Helen Broderick
Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 - September 25, 1959) was a wonderfully funny character comedienne with vaudeville and stage experience, a close friend of Jeanne Eagels. The story goes, that at the age of 14 she ran away from home, because her mother, who appeared in operatic comedy, was totally obsessed by the theatre. Paradoxically, all the people she met turned out to be performers, and Helen (who needed to make a living, after all) ended up where she hadn't wanted to end up - on the stage.
She started out as a chorus girl in the first Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. Her talent for comedy was discovered quite by accident. In 1911, she was understudy to the actress Ina Claire in the Broadway play 'Jumping Jupiter'. One night, Claire was unable to perform and Helen Broderick stood in as the romantic lead. She soon had the audience in stitches, trampling about the stage like an elephant, rolling her big saucer eyes and attempting to croon 'Cuddle Near Me All Day Long' in her rather unique voice. The romance was no more and instead turned into a popular farce with Helen now permanently installed in the lead role. For a while, Helen partnered her husband, Lester Crawford, in vaudeville. In the 1920's, she enjoyed success on Broadway, most notably in 'Fifty Million Frenchmen' ( a role she took to Hollywood in 1931). Her best parts in the movies were as the perennial friend or chaperone of the heroine (an earlier Eve Arden), delivering acidic wisecracks in her inimitable dead-pan manner. She was particularly amusing in Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; and in The Rage of Paris (1938) with Danielle Darrieux.
Acting
Movie
Top Hat
as Madge Hardwick
1935
Movie
Swing Time
as Mabel Anderson
1936
Movie
The Rage of Paris
as Gloria Patterson
1938
Movie
Stage Door Canteen
as Helen Broderick
1943
Movie
The Bride Walks Out
as Mattie Dodson
1936
Movie
Murder on a Bridle Path
as Hildegarde Withers
1936
Movie
Service de Luxe
as Pearl
1938
Movie
Naughty But Nice
as Aunt Martha Hogan
1939
Movie
Because of Him
as Nora
1946
Movie
Father Takes a Wife
as Aunt Julie
1941
Movie
We're on the Jury
as Agnes Dean
1937
Movie
Stand Up and Fight
as Amanda Griffith
1939
Movie
The Life of the Party
as Pauline
1937
Movie
Smartest Girl in Town
as Gwen
1936
Movie
No, No, Nanette
as Mrs. Susan Smith
1940
Movie
The Road to Reno
as Aunt Minerva
1938
Movie
Nice Girl?
as Cora Foster
1941
Movie
Love on a Bet
as Aunt Charlotte
1936
Movie
She's Got Everything
as Aunt Jane
1937
Movie
Love, Honor and Goodbye
as Mary Riley
1945
Movie
50 Million Frenchmen
as Violet
1931
Movie
Honeymoon in Bali
as Lorna "Smitty" Smith
1939
Movie
Radio City Revels
as Gertie
1938
Movie
Meet the Missus
as Emma Foster
1937
