Sunday 9 December 2012

And your little dog, too



In a career playing supporting roles alongside everyone from Buster Keaton and WC Fields in the 1930s to Ed Asner as Lou Grant in the early 80s, Miss Margaret Hamilton never landed a leading lady part on screen. Hers was not the conventional "Hollywood glamour" for such things, apparently. Yet she has managed to become immortal, for one important role.

On the 110th anniversary of her birth, here, of course, is the character that forever cemented Miss Hamilton's place in the annals of cinematic history - the "Wicked Witch of the West" in The Wizard of Oz:


But who knew she also sang?

Here is Miss Hamilton as Madam Armfeldt performing (unfortunately sound-only) the show-stealing number Liaisons from the 1974-5 touring production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music, also starring Jean Simmons:


Facts about Margaret Hamilton:
  • She began her career as a kindergarten teacher, before the world of movie character acting beckoned.
  • One of her New York apartment's neighbours was Jimmy Cagney.
  • Her appearance on Sesame Street - in character as the "Wicked Witch" - allegedly so terrified America's children that the episode has never been shown again since it first aired in 1976.

Margaret Hamilton (9th December 1902 – 16th May 1985)

4 comments:

  1. Recently I watched a documentary on the filming of “The Wizard of Oz.”

    Buddy Ebsen was hired to play the Tin Man before Jack Haley took over the part. The aluminum makeup in Buddy’s “Tin Man” costume made him seriously ill with a lung infection.

    And Margaret Hamilton was severely burned when a burst of real fire arose from the trap door in which she was staging her exit.

    So much for health and safety standards!

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    1. Miss Hamilton's first stunt double was hospitalised with first-degree burns from the effects used to make the "broomstick" shoot flames, and the Munchkins were apparently all involved in drug-fuelled orgies. "There's no place like home!" indeed. Jx

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  2. Great post - she was truly wonderful in Wizard Of Oz!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks sweetie! And yes, she was my favourite thing in the film... Jx

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