Vivien Oakland


Vivien Oakland, was an American actress best known for her work in comedies in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably with the Hal Roach Studios. Oakland appeared in 157 films between 1915 and 1951.

Family

Born Vivian Ruth Andersen in San Francisco, California, she was the daughter of Norwegian immigrants Edward Andersen and Anna Marthine Olsen. Her siblings' names were Edward, Herbert, and Edna. She was one half of the vaudeville team "The Oakland Sisters" with her elder sister Edna, who later performed in motion pictures as Dagmar Oakland. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Anna Andersen, a widow since 1898, moved the family to Oakland, California. In 1917, she married actor John T. Murray. Oakland performed on Broadway and with the Zigfeld Follies.

Career

She supported Laurel and Hardy on several occasions, and sometimes played the wife of Edgar Kennedy and Leon Errol in their series of short films. She played mostly bit roles in feature films in the 1940s before making her last film, an Errol comedy, in 1951. She retired from acting in 1951, settling in Sherman Oaks, California. She died seven years later and was buried in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.

Partial filmography