Charlotte Greenwood


Frances Charlotte Greenwood was an American actress and dancer. Born in Philadelphia, Greenwood started in vaudeville, and starred on Broadway, movies and radio. Standing around six feet tall, she was best known for her long legs and high kicks. She earned the unique praise of being, in her words, the "...only woman in the world who could kick a giraffe in the eye."

Theatre

In 1913, Oliver Morosco cast her as Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo late in the run of L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalk's The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. In 1916, Morosco commissioned a successful star vehicle stage play titled So Long Letty. In 1919 Morosco brought her back in the sequel Linger Longer Letty. This role made her a star; she reprised it in the 1929 movie of the same name.
She appeared with such luminaries as Charles Ruggles, Betty Grable, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, Buster Keaton, and Carmen Miranda. Most of Greenwood's best work was done on the stage, and was lauded by such critics as James Agate, Alexander Woollcott, and Claudia Cassidy. One of her most successful roles was that of Juno in Cole Porter's Out of This World in which she introduced the Porter classic "I Sleep Easier Now". She had some discomforts with that play, as she had become a devout Christian Scientist and feared the play was too risqué.

Film

Greenwood appeared in numerous moving pictures. Her last memorable role was singing and dancing as the feisty matriarch, Aunt Eller, in the 1955 film adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!.

Radio

Greenwood had her own radio program, The Charlotte Greenwood Show, a situation comedy. It was broadcast 1944-1946, first on ABC and later on NBC. She also was in "Home in Indiana" on Lux Radio Theatre October 2, 1944.

Recordings

Greenwood ventured into recorded music with an album of songs from Cole Porter's musical Out of This World and another from the musical comedy Oh, by Jingo.

Personal life

Greenwood first married actor Cyril Ring, brother of actress Blanche Ring. They divorced. Her second husband was composer Martin Broones. He died in 1971. Both unions were childless. Greenwood died in Los Angeles, California from undisclosed causes, aged 87.

Stage work

Filmography