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Margaret Hamilton (1902 - 1985)
I love children so much." Margaret Hamilton, or "Maggie" as she insisted both her co-stars and fans call her, is universally recognized for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of West in MGM's 1939 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. While the role was never one of her favorites, due both to what she perceived as limitations to the character's range and also to the many mishaps, major and minor, which occurred during filming, she held no regrets for accepting the role. She also never begrudged the attention she received wherever she went, as people young and old recognized her in restaurants and theater audiences or on the street, and petitioned her in person and through the mails for her autograph. Despite this near constant attention and recognition, Maggie never developed the inflated ego so typical in many movie stars. Indeed, whenever addressed as such, she would insist that she was not a star, but an actor. Born in Cleveland Ohio on 9 December to attorney Walter J. Hamilton and his wife Jennie, Margaret Hamilton's first exposure to acting came at the age of six, when she portrayed Sleeping Beauty in a school play. Having no illusions about the crone like features that made her famous, Margaret would often wryly remark that it was the first and last time time she played a beauty. Her gender switching portrayal of an elderly English gentleman in the senior play at Hathaway- Brown Girls' School convinced her to pursue a career as an actress. Maggie's mother insisted that she first pursue her original dream of training to teach kindergarten , so that she would have a reliable source of income while pursuing her thespian ambitions. Following her mother's advice, Margaret trained as a teacher and opened her own nursery school. While teaching, Margaret joined the Cleveland Junior League and appeared in several of its dramatic productions, including one of The Wizard of Oz in which she played none other than the Wicked Witch of the West. She later joined the Cleveland Playhouse and in time, moved to New York, where she began appearing on Broadway. After appearing in Another Language, she was among several of the original cast members hired to appear in the 1933 film adaptation. Margaret Hamilton's career in movies had begun. In 1931, Margaret Hamilton married architect Paul Meserve. A son, Hamilton Meserve, was born in 1937. Margaret divorced Paul in 1938, citing physical and mental cruelty, and gained custody of Hamilton, relying on her work as an actor to support them. To ensure steady work, she never asked for more than $1000 a week, and even refused more money when it was offered. She also refused to become a contract player, knowing that not only would she be limited to relying on one single studio for work but that the work would likely come in the form of playing maids and housekeepers, opening and closing doors and speaking only a few words of dialogue along the lines of "He's in," and "He's not in." Margaret had already had her fair share of such roles, including that of a maid in These Three, the first film adaptation of Lillian Hellman' The Children's Hour, and despite her job hunting strategy would have many more such roles in the decades to come. Years later, during a one-woman stage show, she performed a piece called, "Aprons I Have Worn," a montage of dialogue she had used when playing maids and housekeepers, an example of the humor Maggie held about her long but unglamorous career in movies. After initial plans to cast Gale Sondergaard as a slinky and seductive Wicked Witch, a la the evil queen in Disney's Snow White, were scrapped and a decision made to portray the Witch in The Wizard of Oz more along the lines of the crone described in L. Frank Baum's original story, casting director Leonard Murphy and producer Mervyn LeRoy approached Margaret for the role. Having read and loved the Baum story herself as a child, she accepted, with her only stipulation being that she be paid no more than her usual $1000. Ironically, this was more than what the film's star, Judy Garland, received. Like fellow cast members Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Buddy Ebsen and later Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton had her own share of problems with the highly experimental costumes, makeup, and special effects employed in the movie. If she ran too quickly, she would either lose her peaked hat or trip over her long black dress. If she grabbed a prop too carelessly, her press-on green fingernails would pop off. During lunch breaks an assistant had to hand feed her sandwiches piece by piece, to prevent smudging or ingesting the toxic copper based green makeup she wore on her face and hands. This makeup later proved to have more serious consequences when her face caught fire and was severely burned during the Witch's fiery departure from Munchkinland. Her stunt double, Betty Danko, was also badly injured when the smoke engine incorporated into the Witch's broomstick exploded. Although she appeared as the Wicked Witch for only a total of twelve minutes in The Wizard of Oz and for even less time as the Witch's Kansan alter ego Miss Almira Gulch , Margaret Hamilton became forever associated with these characters after the film's 1939 release. The following year she played Miss Gideon, a prudish town gossip very similar to Miss Gulch, in the W.C. Fields / Mae West vehicle My Little Chickadee. During filming of the 1942 comedy Twin Beds, a publicity photo was taken of Maggie striking a menacingly witchy pose with co-star Terry, the dog who played Toto in Wizard. She played a potion brewing backwoods witch in the Abbott and Costello comedy Coming Round the Mountain in 1951, and in 1960 William Castle cast her as the mysterious housekeeper Elaine in 13 Ghosts, precisely because of her famous role. Asked by the boy protagonist if she is a witch, Margaret's Elaine deadpans, "Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies," then knowingly grins and winks at the camera. Donning Gulchesque garb, she guest starred as Grandma Frump, Morticia's mother, in several episodes of the original Addams Family television series. She reprised her role as the Wicked Witch in an episode of Sesame Street in the 1970s, and again in a comedy sketch as part of a 1976 Halloween special starring Paul Lynde. In a twist on her association with witches, she appeared as a good witch visiting the Land of Make Believe in several episodes of Mister Roger's Neighborhood. She also spoke with Mister Rogers and his young viewers about her career and her own thoughts about her character in Oz: "Well, Mr. Rogers, that witch was what we called frustrated. All she wanted were those pretty red shoes and that little girl just wouldn't let her have them." Fortunately, Margaret Hamilton was not entirely typecast. Among her more mundane but equally memorable appearances were roles in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943); George White's Scandals (1945); The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947); People Will Talk (1951); The Daydreamer (1966); Angel in My Pocket (1969); and Brewster McCloud (1970). In Brewster McCloud , Margaret co-starred with character actor William Windom, who by coincidence had been a kindergarten student of hers whom she had expelled for his unruly behavior. Margaret also performed in numerous episodes of Studio One in 1948, and also in episodes of The Phil Silvers Show and Car 54, Where Are You?. During this time she was also enjoying many successes on the stage, including a 1969 Broadway revival of Our Town. By the 1970s the popularity The Wizard of Oz was enjoying with annual television broadcasts was translating into increased popularity and work for Margaret. She appeared in several television commercials for Maxwell House coffee as friendly shop owner Cora, a character which became nearly as popular and well-loved as that of the Wicked Witch. She also appeared with Mary Wickes and Johnny Whitaker in the Saturday morning children's show Sigmund and the Sea-Monsters as next-door neighbor Miss Eddels, who sees all but is believed by none, a character obviously based on that of Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched. In an interesting twist on her Oz association, she provided the voice of Aunt Em in the animated feature Journey Back to Oz, co-starring Liza Minelli, Mickey Rooney, and Paul Lynde. Other notable roles included that of Miss Kale in The Anderson Tapes (1971) and anthropologist Professor Hester Crabwell in The Night Strangler (1973), the second of two pilots for the Kolchak series. In 1979 she appeared as Thea Taft in an episode of Lou Grant, then reprised the role in a 1982 episode, her last acting credit. When the International Wizard of Oz Club held a convention in 1979 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the MGM classic, Margaret Hamilton attended as guest of honor, drawing cheers and applause wherever she went. While Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, and Buddy Ebsen had all accepted honorary memberships in the club, Hamilton, who had read and loved the Oz books as a child, was most genuine in her enthusiasm both for the club and her many fans. At this and future public appearances, she would refuse to grant autographs only when it became physically impossible to fulfill requests from everyone in the room. She took special pleasure in meeting children, who though initially frightened at meeting the Wicked Witch of the West soon came to love the sweet old lady who was talking to them. On 16 May, 1985, Margaret Hamilton died from a heart attack at a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut. Her death ended a career that had lasted over fifty years. She was survived by her son Hamilton and three grandchildren. That The Wizard of Oz has a popularity among gays and lesbians to the point of stereotype is common knowledge, and Margaret Hamilton certainly remains a major part of that popularity. Director John Waters has identified the Wicked Witch as his favorite part of the entire movie, and the character follows closely on the heels of Dorothy and Glinda as a popular motif for drag performances. One is therefore not too surprised by claims made by some historians of Hollywood's gay past that Margaret Hamilton was at one time one of the "lavender ladies," a group of lesbian character actors whose members included Agnes Moorehead, Marjorie Main, and Mary Wickes, among others. And like these performers, Margaret Hamilton's class and professionalism earned her the love and admiration of all who knew her. The same children she had terrified as the Wicked Witch of the West nearly always grew up to be devoted fans. Links: A Tribute to My Favorite Oz Character I'll Get You, My Pretty - Suite101.com Hathaway Brown Alumnae: Margaret Hamilton Meserve Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, by Munchkin Donna Stewart-Hardway Find A Grave: Margaret Hamilton
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