Today is the birthday of this great character actress, ubiquitous in pre-Code films – many of which are classics. She cared deeply about acting.
The quote from her in the title is instantly apparent when you encounter her work, even in supporting roles (like in Heroes for Sale). She had a type. She “read” older than she actually was, she brought a sense of self and confidence to the screen, she was a woman not an ingenue. She skipped the ingenue stage. She’s different. As I said, she was a leading lady on the New York stage, so when she came out to Hollywood to check it out she was fully formed as a trained and serious actress. She started out with a substantial part opposite Edward G. Robinson in Five Star Final – she plays his secretary, who is also secretly in love with him – and she is instantly real, grounded, subtle and deep. She stands out. She is probably most well-known for her wisecracking role in Gold Diggers of 1933 – where she is mischievous, doesn’t take much seriously – certainly not love – but she takes her work seriously!
She is utterly real.
I must point to White Lightning, where, for the first time, she was the lead. And she is fanTASTIC. She plays a self-sufficient car mechanic and garage-owner living in the middle of the desert with her wild teenage sister (Ann Dvorak). She has the typical McMahon role in the brutal hard-hitting Heroes for Sale: hearty, strong, sense of humor – but there is one heartbreaking closeup showing everything underneath the jokey friendly public facade. Here you can see why McMahon was a celebrated leading lady in New York, and an actress who studied with the first wave of Russians who came over, fascinated by what she learned (the seeds of the American Method), and which she used in her work in Hollywood. Again: you can tell.
Aline MacMahon was the real deal. As she said, “No tricks.”
MacMahon lived a long life and worked – on stage, in film, television – almost up to the very end.
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