Laura hope crews biography

(1879-1942)

After serving a long apprenticeship on the stage, Laura Hope Crews flared into stardom as Louise Marshall in 1914's "The Phantom Revival." Born in California, she toured the western theatrical circuits as a child actress in stock companies from age four to nine, when her turn in "Spray" gave the vehicle enough notice to tour nationwide. Her parents pulled her from touring to give her a secondary school education in San Jose, but as soon as she graduated, she signed with the Alcazar Stock Company in San Francisco.

Only after she moved east and joined the Murray Hill Stock Company did Crews perfect her stage craft. She rose through the ranks securing leads as a comedienne, and becoming a Broadway attraction in "The Great Divide" and "Her Husband's Wife." What distinguished her from the multitude of good natured women on the stage was a depth of sincerity that could produce tears as well as laughter. Producer Charles Frohman recognized this special quality, wrested her away from the management of Henry Miller and cast her in "The Phantom Revival."

Throughout a distinguished career on stage (often in Theater Guild Productions) and screen she often played distracted flibberty-gibbets, for instance as one of the benignly homicidal aunts in "Arsenic & Old Lace" or Aunt Pitty-Pat in "Gone With the Wind," yet she would periodically break out of type and appear as a tragic matron or a selfish mother, as she did in "The Silver-Cord." Her sole experiment in directing was helming the 1925 New York premier of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever."

She played classic repertory as well as premiering modern plays such as Milne’s "Mr. Pim Passes By." When a script called for a fluttery older maiden lady, Crews was the first call. She died on November 14, 1942. David S. Shields/ALS

American stage and film actress (1879–1942)

Laura Hope Crews (December 12, 1879 – November 12, 1942) was an American actress. Although she is best remembered today for her later work as a character actress in motion pictures of the 1930s, she also was prolific on stage; among her films roles was the role of Aunt Pittypat in Gone with the Wind.

Early life

Crews was the daughter of stage actress Angelena Lockwood and backstage carpenter John Thomas Crews. She had three older siblings. Crews started acting at age four. Her first stage appearance was at Woodward's Gardens. She stopped acting to finish school and then returned to acting in 1898. As she was a native San Franciscan, the records pertaining to her early life were destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906.

Most of Crews' formal education came in San Jose, as the family had moved there following the remarriage of Crews' mother.

Career

In 1898, Crews performed in San Francisco as an ingenue with the Alcazar Stock Company. Two years later, she and her mother moved to New York City, where Crews began to act with the Henry V. Donnelly Stock Company.

Crews appeared in plays written by A.A. Milne, who was particularly impressed by her work in his Mr. Pim Passes By (1921). The play was a big success and ran for 232 performances on Broadway. In 1924 she starred in The Werewolf for a run of 112 Broadway performances.

Crews also starred as Judith Bliss in the original Broadway production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever (1925), w

LauraHopeCrews

Daughter of John Thomas Crews and Angelena G. (Lockwood) Crews

Sister of Liana May Crews, William Lincoln Crews and Sherold Deon Crews

[spouse(s) unknown]

[children unknown]

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Biography

Born H Laura Crews

Played Aunt Pittypat Hamilton in Gone With the Wind.

Obit 14 Nov 1942 in New York Times, page 15 col 1.

Obit in San Francisco Examiner. Laura Crews dies in N.Y. Noted S.F. actress succumbs to four months illness. NY 13 Nov. Laura Hope Crews, 62, stage and screen actress, died early today at the Le Roy Sanitarium here after four months illness. Miss Crews first appeared on the stage at Woodward Garden, San Francisco when she was 4 years old. After completing her education she returned to the stage in 1898 with the Alcazar Stock Company for a long and distinguished career which included numerous motion picture productions. “The Silver Chord” 1926, “The Man who Came to Dinner”, 1941 ; 1st movie “Charming Sinners”. Miss Crews was admitted to the [LeRoy] Sanitorium for a kidney ailment Oct 15. At her bedside were her neice, Mrs. Phillip Codes of Arlington, VA, and a sister of San Rafael, CA. [Laura Hope Crews was laid to rest at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California. Plot: Rose Mound, Lot 65. Crews has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.] References: Laura Hope Crews- Wikipedia. Notable American women, 1607-1950: a biographical dictionary, Volume 2 by Edward T. James, Janet Wilson James, Paul S Boyer

Trivia (11) Perhaps best remembered as Aunt Pittypat in Gone with the Wind (1939). Interred at Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Colma, California, USA. Despite her film resumé, she considered herself a theatrical actress, appearing on Broadway from 1903 in over 40 major productions, literally until the day