Blandic, Clara

Clara Dickey was born in the harbor of Hong Kong in the family of Isaac and Hattie Dickie aboard the Willard Maggett ship, where her father was the captain. ^[1] Upon returning to the United States, her family settled in Massachusetts in Quincy . Her acting career began with the theatrical stage of Boston , and in 1900 she moved to New York . A year later, Blandic already played on Broadway stages , soon gaining recognition of criticism and the love of the public. In 1905, she married engineer Harry Staunton Elliott, whom she divorced seven years later. ^[2] Since 1911, the actress began to periodically appear in films, starring until the end of the decade in eight silent films. During the First World War, Blandic participated in a number of volunteer missions with the American Expeditionary Force in France .

In 1929, the actress moved to Hollywood , thereby starting the second stage of her film career. Blandic has become quite popular in the movie on supporting roles, later appearing in more than a hundred films, including Roman (1930), Obsessed (1931), Missouri Girl (1934), Lonely Pine Path (1936), Magnificent Insinuation (1936) and Huckleberry Finn (1939). The most popular actress on the big screen was the role of Aunt Em in the classic film adaptation of L. Frank Baum 's The Wizard of Oz in 1939. In the 1940s, Blandic starred in a dozen roles ( Anthony the Unfortunate , Drums of the Mohawk Valley , Stolen Life , Life with Her Father ) before she completed her film career in 1950.

Throughout the 1950s, the actress's health was steadily deteriorating, she began to go blind and suffer from arthritis . On April 15, 1962, after the Sunday Mass, she returned home, placed her favorite photographs and memorabilia in prominent places, laid out her resume and a collection of newspaper clippings over the years of her long career, put on an elegant blue bathrobe and took a large dose of sleeping pills. After that, she let loose her hair, lay down on the sofa, covered herself with a blanket, and put a plastic bag over her head. In a suicide note, she wrote the following: “I'm going on a great adventure. I can no longer endure this excruciating pain throughout my body. I do not want to put up with impending blindness. I ask the Lord to accept my soul. Amen . " The actress was cremated and buried in a columbarium at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale .