devil's Holiday Hallie Hobart Nominated for Best Actress Academy Award
Laughter Peggy Gibson
Paramount on Parade Herself cameo appearance
Follow Thru Lora Moore
1931 Stolen Heaven Mary
Night Angel Yula Martini
Personal Maid Nora Ryan
1932 Broken Lullaby Fraulein Elsa Alternate title: The Man I Killed
Wayward Daisy Frost
Hot Saturday Ruth Brock
Scarlet Dawn Tanyusha Krasnoff
Under-Cover Man Lora Madigan
1933 Child of Manhattan Madeleine McGonegle
The Woman Accused Glenda O'Brien
The Kiss Before the Mirror Maria Held
I Love That Man Grace Clark
1934 Springtime for Henry Julia Jelliwell
Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round Sally Marsh Alternate title: Keep 'Em Laughing
Jealousy Josephine "Jo" Douglas O'Roarke
1935 I'll Love You Always Nora Clegg
After the Dance Anne Taylor
Atlantic Adventure Helen Murdock
1938 That Certain Age Grace Bristow
There Goes My Heart Dorothy Moore
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1950–1951 The Aldrich Family Alice Aldrich #2 Unknown episodes
1951 Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre 1 episode
The Egg and I Betty's mother Unknown episodes
1959 The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen Fanny Wilson 1 episode
1961 Naked City Bernice Hacker 1 episode
1962 The United States Steel Hour 2 episodes
1963 Rockabye the Infantry Hortense Tyler Television movie
1963 Going My Way Nora Callahan 1 episode

References

  1. ^ Obituary Variety, August 11, 1965.

External links


Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:

Copyrights:

Mentioned in

The Devil's Holiday (1930 Drama Film)
Manhattan Cocktail (1928 Drama Film)
Atlantic Adventure (1935 Mystery Film)
Die Manner Um Lucie (1931 Comedy Drama Film)