Josephine Hull

Short Biography

Josephine Sherwood changed her name after marrying stage actor Shelly Hull in 1910. She studied drama at Radcliffe College, much to the dismay of her parents and first worked on the stage in a stock company in Boston. Her husband died in 1919, aged 35, of Spanish influenza. Josephine left the stage for three years and never re-married, but resumed her theatrical career with renewed vigour from 1923. Short and dumpy of built and with a brittle delivery, Josephine had an undeniable presence and exquisite timing. On Broadway, she alternated between comedy and drama, and was notable as a member of the balmy Vanderhof family in You Can't Take It With You (1938), filmed by Frank Capra two years later).She is best remembered, however, for two indelible theatrical enactments, which she would later reprise on screen. First, she was sweetly homicidal Abby Brewster in the farce 'Arsenic and Old Lace', who, with her sister Martha (Jean Adair) sets about poisoning lonely old men with elderberry wine. The play ran on Broadway for three seasons (1941-44) and was a massive popular and critical hit with 1444 performances. The resulting 1944 motion picture was an equally resounding success and became one of Warner Brothers three biggest money-making films of the year. Josephine's second major role was as Veta Louise Simmons, perpetually befuddled, beleaguered sister of Elwood P. Dowd (whose best friend is an imaginary rabbit) in Harvey (1950). This delightfully whimsical play by Mary Chase was an even greater smash hit, totalling 1775 performances between November 1944 and January 1949. Again, Josephine reprised her role on screen in 1950, deservedly winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that year. Critic Bosley Crowther commented "Josephine Hull plays Elwood's sister with such hilarious confusion and daft concern that she brings quite as much to the picture as does Mr.Stewart - or his pal to be sure...and it would be an unhappy screen version that did not contain her rotund frame, her scatter-brained fussing and fluttering and her angelic gentleness of soul" (New York Times, December 22 1950). Hardly surprising, then, that with so many years spent on the stage, Josephine Hull's screen career was anything but prolific. She did have one more notable starring role in the theatre as Laura Partridge in 'The Solid Gold Cadillac' (1953-55), later filmed with Judy Holliday in the lead. Josephine died in New York in March 1957 of a brain hemorrhage, aged 71.