Mary Field was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles.

Early life

She was born in New York City, New York. As a child she never knew her biological parents. During her infancy she was left outside the doors of a church with a note pinned to her saying that her name was "Olivia Rockefeller". She would later be adopted.

Hollywood and television

In 1937, she was signed under contract to Warner Bros. Studios and made her film debut in The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper

The Prince and the Pauper is an English-language novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada before its 1882 publication in the United States. The book represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction...

(1937). Her other screen credits include parts in such films as Jezebel (1938), Cowboy from Brooklyn

Cowboy from Brooklyn

Cowboy from Brooklyn is a 1938 American musical comedy film starring Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell, Priscilla Lane, Ann Sheridan, and future US President Ronald Reagan.-Plot:...

(1938), The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse is a 1938 American crime film starring Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Humphrey Bogart. It was directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. and written by John Wexley and John Huston, based on the first play written by short-story writer Barré Lyndon, which ran for...

(1938), Eternally Yours

Eternally Yours

Eternally Yours is second album released by the Australian music group The Saints in 1978. For their follow up album the band chose a bigger, more R&B-driven sound, including the addition of a horn section.The original title for the album was to be International Robots and recording initially...

(1939), When Tomorrow Comes (1939), Broadway Melody of 1940

Broadway Melody of 1940

Broadway Melody of 1940 is a 1940 MGM movie musical starring Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy. It was directed by Norman Taurog and features music by Cole Porter, including "Begin the Beguine"....

, Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The RKO Pictures film is about a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...

(1941), How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, telling the story through narration of the main character, of his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed to have based the book on his own knowledge of the Gilfach Goch area, but this was proven...

(1941), Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for The Times, later adapted into a movie of the same name.-Origin:...

(1942), and Life With Father

Life with Father

Life with Father is the title of a humorous autobiographical book of stories compiled in 1935 by Clarence Day, Jr., which was adapted in 1939 into a long-running Broadway play by Lindsay and Crouse, which was, in turn, made into a 1947 movie and a television series.-The book:Clarence Day wrote...

(1947). During her time in Hollywood she starred in approximately 103 films.

Her TV credits include parts in Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....

, Wagon Train

Wagon Train

Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...

, and The Loretta Young Show. In 1963, she had her last acting role playing a Roman Catholic nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

 in a television series modeled after the 1944 film Going My Way

Going My Way

Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...

which starred Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

.

Later and personal life

Following her 1963 retirement she was still married to her husband James Madison Walters and lived in Laguna Niguel, California. She also devoted her time to family and to be active in the Church of Religious Science (or Scientologist church).

Death

On June 12, 1996, just two days after her 87th birthday, Mary Fields died at her house in Fairfax, VA from stroke complications where she lived with her daughter, Susana Kerstein and Son in Law, Bob Kerstein. She had two grandchildren, Sky Kerstein and Kendall Kerstein.

External links

• Mary Field's Official Website