Mitzi Green
Green in 1932
Born
Elizabeth Keno

(1920-10-22)October 22, 1920
New York City, U.S.[1]
DiedMay 24, 1969(1969-05-24) (aged 48)
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.[1]
Resting placeEden Memorial Park Cemetery, Mission Hills, California
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Years active1929–1955
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1942)​
Children4

Mitzi Green (born Elizabeth Keno; October 22, 1920 – May 24, 1969)[1] was an American child actress and singer for Paramount and RKO, in the early "talkies" era. She then acted on Broadway and in other stage works, as well as in films and on television.

Celebrities including Frederick Jagel, Marsha Hunt, Robert Taylor, Jean Harlow and Mitzi Green were invited to Washington, D.C., to assist with President's Birthday Ball fundraising activities (January 30, 1937)

Early years

Mitzi Green was born in The Bronx on October 22, 1920. Starting at the age 3, she began appearing in her parents' vaudeville act under the name Little Mitzi.[2]

Career

Green was often featured in Paramount's early talkies, as an outspoken and mischievous little girl alongside studio stars Clara Bow, Jack Oakie, Ed Wynn, Leon Errol, and Edna May Oliver among others. Green was a gifted mimic and her celebrity imitations were often worked into the films. She was cast (against type) opposite Jackie Coogan in two Mark Twain adaptations, Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931). Paramount released her in 1931, as she was rapidly outgrowing child roles.

She moved to RKO for two pictures, both adaptations of works from other media. She played the title role in Little Orphan Annie (1932), based on the popular comic strip, with Edgar Kennedy as Daddy Warbucks. She also appeared as the precocious kid sister in Girl Crazy (1932), the first movie version of the George Gershwin-Ira Gershwin stage musical. Green brightened the film with surprising impersonations of George Arliss and her former co-star Edna May Oliver.

At the age of 14, she played a soubrette role in Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round (1934), produced independently by Edward Small for United Artists release. It did not result in further film offers, and Green left Hollywood.

She went on to Broadway, where she starred in the original production of Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms (1937).[3] Two of Green's numbers in the musical were "My Funny Valentine," which would later become a jazz standard in many cover recordings and performances, and "The Lady is a Tramp".

Green made one more film in 1940 (Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn), then went back to stage and nightclub work, including Walk with Music by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, and the Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Billion Dollar Baby. Green married Broadway (and later movie and TV) director Joseph Pevney and retired to raise a family. At age 31 she returned briefly to the screen opposite Abbott and Costello in Lost in Alaska (1952) and in Bloodhounds of Broadway (1952), co-starring another Mitzi—Mitzi Gaynor.

In 1955, she starred with Virginia Gibson and Gordon Jones in the short-lived NBC TV sitcom So This Is Hollywood, in the role of Queenie Dugan, a high-spirited stuntwoman.[4]

After a brief stint on the nightclub circuit, Green retired again, although she did appear in summer stock and dinner theater around the Los Angeles area thereafter, and she appeared occasionally as a guest on talk shows.

Recognition

For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Green received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6430 Hollywood Blvd.[5]

Death

On May 24, 1969, Green died in Huntington Beach, California, at age 48, of cancer.[1][6]

Partial filmography

Year Film Role Director Notes
1929 The Marriage Playground Zinnie Wheater Lothar Mendes
1930 Honey Doris Wesley Ruggles
1930 Paramount on Parade Herself – Episode 'Park in Paris' Edmund Goulding and 10 other directors
1930 Love Among the Millionaires Penelope 'Penny' Whipple Frank Tuttle
1930 The Santa Fe Trail Emily Edwin H. Knopf
1930 Tom Sawyer Becky Thatcher John Cromwell
1930 Follow the Leader Albert Parker
1931 Finn and Hattie Mildred Haddock Norman Taurog
1931 Skippy Eloise Norman Taurog
1931 Dude Ranch Alice Merridew Frank Tuttle
1931 Newly Rich Daisy Tate Norman Taurog
1931 Huckleberry Finn Becky Thatcher Norman Taurog
1931 The Slippery Pearls Herself William C. McGann
1932 Girl Crazy Tessie Deegan William A. Seiter
1932 Little Orphan Annie Annie Charles Kerr (assistant)
1934 Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round Mitzi Benjamin Stoloff
1940 Santa Fe Trail Girl at Wedding (uncredited) Michael Curtiz
1952 Lost in Alaska Rosette Jean Yarbrough
1952 Bloodhounds of Broadway '52nd Tessie' Sammis Harmon Jones

Stage

Bibliography

  • Best, Marc. Those Endearing Young Charms: Child Performers of the Screen (South Brunswick and New York: Barnes & Co., 1971), pp. 100–104.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mitzi Green - L.A. Times Hollywood Star Walk
  2. ↑ Los Angeles Times
  3. ↑ Everett, William A.; Laird, Paul R. (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 136. ISBN 9781442256699. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  4. ↑ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 987. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  5. ↑ Mitzi Green - Hollywood Walk of Fame
  6. ↑ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 30. ISBN 9780786409839. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitzi Green.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.