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词条 Una Merkel
释义

  1. Life and career

  2. Personal life

     Marriage 

  3. Death

  4. Filmography

  5. Television

  6. References

  7. Further reading

  8. External links

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2015}}{{Infobox person
| name = Una Merkel
| image = Una Merkel - still.JPG
| caption = Una Merkel in 1934
| birth_date = {{birth date|1903|12|10|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Covington, Kentucky, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|1|2|1903|12|10|mf=y}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
| yearsactive = 1920–1968
| spouse = {{marriage|Ronald Burla|1932|1947|end=divorced}}
}}

Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.

Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film actress. Two of her best-known performances are in the films 42nd Street and Destry Rides Again. She won a Tony Award in 1956 and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1961.

Life and career

Una Merkel was born in Covington, Kentucky, to Arno Merkel and Bessie Phares,[1] but in her early childhood, she lived in many of the Southern United States due to her father's job as a traveling salesman. At the age of 15, she and her parents moved to Philadelphia. They stayed there a year or so before settling in New York City, where she began attending the Alviene School of Dramatic Art.

Because of her strong resemblance to actress Lillian Gish, Merkel was offered a part as Gish's youngest sister in a silent film called World Shadows. Unfortunately, the public never saw the film because funding for it dried up, and it was never completed. Merkel went on to appear in a few silent movies, several of them for the Lee Bradford Corporation. She also appeared in the two-reel Love's Old Sweet Song (1923), which was made by Lee DeForest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process and starred Louis Wolheim and Helen Weir. Not making much of a mark in films, Merkel turned her attention to the theater and found work in several important plays on Broadway. Her biggest triumph was in Coquette (1927), which starred her idol, Helen Hayes.

Invited to Hollywood by famous director D. W. Griffith to play Ann Rutledge in his film Abraham Lincoln (1930), Merkel became a big success in the "talkies". During the 1930s, she became a popular second lead in a number of films, usually playing the wisecracking best friend of the heroine, supporting actresses such as Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Loretta Young, and Eleanor Powell.[2]

With her Kewpie-doll looks, strong Southern accent, and wry line delivery, Merkel left her mark on scores of films in the 1930s. She played Sam Spade's secretary in the original 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon. Merkel was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player from 1932 to 1938, appearing in as many as 12 films in a year, often on loan-out to other studios. She was also often cast as leading lady opposite Jack Benny, Harold Lloyd, Franchot Tone, and Charles Butterworth, among others.

In 42nd Street (1933), Merkel played a streetwise show girl who was Ginger Rogers' character's buddy. In the famous "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" number, Merkel and Rogers sang the verse: "Matrimony is baloney. She'll be wanting alimony in a year or so./Still they go and shuffle, shuffle off to Buffalo." Merkel appeared in both the 1934 and the 1952 film versions of The Merry Widow, playing different roles.

One of her most famous roles was in the Western comedy Destry Rides Again (1939), in which her character, Lily Belle, gets into a famous "cat-fight" with Frenchie (Marlene Dietrich) over the possession of her husband's trousers, won by Frenchie in a crooked card game. She played the elder daughter to the W. C. Fields character, Egbert Sousé, in the 1940 film The Bank Dick. Her film career went into decline during the 1940s, although she continued working in smaller productions. In 1950, she starred with William Bendix in the baseball comedy Kill the Umpire, which was a surprise hit.

She made a comeback as a middle-aged woman playing mothers and maiden aunts, and in 1956 won a Tony Award for her role on Broadway in The Ponder Heart, adapted from the novella of the same name. She had a major part in the MGM 1959 film The Mating Game as Paul Douglas's character's wife and Debbie Reynolds' character's mother, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Summer and Smoke (1961). She was also featured as Brian Keith's character's housekeeper, Verbena, in the Walt Disney comedy The Parent Trap in 1961. Her final film role was opposite Elvis Presley in Spinout (1966).

Personal life

On March 5, 1945, Merkel was nearly killed when her mother Bessie, with whom she shared an apartment in New York City, committed suicide by gassing herself. Merkel was overcome by the five gas jets her mother had turned on in their kitchen and was found unconscious in her bedroom.[3][4]

On March 4, 1952, seven years almost to the day after her mother committed suicide, Merkel overdosed on sleeping pills.[3] She was found unconscious by a nurse who was caring for her at the time and remained in a coma for a day before recovering.[5]

Merkel was a lifelong Methodist.[6][7]

Marriage

Merkel was married once and had no children.[8] She married North American Aviation executive Ronald L. Burla in 1932.[9] They separated in April 1944. Merkel filed for divorce on December 19, 1946 in Miami, and it was granted in March 1947.[10]

Death

On January 2, 1986, Merkel died in Los Angeles at the age of 82.[8][11] She is buried near her parents, Arno and Bessie Merkel, in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.[12]

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Una Merkel has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6230 Hollywood Boulevard).[13] In 1991, a historical marker was dedicated to her in her hometown of Covington.

Filmography

For TV movies, see the Television credits section.

Year Title RoleNotes
1923Love's Old Sweet SongShort
1924The Fifth HorsemanDorothy
1930Abraham LincolnAnn Rutledge
1930The Eyes of the WorldSybil
1930The Bat WhispersDale Van Gorder
1931Command PerformancePrincess Katerina
1931Don't Bet on WomenTallulah Hope
1931Six Cylinder LoveMargaret Rogers
1931The Maltese FalconEffie Perine
1931Daddy Long LegsSally McBride
1931The BargainEtta
1931WickedJune
1931The Secret WitnessLois Martin
1931Private LivesSibyl
1932She Wanted a MillionaireMary Taylor
1932The Impatient MaidenBetty Merrick
1932Man WantedRuth 'Ruthie' Holman
1932HuddleThelma
1932Red-Headed WomanSally
1932They Call It SinDixie Dare
1932Men Are Such FoolsMolly
1933Whistling in the DarkToby Van Buren
1933The Secret of Madame BlancheElla
193342nd StreetLorraine Fleming
1933Clear All Wires!Dolly
1933Reunion in ViennaIlsa Hinrich
1933Midnight MaryBunny
1933Her First MateHattie
1933Broadway to HollywoodFlirt in AudienceUncredited
1933Beauty for SaleCarol Merrick
1933MenuMrs. OmskShort, uncredited
1933BombshellMac
1933Day of ReckoningMamie
1933The Women in His LifeMiss 'Simmy' Simmons
1934This Side of HeavenBirdie
1934Murder in the Private CarGeorgia Latham
1934Paris InterludeCassie
1934The Cat's-PawPet Pratt
1934Bulldog Drummond Strikes BackGwen
1934Have a HeartJoan O'Day
1934The Merry WidowQueen Dolores
1934Evelyn PrenticeAmy Drexel
1935Biography of a Bachelor GirlSlade Kinnicott
1935The Night Is YoungFanni Kerner
1935One New York NightPhoebe
1935Baby Face HarringtonMillicent
1935Murder in the Fleet'Toots' Timmons
1935Broadway Melody of 1936Kitty Corbett
1935It's in the AirAlice Lane Churchill
1936RiffraffLil Bundt
1936SpeedJosephine Sanderson
1936We Went to CollegeSusan Standish
1936Born to DanceJenny Saks
1937Don't Tell the WifeNancy Dorsey
1937The Good Old SoakNellie
1937SaratogaFritzi
1937CheckersMamie Appleby
1937True ConfessionDaisy McClure
1939Four Girls in WhiteGertie Robbins
1939Some Like It HotFlo Saunders
1939On Borrowed TimeMarcia Giles
1939Destry Rides AgainLily Belle
1940Comin' Round the MountainBelinda Watters
1940Sandy Gets Her ManNan Clark
1940The Bank DickMyrtle Sousé
1941Double DateAunt Elsie Kirkland
1941Road to ZanzibarJulia Quimby
1941Cracked NutsSharon Knight
1942The Mad Doctor of Market StreetAunt Margaret Wentworth
1942Twin BedsLydia
1943This Is the ArmyRose Dibble
1943Quack ServiceDaffyShort
1944To Heir Is HumanUnaShort
1944Sweethearts of the U.S.A.Patsy Wilkins
1947It's a Joke, Son!Mrs. Magnolia Claghorn
1948The Bride Goes WildMiss Doberly
1948The Man from TexasWidow Weeks
1950Kill the UmpireBetty Johnson
1950My Blue HeavenMiss Irma Gilbert
1950Emergency WeddingEmma
1951Rich, Young and PrettyGlynnie
1951A Millionaire for ChristyPatsy Clifford
1951Golden GirlMary Ann Crabtree
1952With a Song in My HeartSister Marie
1952The Merry WidowKitty Riley
1953I Love MelvinMom Schneider
1955The KentuckianSophie Wakefield
1956The Kettles in the OzarksMiss Bedelia Baines
1956Bundle of JoyMrs. Dugan
1957The Fuzzy Pink NightgownBertha
1958The Girl Most LikelyMother
1959The Mating GameMa Larkin
1961The Parent TrapVerbena
1961Summer and SmokeMrs. Winemiller
1963Summer MagicMariah Popham
1964A Tiger WalksMrs. Watkins
1966SpinoutViolet Ranley

Television

Year Title RoleNotes
1952Four Star PlayhouseRose Barton"My Wife Geraldine"
1953Schlitz Playhouse of Stars"Guardian of the Clock"
1953Your Jeweler's Showcase"The Monkey's Paw"
1953Willys Theatre Presenting Ben Hecht's Tales of the City"Miracle in the Rain"
1954Westinghouse Studio OneParsis McHugh"Two Little Minks"
1955Kraft Television Theatre"Trucks Welcome"
1956Calling Terry ConwayPearl McGrathTV film
1957Playhouse 90Louise Hoagland"The Greer Case"
1957The Red Skelton ShowMrs. Van Wyck"Freddie and the Happy Helper"
1957Climax!Maud"The Secret of the Red Room"
1958DuPont Show of the MonthAladdin's Mother"Cole Porter's 'Aladdin'"
1958The United States Steel Hour"Flint and Fire"
1962The Real McCoysMrs. Gaylord"The New Housekeeper"
1963The Bill Dana ShowMrs. Hatten"The Poker Game"
1963–1965Burke's LawClara Lovelace / Mrs. Thomas Barrett / Miss Samantha Cartier3 episodes
1964The Cara Williams ShowAmelia Hofstetter"Amelia Hofstetter, Please Go Home"
1964DestryGranny Farrell"Law and Order Day"
1968I SpyAunt Alma"Home to Judgment"

References

1. ^Kentucky. Birth Records, 1847-1911
2. ^{{cite news |last=Reid |first=Alexander |title=Una Merket Dies at Age of 82; From Silent Films to a Tony |newspaper=The New York Times |date=5 January 1986 |page=24 |subscription=yes}}
3. ^{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19520304&id=X29gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LXINAAAAIBAJ&pg=3526,445324&hl=en |title=Una Merkel Lies In Coma After Pill Overdose |date=March 4, 1952 |newspaper=Star-News |page=4 |accessdate=March 22, 2015 |location=Wilmington, North Carolina}}
4. ^{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2245&dat=19450306&id=5fVeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QFQMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4457,3137762&hl=en |title=Una Merkel in Death Escape |date=March 6, 1945 |newspaper=Lodi News-Sentinel |page=8 |accessdate=March 22, 2015}}
5. ^{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19520306&id=W_NjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5rADAAAAIBAJ&pg=1537,727712&hl=en |title=Una Merkel Recovering |date=March 6, 1952 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |page=3 |accessdate=March 22, 2015}}
6. ^kyumc.org/events/detail/1806
7. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.fumceunice.org/About.html |title=About FUMC |website=First United Methodist Church, Eunice, Louisiana |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6AgcJflnB?url=http://www.fumceunice.org/About.html |archivedate=September 15, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
8. ^{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/1986-01-04/local/me-24219_1_individual-films |title=Una Merkel, Movie, Stage Actress, Dies |last=Folkart |first=Burt A. |date=January 4, 1986 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=March 22, 2015}}
9. ^{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19461202&id=DMMwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5398,5223118&hl=en |title=Divorce Is Sought By Una Merkel |date=December 3, 1946 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |page=2 |accessdate=March 22, 2015}}
10. ^{{cite news |title=Una Merkel Files Suit on Back Alimony |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381275669/?terms=Una%2BMerkel%2BFiles%2BSuit%2Bon%2BBack%2BAlimony |date=November 6, 1947 |work=Los Angeles Times |page=2 |accessdate=February 22, 2019 |subscription=yes}}
11. ^{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1982&dat=19860105&id=kYZGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VjMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4011,301370&hl=en |title=Actress Una Merkel dies |date=January 5, 1986 |work=The Evening News |page=2A |accessdate=March 22, 2015 |location=Newburgh, New York}}
12. ^{{cite book |editor1-last=Tenkotte |editor1-first=Paul A. |editor2-last=Claypool |editor2-first=James C. |title=The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc0eBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Encyclopedia+of+Northern+Kentucky&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ7s_ztNTgAhUDSa0KHXuhChMQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Una%20Merkel&f=false |date=January 13, 2015 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0813159966 |page=615}}
13. ^{{cite web |url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/una-merkel/ |title=Hollywood Star Walk: Una Merkel |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=March 22, 2015}}

Further reading

  • Kinder, Larry Sean. Una Merkel: The Actress With Sassy Wit and Southern Charm. Albany, GA: BearManor Media, 2016.

External links

{{Portal|Biography}}{{Commons}}
  • {{IBDB name}}
  • {{IMDb name|0580916}}
  • Photographs of Covington, Kentucky's Una Merkel
  • Photographs of Una Merkel
  • {{Find a Grave|1750}}
{{TonyAward PlayFeaturedActress 1947-1975}}{{Authority control}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkel, Una}}

14 : 1903 births|1986 deaths|20th-century American actresses|20th-century Methodists|Actresses from Kentucky|American film actresses|American radio actresses|American stage actresses|American television actresses|American United Methodists|Burials in Kentucky|Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players|People from Covington, Kentucky|Tony Award winners

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