Una Merkel

Actor
Una Merkel

About

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Birth Place
Covington, Kentucky, USA
Born
December 10, 1903
Died
January 02, 1986

Biography

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This wry, wisecracking blonde never became a star, but brightened up scores of films in the 1930s as the heroine's pal, co-worker or rival. The Kentucky native got her start as a model, drifting into acting in the mid-20s. By 1927, she was appearing on Broadway with Helen Hayes in "Coquette" and three years later was discovered by D.W. Griffith, who cast her as the wan, tragic Ann Rutled...

Filmography

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Spinout (1966)
Violet Ranley
A Tiger Walks (1964)
Mrs. Watkins
Summer Magic (1963)
Maria Popham
Summer and Smoke (1961)
Mrs. Winemiller
The Parent Trap (1961)
Verbena
The Mating Game (1959)
Ma Larkin

Photos & Videos

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The Mating Game - Scene Stills
5 Photos
42nd Street (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Shuffle Off To Buffalo
The Mad Doctor of Market Street - Publicity Stills
40 Photos
The Mad Doctor of Market Street - Scene Stills
50 Photos
Midnight Mary (1933) -- (Movie Clip) A Girl's Gotta Live

Biography

This wry, wisecracking blonde never became a star, but brightened up scores of films in the 1930s as the heroine's pal, co-worker or rival. The Kentucky native got her start as a model, drifting into acting in the mid-20s. By 1927, she was appearing on Broadway with Helen Hayes in "Coquette" and three years later was discovered by D.W. Griffith, who cast her as the wan, tragic Ann Rutledge in "Abraham Lincoln."

But Merkel's true forte was comedy, and she was almost promptly typed as the knowing but sunny-natured second lead in films like "Private Lives" (1930), "42nd Street" (1933), "On Borrowed Time" (1939) and "The Bank Dick" (1940). She held her own in a memorable brawl with Marlene Dietrich in "Destry Rides Again" (1939) and went on to grace such diverse features as "The Kentuckian" (1955) and "The Parent Trap" (1961). Merkel also supported Jean Harlow in four films, "Red Headed Woman" (1932), "Bombshell" (1933), "Riffraff" (1935) and "Saratoga" (1937). In 1961, she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her recreating her stage portrayal of the unstable mother of Alma Winemiller (Geraldine Page) in "Summer and Smoke."

Late in life, Merkel returned to the stage with great success, winning a Tony Award for "The Ponder Heart" (1956), also appearing in "Three's a Family" (1944), "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker" (1953) and alongside Jackie Gleason and Walter Pidgeon in the musical "Take Me Along" (1959).

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Spinout (1966)
Violet Ranley
A Tiger Walks (1964)
Mrs. Watkins
Summer Magic (1963)
Maria Popham
Summer and Smoke (1961)
Mrs. Winemiller
The Parent Trap (1961)
Verbena
The Mating Game (1959)
Ma Larkin
The Girl Most Likely (1958)
Mom
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957)
Bertha
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956)
Miss Bedelia Baines
Bundle of Joy (1956)
Mrs. Dugan
The Kentuckian (1955)
Sophie Wakefield
I Love Melvin (1953)
Mom Schneider
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
Sister Marie
The Merry Widow (1952)
Kitty Riley
Golden Girl (1951)
Mary Ann Crabtree
A Millionaire for Christy (1951)
Patsy Clifford
Rich, Young and Pretty (1951)
Glynnie
My Blue Heaven (1950)
Miss Irma Gilbert
Kill the Umpire (1950)
Betty Johnson
Emergency Wedding (1950)
Emma
Man from Texas (1948)
Widow Weeks
The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
Miss Doberly
It's a Joke, Son! (1947)
Magnolia Claghorn
Sweethearts of the U.S.A. (1944)
Patsy
This Is the Army (1943)
Rose Dibble
The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)
Aunt Margaret [Wentworth]
Twin Beds (1942)
Lydia
Cracked Nuts (1941)
Sharon [Knight]
Double Date (1941)
[Aunt] Elsie [Kirkland]
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
Julia [Quimby]
Comin' Round the Mountain (1940)
Belinda Watters
The Bank Dick (1940)
Myrtle Sousé
Sandy Gets Her Man (1940)
Nan [Clark]
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Lily Belle Callahan
Four Girls in White (1939)
Gertie Robbins
Some Like It Hot (1939)
Flo Saunders
On Borrowed Time (1939)
Marcia Giles
Checkers (1938)
Mamie Appleby
Saratoga (1937)
Fritzi [Kiffmeyer]
Don't Tell the Wife (1937)
Nancy Dorsey
The Good Old Soak (1937)
Nellie
True Confession (1937)
Daisy McClure
Speed (1936)
Josephine Sanderson
Riffraff (1936)
Lil
Born to Dance (1936)
Jenny Saks
We Went to College (1936)
Susan [Standish]
Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935)
Slade
One New York Night (1935)
Phoebe
Baby Face Harrington (1935)
Millicent
It's in the Air (1935)
Alice Churchill
Murder in the Fleet (1935)
Toots Timmons
The Night Is Young (1935)
Fanni
Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
Kitty Corbett
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
Gwen
This Side of Heaven (1934)
Birdie
Murder in the Private Car (1934)
Georgia [Latham]
The Cat's-Paw (1934)
Petunia "Pet" Pratt
Have a Heart (1934)
Joan
Evelyn Prentice (1934)
Amy Drexel
Paris Interlude (1934)
Cassie
The Merry Widow (1934)
Queen [Dolores]
Reunion in Vienna (1933)
Ilse [Hinrich]
Bombshell (1933)
Mac
42nd Street (1933)
Loraine [Lolly] Fleming
Midnight Mary (1933)
Bunny
The Women in His Life (1933)
Simmons
Whistling in the Dark (1933)
Toby Van Buren
Her First Mate (1933)
Hattie Horner
Clear All Wires (1933)
Dolly [Winslow]
Beauty for Sale (1933)
Carol [Merrick]
Day of Reckoning (1933)
Mamie
The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933)
Ella
Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
Chorus girl
Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Sally
They Call It Sin (1932)
Dixie Dare
Huddle (1932)
Thelma
Man Wanted (1932)
Ruth Holman
Men Are Such Fools (1932)
Molly
She Wanted a Millionaire (1932)
Mary Taylor
The Impatient Maiden (1932)
Betty Merrick
The Bargain (1931)
Etta
Six Cylinder Love (1931)
Margaret Rogers
Don't Bet on Women (1931)
Tallulah Hope
Command Performance (1931)
Princess Katerina
The Secret Witness (1931)
Lois Martin
Wicked (1931)
June
Daddy Long Legs (1931)
Sally McBride
The Maltese Falcon (1931)
Effie
Private Lives (1931)
Sibyl [Chase]
Abraham Lincoln (1930)
Ann Rutledge
The Eyes of the World (1930)
Sybil
The Bat Whispers (1930)
Dale Van Gorder
The Fifth Horseman (1924)
Dorothy

Cast (Short)

Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
Herself
Menu (1933)

Life Events

1924

First leading role in the silent film "The Fifth Horseman"

1925

Made stage debut in "Two by TYwo"

1927

Broadway debut in "Coquette" alongside Helen Hayes

1930

Returned to features in D.W. Griffith's "Abraham Lincoln" as Ann Rutledge

1939

Co-starred in "Destry Rides Again"; had memorable fight scene with Marlene Dietrich

1944

Returned to Broadway in "Three's a Family"

1953

Starred in stage production "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypicker"

1961

Earned Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for "Summer and Smoke"; reprised stage role

1966

Final film, "Spinout"

Photo Collections

 
5 Photos
The Mating Game - Scene Stills
Here are a few scene stills from The Mating Game (1959), starring Debbie Reynolds and Tony Randall.
40 Photos
The Mad Doctor of Market Street - Publicity Stills
Here are a few photos taken to help publicize Universal Pictures' The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942), starring Lionel Atwill, Una Merkel, and Nat Pendleton. Publicity stills were specially-posed photos, usually taken off the set, for purposes of publicity or reference for promotional artwork.
50 Photos
The Mad Doctor of Market Street - Scene Stills
Here are several scene stills taken during production of Universal Pictures' The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942), starring Lionel Atwill, Una Merkel, and Nat Pendleton.

Videos

Movie Clip

42nd Street (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Shuffle Off To Buffalo Dramatic climax, Warner Baxter as director Julian Marsh gives the seminal pep talk to understudy Peggy (Ruby Keeler), who comes back a star, with the Al Dubin/Harry Warren song and the Busby Berkeley number, in 42nd Street, 1933.
Midnight Mary (1933) -- (Movie Clip) A Girl's Gotta Live Loretta Young (title character), awaiting her sentence in a murder trial, is recalling years past via the spines of court record books, including meeting her pal Bunny (Una Merkel) and her future employer-boyfriend, hoodlum Leo (Ricardo Cortez), in Midnight Mary, directed by William A. Wellman.
Red-Headed Woman (1932) -- (Movie Clip) I'm In The Big Leagues Having successfully gotten herself caught fooling around with her boss by his wife, Red (Jean Harlow) plotting and undressing with somewhat shocked pal Sally (Una Merkel), then summoned by her boss's father (Lewis Stone) in MGM's Red-Headed Woman, 1932.
Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) It's A Civic Duty After a childhood prologue and credits, Mississippi spinster Alma (Geraldine Page) with her dotty mother (Una Merkel) and minister father (Malcolm Atterbury), sings a Spanish song (“La Golondria”) at holiday festivities while her dashing neighbor Johnny (Laurence Harvey) arrives home, in Summer And Smoke, 1961, from a Tennessee Williams play.
Summer And Smoke (1961) -- (Movie Clip) Hello, Cavalier! Minding her needy mother (Una Merkel), Mississippian Alma (Academy Award-nominated Geraldine Page) finds cause to visit her dashing if reckless neighbor Johnny (Laurence Harvey), a young doctor home for the summer, finally managing an invitation, in Summer And Smoke, 1961.
Midnight Mary (1933) -- (Movie Clip) Who Might That Lovely Lady Be? We know that knockout lady gambler Mary (Loretta Young) and coat check babe Bunny (Una Merkel) both work for gangsters, so we know something’s up at the casino, as we meet sophisticate Tom (Franchot Tone) and dyspeptic buddy Sam (Andy Devine), in MGM’s Midnight Mary, 1933.
42nd Street -- (Movie Ciip) I'm Young And Healthy Billy Lawler (Dick Powell) sings "I'm Young and Healthy," another Al Dubin/Harry Warren original, from Warner Bros.' musical within the musical 42nd Street (1933) choreographed by Busby Berkeley.
Merry Widow, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Villa Count Danilo (Fernando Lamas), with his welcoming crew in lowly Marshovia caught unawares as the rich widow Radek (Lana Turner) arrives from America, Sujata his Gypsy partner, with Paul Francis Webster’s lyric to a tune (“Vilja”) from the original Franz Lehar operetta, staged by Jack Cole, produced by Joe Pasternak for MGM, in The Merry Widow, 1952.
Merry Widow, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) Night Not quite able to see Lana Turner (title character, the visiting American widow Radek) in the dark, Count Danilo (Fernando Lamas), enlisted by his king to seduce her and her millions home to tiny Marshovia, offers the song from the Franz Lehar operetta, English lyric by Paul Francis Webster, in MGM’s The Merry Widow, 1952.
Merry Widow, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) You Were Lovely By Moonlight Count Danilo (Fernando Lamas), under royal orders to woo the visiting American widow Radek (Lana Turner) and her funds, fails to realize that Kitty (Una Merkel) is only her secretary, then is further undermined when she finds the note detailing his instructions, in The Merry Widow, 1952.
Merry Widow, The (1952) -- (Movie Clip) What Charity Do You Represent? 1900, New York, diplomats from impoverished Marshovia (John Abbott, Dave Willock) have been turned away (by secretary Una Merkel) at the home of Crystal Radek (Lana Turner), new widow of the late emigrant industrialist, who arrives in time for their pitch, in MGM’s The Merry Widow, 1952.
Speed (1936) -- (Movie Clip) Modernized Confusion Test driver Terry (James Stewart, in his first top-billed role) is showing the new PR gal Jane (Wendy Barrie) around the plant, joined by his buddy, inventor-mechanic Gadget (Ted Healy) then getting big-footed by the bigger-shot engineer Frank (Weldon Heyburn), early in MGM’s Speed, 1936.

Trailer

Man Wanted - (Original Trailer) A female executive (Kay Francis) falls in love with her male secretary (David Manners) in Man Wanted (1932).
With A Song In My Heart - (Original Trailer) Singer Jane Froman (Susan Hayward) comes back after a plane crash in the biopic With A Song In My Heart (1952).
Midnight Mary - (Original Trailer) Loretta Young is an abused orphan who sinks into a life of crime in the pre-code drama Midnight Mary (1933).
Bride Goes Wild, The -- (Re-issue Trailer) A womanizing author of children's books (Van Johnson) borrows a son to woo his illustrator in The Bride Goes Wild (1948).
Baby Face Harrington - (Original Trailer) A milquetoast has to fight off cops and gangsters when he's mistaken for the notorious Baby Face Harrington (1935).
Evelyn Prentice - (Original Trailer) MGM playing up The Thin Man angle with Myrna Loy and William Powell, in the original trailer for the melodrama Evelyn Prentice, 1934, co-starring Rosalind Russell.
Bundle of Joy - (Original Trailer) A shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling in the musical remake of Bachelor Mother, Bundle of Joy (1956), starring Eddie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds.
Merry Widow, The (1952) - (Original Trailer) A prince (Fernando Lamas) from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) to keep her money in the country in The Merry Widow (1952).
On Borrowed Time - (Original Trailer) Old Gramps (Lionel Barrymore) traps Death (Cedric Hardwicke) in a tree in MGM's fantasy On Borrowed Time (1939).
This Side of Heaven - (Original Trailer) An eccentric family tries to work together when the father is accused of embezzlement in This Side Of Heaven (1934) starring Lionel Barrymore.
Broadway Melody of 1936 - (Original Trailer) A Broadway columnist tries to use an innocent dancer to frame a producer in Broadway Melody of 1936 starring Jack Benny & Eleanor Powell.
Murder in the Fleet - (Original Trailer) Robert Taylor got his first starring role solving a Murder In The Fleet (1935) when he becomes a suspect.

Bibliography

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