Best known for her roles in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Make Way for Tomorrow, Beulah Bondi (1889-1981) had a 60-year long acting career and an interesting on-screen life. Despite starting her professional acting career at 30, she made her mark on the film industry as a character actress. Before making a name for herself on-screen, she worked at the Stuart Walker stock company and performed on Broadway. This biography is the first to unpack Bondi’s life before and throughout her film career. This work also explores Bondi’s early family life in Indiana with a Jewish underwear salesman and a Presbyterian poet for parents.

Axel Nissen is a professor of American literature in the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo in Norway.

Axel Nissen
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 251
Bibliographic Info: 40 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2021
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8188-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4259-8
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
1. Valparaiso, Indiana: Early Life and Career 5
2. From Stock to ­Stock-in-Trade: 1919–1924 33
3. Broadway Baby: 1925–1930 59
4. Miss Bondi Goes to Hollywood: 1931–1935 77
5. Glory Days: 1935–1939 100
6. Bondi’s War: 1940–1945 131
7. Bondi’s Peace: 1945–1949 159
8. It Was a Wonderful Life: Later Career and Final Years 174
Chapter Notes 199
Bibliography 235
Index 237