Overview (2)

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Alice Brady was born in New York City on November 2, 1892. She was interested in the stage from childhood, as her father was famed Broadway producer William A. Brady. After a few stage productions, Alice was discovered by movie producers in New York, since this was the film capital at the time. Her first film was at the age of 22 when she starred in As Ye Sow (1914). She was immediately put to work in a number of film projects. Although she appeared in three films in 1915, the following year saw her in nine productions. Alice was one of the fortunate actresses to make a successful transition from the silent era into the sound age. In 1936 she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Mein Mann Godfrey (1936). One year later, she won the Oscar for the same award in Chicago (1938), in which she turned in a tremendous performance. Alice died of cancer in New York City on October 28, 1939. She was only 46 years old. Her final film that year was Der junge Mr. Lincoln (1939).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

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Trivia (16)



Daughter of Broadway producer William A. Brady who was also involved in filmmaking and was head of the World Film Corporation (191?-1918). He was involved in an early fight against censorship in 1919 (not too ably) as president of the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry.





In fact, Henry King, the director of the film "In Old Chicago" accepted her award on her behalf. According to newspaper clippings discovered by librarians at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library, he brought the Oscar to her later that night. It did leave her possession after that - but only to be engraved. No replacement was necessary, after all.

There is a myth that due to a broken ankle, Alice was not able to attend The 10th Annual Academy Awards in which she won Best Supporting Actress for Chicago (1938). During the ceremony an unidentified man walked up to the podium and accepted the award on her behalf. When she called the Academy to say that she had not received her Oscar, it was revealed that the man was had been an impostor who had crashed the party, accepted her award and walked off with it. Brady passed away before the Academy could issue a replacement. Neither the stolen Oscar nor the man who walked away with it were ever heard from again.In fact, Henry King, the director of the film "In Old Chicago" accepted her award on her behalf. According to newspaper clippings discovered by librarians at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library, he brought the Oscar to her later that night. It did leave her possession after that - but only to be engraved. No replacement was necessary, after all.

Alice Brady passed away of a virulent cancer five days before what would have been her 47th birthday.





Although best remembered for her comic performances as socially ambitious mothers ( Mein Mann Godfrey (1936)), she often played serious roles, among them Lavinia Mannon in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill 's "Mourning Becomes Electra".



Gave birth to her only child at age 29, a son Donald William Crane on March 10, 1922. Child's father was her ex-husband, James Crane



Was the 11th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Chicago (1938) at The 10th Academy Awards on March 10, 1938.



Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Nils Axel Nissen

Her son Donald William Crane passed away in Los Angeles, California on January 17, 1942 at age 19.



Broadway star Alice Brady appeared in more than 50 silent films and didn't make her talkie debut until 1933.





Became the first actress to be Oscar nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress as well as the first to be nominated in consecutive years, for Mein Mann Godfrey (1936) and Chicago (1938). She won the award for the latter.

She was posthumously awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.



She was a liberal Democrat.



She was interred at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.



Her image appears on the cover of the 2012 music CD Electro Swing V.

