Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live

Merrily We Live

Merrily We Live is a 1938 comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne and features Ann Dvorak, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Clarence Kolb and Patsy Kelly. The film was produced by Hal Roach for Hal Roach Studios, and was...

. Burke was also the wife of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., of Ziegfeld Follies

Ziegfeld Follies

The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....

 fame, from 1914 until his death.

Early life

Known as Billie Burke, she toured the United States and Europe with her father, a singer. Her family ultimately settled in London where she was fortunate to see plays in London's West End

West End of London

The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...

. In 1903, she began acting on stage, making her debut in London in The School Girl

The School Girl

The School Girl is a musical comedy, in two acts, composed by Leslie Stuart with a book by Henry Hamilton and Paul M. Potter, and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor and others...

. She eventually returned to America to become the toast of Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 as a musical comedy star.

Career

Burke went on to play leads on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in Mrs. Dot, Suzanne, The Runaway, The "Mind-the-Paint" Girl, and The Land of Promise from 1910 to 1913, along with a supporting role in the revival of Sir Arthur Wing Pinero

Arthur Wing Pinero

Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...

's The Amazons. There she caught the eye of producer Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...

, marrying him in 1914. In 1916, they had one daughter, Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson

Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson

Patricia Ziegfeld Stephenson was an American author. Stephenson was the only child of Broadway impresario, Florenz Ziegfeld, and actress Billie Burke, who may be best known for portraying Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.-Biography:Patricia Ziegfeld was born in...

 (1916–2008). Burke was quickly signed for the movies, making her film debut in the title role of Peggy (1916). She continued to appear on the stage, and sometimes she starred on the screen. She loved the stage more than movie-business, not only because it was her first love, but also because it allowed her to have speaking parts (impossible in silent movies). But when the family's savings were wiped out in the Crash of 1929, she had no choice but to return to the screen.
In 1932, Burke made her Hollywood comeback, starring as Margaret Fairfield in A Bill of Divorcement

A Bill of Divorcement

A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...

, directed by George Cukor

George Cukor

George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...

. (Burke played Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...

's mother in the film, which was Hepburn's debut). Despite the death of Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...

 during the film's production, Burke resumed filming shortly after his funeral.

In 1933, Burke was cast as Mrs. Millicent Jordan, a scatterbrained high-society woman hosting a dinner party in the comedy Dinner at Eight, directed by George Cukor

George Cukor

George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David Copperfield , Romeo and Juliet and...

, co-starring with Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...

, Marie Dressler

Marie Dressler

Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...

, John Barrymore

John Barrymore

John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...

, Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow

Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...

 and Wallace Beery

Wallace Beery

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...

. The movie was a great success, and revived Burke's career. She subsequently starred in many comedies and musicals, typecast as a ditzy, fluffy and feather-brained upper-class matron with her high-pitched voice.

In 1936, MGM filmed a sanitized biopic of Florenz Ziegfeld (The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld

The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 musical film produced by MGM. A fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin...

), a film that won Academy Awards for Best Picture

Academy Award for Best Picture

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...

 and Best Actress

Academy Award for Best Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...

 (Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer is a former German film actress. Known as The "Viennese Teardrop", she was the first woman to win two Academy Awards, and the first person to win them consecutively. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts while acting on stage in Austria and Germany and after appearing in Austrian...

 as Ziegfeld's common-law wife, Anna Held

Anna Held

Helene Anna Held was a Polish-born stage performer, most often associated with impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, her common-law husband. -Early life:...

). William Powell

William Powell

William Horatio Powell was an American actor.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...

 played Flo Ziegfeld and Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...

 played Burke.

In 1937 she appeared in the first of the Topper

Topper (film)

Topper is a 1937 American comedy film which tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple. It was adapted by Eric Hatch, Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran from the novel by Thorne Smith. The film was directed by Norman Z. McLeod, produced by...

films, about a man haunted by two socialite ghosts (played by Cary Grant

Cary Grant

Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

 and Constance Bennett

Constance Bennett

-Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry...

), in which she played the tremulous and daffy Clara Topper. Her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live

Merrily We Live

Merrily We Live is a 1938 comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne and features Ann Dvorak, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Clarence Kolb and Patsy Kelly. The film was produced by Hal Roach for Hal Roach Studios, and was...

(1938) resulted in her only Oscar

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nomination. In 1938 she was chosen to play Glinda

Glinda

Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

, "the Good Witch of the North", in the Oscar-winning seminal 1939 musical film The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

, directed by Victor Fleming

Victor Fleming

Victor Lonzo Fleming was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were The Wizard of Oz , and Gone with the Wind , for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.-Life and career:Fleming was born in La Canada, California, the son of Elizabeth Evaleen ...

, with Judy Garland

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

. Burke had worked on a Garland film, Everybody Sing, in which she played Judy's histrionically hysterical actress-mother. Another successful film series followed with Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride (1950 film)

Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...

(1950) and Father's Little Dividend

Father's Little Dividend

Father's Little Dividend is a 1951 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie is the sequel to Father of the Bride ....

(1951), both directed by Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis, The Band Wagon, and An American in Paris. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made...

 and starring Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...

, Joan Bennett

Joan Bennett

Joan Geraldine Bennett was an American stage, film and television actress. Besides acting on the stage, Bennett appeared in more than 70 motion pictures from the era of silent movies well into the sound era...

, and Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

.

Burke wrote two autobiographies, both with Cameron Van Shippe, With a Feather on My Nose (Appleton 1949) and With Powder on My Nose (Coward McCann, 1959).

Radio and television

On CBS Radio

CBS Radio

CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...

, The Billie Burke Show was heard on Saturday mornings from April 3, 1943 until September 21, 1946. Sponsored by Listerine, this situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 was initially titled Fashions in Rations during its first year. Portraying herself as a featherbrained Good Samaritan who lived "in the little white house on Sunnyview Lane," she always offered a helping hand to those in her neighborhood. She worked often in early television, appearing in the short-lived sitcom Doc Corkle

Doc Corkle

Doc Corkle is an American Television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC on Sunday nights for three weeks from October 5 to October 19, 1952. The show's sponsor, Reynolds Metals, was so disappointed with the program that it was canceled and replaced by Mr...

(1952). She was a guest star on several TV and radio series, including Duffy's Tavern

Duffy's Tavern

Duffy's Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks , concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast....

.

Burke tried to make a comeback on the New York stage. She starred in two short-lived productions: This Rock and Mrs. January and Mr. Ex. Although Burke got good reviews, the plays did not. She appeared in several plays in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 as well, although her mind became clouded, and she had trouble remembering lines. In the late 1950s, her failing memory led to her retirement from show business, although her explanation for that was, "Acting just wasn't any fun anymore."

Her last screen appearance was in Sergeant Rutledge

Sergeant Rutledge

Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 Western and military courtroom drama starring Woody Strode and Jeffrey Hunter. It was directed by John Ford and shot on location in Monument Valley, Utah....

, a Western directed by John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

 in 1960.

Death

Billie Burke died in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 of natural causes, aged 85, in 1970 and was interred at Kensico Cemetery

Kensico Cemetery

Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads which served the city...

, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York

Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...

, survived by her daughter, Patricia, and four grandchildren.

Legacy

For many years, Burke's framed photo was displayed above the exit staircase at New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Ziegfeld Theatre

Ziegfeld Theatre

The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and, despite public protests, was razed in 1966....

, but it vanished after renovations. However, an opening night program, bearing a picture of Burke, from her 1912 triumph The Mind The Paint Girl (Sir Arthur Wing Pinero) is still displayed in the lobby of the Lyceum Theatre in New York City. A park in the New York City suburb of Hastings on Hudson, New York, is named the Burke Estate.

Radio

• The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
  The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
  The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, broadcast on CBS during the 1930s, attempted to bring the success of Florenz Ziegfeld's stage shows to the new medium of radio....
  
  – 1932
• Doubting Thomas
  Doubting Thomas
  A Doubting Thomas is someone who will refuse to believe something without direct, physical, personal evidence; a skeptic.-Origin:The term is based on the Biblical account of Thomas the Apostle, a disciple of Jesus who doubted Jesus' resurrection and demanded to feel Jesus' wounds before being...
  
  - 1935
• Good News of 1939 – 1938
• The Rudy Vallee Hour – 1939
• The Gulf Screen Guild Theater – 1939
• The Rudy Vallee Sealtest Show – 1940–41
• The Pepsodent Show – 1941
• The Billie Burke Show – 1943–1946
• Duffy's Tavern
  Duffy's Tavern
  Duffy's Tavern was a popular American radio situation comedy which ran for a decade on several networks , concluding with the December 28, 1951 broadcast....
  
  – 1944
• The Sealtest Village Store – 1944
• Mail Call – 1944
• The Charlie McCarthy Show – 1944–47
• Tribute to Ethel Barrymore – 1945
• The Rudy Vallee Show – 1945
• Show Stoppers – 1946
• The Danny Kaye Show – 1946
• WOR 25th Anniversary – 1947
• Your Movietown Radio Theatre – 1948
• The Eddie Cantor Pabst Blue Ribbon Show – 1948
• Family Theater
  Family Theater
  Family Theater was a dramatic anthology radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947 to September 11, 1957.-Production background:...
  
  – 1948–52
• This Is Show Business
  This Is Show Business
  This Is Show Business is an American panel discussion program about the entertainment industry, hosted by Clifton Fadiman, which aired on CBS Television from July 15, 1949 to March 9, 1954, and then again as a summer series on NBC Television from June 26 to September 11, 1956.-Overview:Guest...
  
  – CBS-TV, 1949
• The Martin and Lewis Show – 1949
• The Bill Stern Colgate Sports Newsreel – 1949
• Stagestruck – 1954
• Biography in Sound – 1955–56

Broadway

• My Wife – 1907
• Love Watches – 1908
• Mrs. Dot – 1910
• Suzanne – 1910
• The Philosopher in the Apple Orchard – 1911
• The Runaway – 1911
• The Amazons – 1913
• The Land of Promise
  The Land of Promise
  The Land of Promise is a 1917 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Joseph Kaufman and starred Billie Burke and Thomas Meighan. The film is based on the 1913 play by W. Somerset Maugham, The Land of Promise, which also starred Burke...
  
  – 1913
• Jerry – 1914
• The Rescuing Angel – 1917
• A Marriage of Convenience – 1918
• Caesar's Wife – 1919
• The Intimate Strangers – 1921
• Rose Briar – 1922
• Annie Dear – 1924
• The Marquise – 1927
• The Happy Husband – 1928
• Family Affairs – 1929
• The Truth Game – 1930
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 – 1934
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1936
  Ziegfeld Follies of 1936
  The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 is a musical revue with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by Vernon Duke and sketches by Gershwin and David Freedman...
  
  – 1936
• This Rock – 1943
• Ziegfeld Follies of 1943 – 1943
• Mrs. January and Mr. X – 1944

Filmography

Silent

• Peggy
  Peggy (film)
  Peggy is a 1916 silent film comedy drama produced and directed by Thomas Ince and starring Billie Burke in her motion picture debut. It is a lost film.-Cast:*Billie Burke as Peggy Cameron*William H. Thompson as Andrew Cameron...
  
  (1916)
• Gloria's Romance
  Gloria's Romance
  Gloria's Romance is a 1916 silent film serial starring Billie Burke. It was written by Rupert Hughes and his wife and produced by George Kleine. Two men Walter Edwin and Colin Campbell served as principal directors. It is Burke's second outting as a film actress and one of the very rare occasions a...
  
  (1916)
• The Mysterious Miss Terry
  The Mysterious Miss Terry
  The Mysterious Miss Terry is a 1917 silent film mystery drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. The film stars Billie Burke, who at the time was a famous stage actress, married to Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.. This particular story was adapted special to the...
  
  (1917)
• Arms and the Girl (1917)
• The Land of Promise
  The Land of Promise
  The Land of Promise is a 1917 silent film produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Joseph Kaufman and starred Billie Burke and Thomas Meighan. The film is based on the 1913 play by W. Somerset Maugham, The Land of Promise, which also starred Burke...
  
  (1917)
• Eve's Daughter (1918)
• Let's Get a Divorce (1918)
• In Pursuit of Polly (1918)
• The Make-Believe Wife (1918)
• Good Gracious, Annabelle (1919)
• The Misleading Widow
  The Misleading Widow
  The Misleading Widow is a 1919 silent film comedy directed by John S. Robertson and starring Billie Burke. It is based on a played Billeted by F. Tennyson Jesse and H. M. Harwood. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount-Artcraft. As with most of Burke's silent films...
  
  (1919)
• Sadie Love
  Sadie Love
  Sadie Love is a 1919 silent film comedy produced Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount-Artcraft. It is based on a 1915 stage play by Avery Hopwood which starred a young Marjorie Rambeau. Billie Burke is the star in the film version and John S. Robertson directed. This is a lost film...
  
  (1919)
• Wanted: A Husband
  Wanted: A Husband
  Wanted: A Husband is a 1919 silent film comedy starring Billie Burke. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount-Artcraft. The film is based on a short story Enter D'Arcy by Samuel Hopkins Adams. The relatively unknown and forgotten Lawrence C...
  
  (1919)
• Away Goes Prudence
  Away Goes Prudence
  Away Goes Prudence is a 1920 silent film comedy produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. This picture was directed by John S. Robertson and starred Billie Burke. Screen writer Josephine Lovett provided a story direct for the screen. A lost film...
  
  (1920)
• The Frisky Mrs. Johnson
  The Frisky Mrs. Johnson
  The Frisky Mrs. Johnson is a 1920 silent film comedy starring Billie Burke. It was produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a 1903 Broadway stage play by Clyde Fitch. On the stage Burke's part was played by Amelia Bingham. Burke's next to last...
  
  (1920)
• The Education of Elizabeth
  The Education of Elizabeth
  The Education of Elizabeth is a 1921 silent film comedy-romance produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dillon and stars stage star Billie Burke in her last silent film...
  
  (1921)

Sound

• A Bill of Divorcement
  A Bill of Divorcement
  A Bill of Divorcement is a 1932 American drama film, directed by George Cukor and starring John Barrymore and Katharine Hepburn in her movie debut. It is based on the British play of the same name, written by Clemence Dane as a reaction to a law passed in Britain in the early 1920s that allowed...
  
  (1932)
• Christopher Strong
  Christopher Strong
  Christopher Strong is a 1933 RKO film, directed by Dorothy Arzner and starring Katharine Hepburn in her second screen role. The screenplay by Zoë Akins is adapted from the novel by Gilbert Frankau.-Synopsis:...
  
  (1933)
• Dinner at Eight (1933)
• Only Yesterday
  Only Yesterday (1933 film)
  Only Yesterday is a 1933 drama film about a young woman who becomes pregnant by her boyfriend before he rushes off to fight in World War I. It stars Margaret Sullavan and John Boles. The film was based on the novel Briefe einer unbekannten by Stefan Zweig, though he was not credited...
  
  (1933)
• Where Sinners Meet (1934)
• Finishing School
  Finishing School (film)
  Finishing School is a 1934 romantic drama film starring Frances Dee as a young woman who gets into trouble after being sent to a finishing school by her neglectful parents.This film was condemned by the Legion of Decency.-Plot:...
  
  (1934)
• We're Rich Again
  We're Rich Again
  We're Rich Again is a 1934 comedy film starring Edna May Oliver, Billie Burke and Marian Nixon. A formerly wealthy family tries to stave off bankruptcy until one of them can marry a rich man...
  
  (1934)
• Forsaking All Others
  Forsaking All Others
  Forsaking All Others is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke, and starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery. In this "comedy of errors", three friends of long-standing are involved in a love triangle. The screenplay was written by Joseph L....
  
  (1934)
• Society Doctor (1935)
• After Office Hours
  After Office Hours
  After Office Hours is a 1935 film starring Clark Gable and Constance Bennett and directed by Robert Z. Leonard.-Plot:Jim Branch , news editor, falls for Sharon Norwood while trying to uncover a murder mystery.-Cast:...
  
  (1935)
• Becky Sharp
  Becky Sharp (film)
  Becky Sharp is a 1935 film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Miriam Hopkins. Other supporting cast were Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, and Alan Mowbray. It is based on the play of the same name by Langdon Mitchell, which in turn is based on...
  
  (1935)
• Doubting Thomas (1935)
• She Couldn't Take It
  She Couldn't Take It
  She Couldn't Take It is a 1935 comedy film made at Columbia Pictures, directed by Tay Garnett, written by C. Graham Baker, Gene Towne and Oliver H.P...
  
  (1935)
• A Feather in Her Hat
  A Feather in Her Hat
  A Feather in Her Hat is a 1935 melodrama film starring Pauline Lord as a working-class woman with ambitions for her son. It is based on the novel of the same name by I. A. R. Wylie.-Plot:...
  
  (1935)
• Splendor (1935)
• My American Wife
  My American Wife
  My American Wife is a 1922 silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film is considered to be lost, since no prints seem to have survived.-Cast:* Gloria Swanson - Natalie Chester* Antonio Moreno - Manuel La Tessa...
  
  (1936)
• Piccadilly Jim
  Piccadilly Jim
  Piccadilly Jim is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on February 24, 1917 by Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, and in the United Kingdom in May 1918 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
  
  (1936)
• Craig's Wife
  Craig's Wife (film)
  Craig's Wife is a 1936 drama film starring Rosalind Russell as a domineering wife. It was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play of the same name by George Kelly , and directed by Dorothy Arzner...
  
  (1936)
• Parnell
  Parnell (film)
  Parnell is a 1937 MGM film starring Clark Gable as Charles Stewart Parnell, the famous Irish politician. It is considered Gable's worst film, and is classified in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.-Production:...
  
  (1937)
• Topper
  Topper (film)
  Topper is a 1937 American comedy film which tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple. It was adapted by Eric Hatch, Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran from the novel by Thorne Smith. The film was directed by Norman Z. McLeod, produced by...
  
  (1937)
• The Bride Wore Red
  The Bride Wore Red
  The Bride Wore Red is a 1937 motion picture, directed by Dorothy Arzner, and starring Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young and Billie Burke. It was based on the unproduced play The Bride from Trieste by Ferenc Molnár. In this "rags to riches" tale, Crawford plays a cabaret singer who poses as...
  
  (1937)
• Navy Blue and Gold
  Navy Blue and Gold (film)
  Navy Blue and Gold is a 1937 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Robert Young, James Stewart and Lionel Barrymore.-Cast:*Robert Young as Roger Ash*James Stewart as "Truck" Cross*Lionel Barrymore as Captain "Skinny" Dawes...
  
  (1937)
• Everybody Sing (1938)

• Merrily We Live
  Merrily We Live
  Merrily We Live is a 1938 comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod. It stars Constance Bennett and Brian Aherne and features Ann Dvorak, Bonita Granville, Billie Burke, Tom Brown, Alan Mowbray, Clarence Kolb and Patsy Kelly. The film was produced by Hal Roach for Hal Roach Studios, and was...
  
  (1938)
• The Young in Heart
  The Young in Heart
  The Young in Heart is a film comedy starring Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Paulette Goddard, Roland Young, and Billie Burke....
  
  (1938)
• Topper Takes a Trip
  Topper Takes a Trip
  Topper Takes a Trip is a 1938 film sequel of Topper . Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke and Alan Mowbray reprised their roles from the earlier movie; only Cary Grant was missing . A ghost tries to reunite a couple who she had a hand in splitting up in the prior film...
  
  (1939)
• Zenobia
  Zenobia (film)
  Zenobia is a 1939 comedy film starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit, and Hattie McDaniel...
  
  (1939)
• Bridal Suite (1939)
• The Wizard of Oz
  The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
  The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...
  
  (1939)
• Eternally Yours
  Eternally Yours (film)
  Eternally Yours is a 1939 American comedy film made by Walter Wanger and released by United Artists. The film was produced and directed by Tay Garnett with Walter Wanger as executive producer, from a screenplay by C. Graham Baker and Gene Towne....
  
  (1939)
• Remember? (1939)
• The Ghost Comes Home (1940)
• Irene (1940)
• The Captain Is a Lady (1940)
• Dulcy (1940)
• Hullabaloo
  Hullabaloo (film)
  Hullabaloo is a 1940 musical comedy film directed by Edwin L. Marin and written by Nat Perrin. It stars Frank Morgan, Virginia Grey, Dan Dailey, Billie Burke, Donald Meek, Reginald Owen and Connie Gilchrist...
  
  (1940)
• And One Was Beautiful
  And One Was Beautiful
  And One Was Beautiful is a 1940 romantic drama film starring Robert Cummings, Laraine Day, and Jean Muir. It is based on the story of the same name by Alice Duer Miller. Two sisters are attracted to a rich playboy...
  
  (1940)
• The Wild Man of Borneo (1941)
• Topper Returns
  Topper Returns
  Topper Returns is the third and final entry in the initial series of films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith. It followed Topper and Topper Takes a Trip...
  
  (1941)
• One Night in Lisbon (1941)
• The Man Who Came to Dinner
  The Man Who Came to Dinner (film)
  The Man Who Came to Dinner is a 1942 American comedy film directed by William Keighley. The screenplay by Julius and Philip G. Epstein is based on the 1939 play of the same title by Moss Hart and George S...
  
  (1942)
• What's Cookin'?
  What's Cookin'?
  What's Cookin'? is a 1942 American musical film starring The Andrews Sisters, Jane Frazee, Robert Paige and Gloria Jean. The film was directed by Edward F. Cline and is based on the story Wake Up and Dream written by Edgar Allan Woolf.-Plot:...
  
  (1942)
• In This Our Life
  In This Our Life
  In This Our Life is a 1942 American drama film, the second to be directed by John Huston. The screenplay by Howard Koch is based on the 1941 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title by Ellen Glasgow. The cast included the established stars Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland as sisters and...
  
  (1942)
• They All Kissed the Bride
  They All Kissed the Bride
  They All Kissed the Bride is a Columbia Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford, Melvyn Douglas, Roland Young, and Billie Burke in a story about a trucking firm executive who falls in love. The screenplay by P. J. Wolfson was based on a story by Gina Kaus and Andrew P. Solt. The film was...
  
  (1942)
• Girl Trouble (1942)
• Hi Diddle Diddle
  Hi Diddle Diddle
  Hi Diddle Diddle is a black-and-white American comedy film made in 1943 directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Dennis O'Keefe, June Havoc, Billie Burke, and Pola Negri....
  
  (1943)
• So's Your Uncle (1943)
• You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith (1943)
• Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)
• The Laramie Trail (1944)
• Swing Out, Sister
  Swing Out, Sister
  Swing Out, Sister is a 1945 American musical comedy film starring Rod Cameron and Billie Burke. Two people get jobs anonymously at a jazz club without telling their upper class families.The band Swing Out Sister took its name from this movie.-Cast:...
  
  (1945)
• The Cheaters (1945)
• Breakfast in Hollywood
  Breakfast in Hollywood
  Breakfast in Hollywood was a popular morning radio show created and hosted by Tom Breneman who broadcast from 1941 to 1948 on three different radio networks: NBC, ABC and Mutual. These unscripted shows were spontaneous and involved much audience participation...
  
  (1946)
• The Bachelor's Daughters (1946)
• Billie Gets Her Man (1948)
• The Barkleys of Broadway
  The Barkleys of Broadway
  The Barkleys of Broadway is a 1949 musical film from the Arthur Freed unit at MGM that reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers after ten years apart...
  
  (1949)
• Father of the Bride
  Father of the Bride (1950 film)
  Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's upcoming wedding. The movie stars Spencer Tracy in the titular role, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, and Leo G. Carroll. It was adapted by Frances Goodrich...
  
  (1950)
• Father's Little Dividend
  Father's Little Dividend
  Father's Little Dividend is a 1951 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, and Elizabeth Taylor. The movie is the sequel to Father of the Bride ....
  
  (1951)
• Small Town Girl
  Small Town Girl (1953 film)
  Small Town Girl is a 1953 musical film directed by László Kardos and starring Jane Powell, Farley Granger, and Ann Miller. Busby Berkeley choreographed several dance numbers. Bobby Van performed the memorable "Street Dance", in which he hopped all around town. The film features song performances...
  
  (1953)
• The Young Philadelphians
  The Young Philadelphians
  The Young Philadelphians is a 1959 drama film starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush and Alexis Smith, and directed by Vincent Sherman. Robert Vaughn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film is based on the novel The Philadelphian by Richard P...
  
  (1959)
• Sergeant Rutledge
  Sergeant Rutledge
  Sergeant Rutledge is a 1960 Western and military courtroom drama starring Woody Strode and Jeffrey Hunter. It was directed by John Ford and shot on location in Monument Valley, Utah....
  
  (1960)
• Pepe
  Pepe (film)
  Pepe is a 1960 film starring Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno in the title role, directed by George Sidney. A multitude of cameo appearances attempted to replicate the success of Mario Moreno's American debut, notably Around the World in Eighty Days, produced by Mike Todd in 1956.The film failed to...
  
  (1960)

Listen to

• Heritage Radio Theatre: "The Tramp" (April 27, 1946) The Billie Burke Show (with three other shows)

External links

• Billie Burke still photos from several Billie plays and lost Billie silent films Univ. of Washington Sayre collection
• Billie Burke photos Univ. of Louisville Macauley Collection
• Billie Burke photo gallery NY Public Library Billy Rose collection
• Literature on Billie Burke
• Mcfarlandpub.com Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke, a biography by Grant Hayter-Menzies (McFarland & Company, 2009)
• Billie Burke; PeriodPaper.com