Josephine Whittell

Whittell was born on November 30, 1883, in San Francisco, California{{cite book|last1=Ellenberger|first1=Allan R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bOJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Josephine+Whittell%22&pg=PA30|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|date=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0983-9|page=30|language=en|accessdate=April 28, 2020}} to Charles and Susan Cunningham.{{cite news |title=Daughter here for death quiz |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49731865/the-san-francisco-examiner/ |accessdate=April 29, 2020 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=March 4, 1934 |location=California, San Francisco |page=9|via = Newspapers.com}}

File:JosephineWhittell1916.png

Early in her career, Whittell performed as a chorus girl in Anna Held's theatrical company.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Cunningham Declares Her Daughter Will Marry George Whittell, Jr.; His Father Denies It |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49802554/josephine-whittell/ |accessdate=April 29, 2020 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=May 12, 1904 |location=California, San Francisco |page=4|via = Newspapers.com}}

Whittell began her film career during the silent era, debuting in a featured role in 1917's Alimony.{{cite journal |title=Josephine Whittell Is Screen Player |journal=Motography |date=December 29, 1917 |volume=XVIII |issue=26 |page=1354 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3hJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Josephine+Whittell%22&pg=PA1354 |accessdate=April 28, 2020}} She appeared in four silent films between 1917 and 1921, before taking a hiatus from the film industry.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&Type=CA&Tbl=PN&CatID=&ID=90076&searchedFor=Josephine_Whittell_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEASE_YEAR | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Josephine Whittell | accessdate=January 16, 2015}} In 1931 Whittell returned to films, with supporting roles in two Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, Caught Plastered and Peach O'Reno.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=5985 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Caught Plastered | accessdate=January 16, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329110325/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=5985 | archivedate=March 29, 2014}}{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=6345 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Peach-O-Reno | accessdate=January 16, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150116224244/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=6345 | archivedate=January 16, 2015}} During her 43-year career, she appeared in more than 70 films. In the early 1930s, she appeared frequently as the older seductress in films before the enactment of the film code in the mid-1930s.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/76060/Josephine-Whittell/biography | title=Josephine Whittell, About This Person | accessdate=January 16, 2015 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411010822/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/76060/Josephine-Whittell/biography | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=The New York Times | author=Hal Erickson | author-link=Hal Erickson (author) | date=2015 | archivedate=April 11, 2015}}

Whittell appeared in many notable films, either in supporting or small roles. Some of those films include: Stage Door (1938), starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Adolphe Menjou;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=6574 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Stage Door | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117183038/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=6574 | archivedate=January 17, 2015}} 1939's The Women, with Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=5135 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Women | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328182757/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=5135 | archivedate=March 28, 2014}} the 1945 version of State Fair, starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=24599 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=State Fair | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911023932/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=24599 | archivedate=September 11, 2014}} King Vidor's The Fountainhead, the film version of the Ayn Rand novel of the same name, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=25929 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Fountainhead | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328174502/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=25929 | archivedate=March 28, 2014}} the musical, In the Good Old Summertime, with Judy Garland and Van Johnson;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=25969 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=In the Good Old Summertime | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422110146/http://afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=25969 | archivedate=April 22, 2014}} George Stevens' A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=50249 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=A Place in the Sun | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140422170704/http://afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=50249 | archivedate=April 22, 2014}} the Cecil B. De Mille epic, The Greatest Show on Earth;{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=50496 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Greatest Show on Earth | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150111004204/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=50496 | archivedate=January 11, 2015}} and the 1954 version of A Star is Born, directed by George Cukor, and starring Garland and James Mason.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=51362 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=A Star is Born | accessdate=January 17, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328095547/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/AbbrView.aspx?s=&Movie=51362 | archivedate=March 28, 2014}}

She remained active in films until late in life, making her last appearance in 1959's The Buccaneer, directed by Anthony Quinn (his only directing credit).{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=52491 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=The Buccaneer | accessdate=January 16, 2015 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402231941/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=52491 | archivedate=April 2, 2014}}

In May 1904, Josephine Cunningham's purported engagement to George Whittell Jr. was a subject of dispute. She and her mother said that a diamond ring was evidence of the engagement. Meanwhile, George Whittell Sr. denied any engagement. On June 2, 1904, they were married in Jersey City, New Jersey. She filed for divorce two years later.{{cite news |title=Actress asks divorce from capitalist's son |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49803961/josephine-whittell/ |accessdate=April 29, 2020 |work=San Francisco Call |date=March 18, 1906 |location=California, San Francisco |page=43|via = Newspapers.com}} Whittell married, secondly, to actor Robert Warwick in 1910. When she acted on stage and he worked in films, they lived in New York and California, respectively, and visited each other occasionally.{{cite news |title=Josephine Whittell has a great love for dogs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49730949/josephine-whittell/ |accessdate=April 28, 2020 |work=The Boston Globe |date=December 21, 1919 |location=Massachusetts, Boston |page=38|via = Newspapers.com}}

On June 1, 1961, Whittell died in Hollywood, California, at age 77.

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Alimony (1917)
• The Climbers (1919)
• Marie, Ltd. (1919)
• The Inner Chamber (1921)
• Caught Plastered (1931)
• Peach O'Reno (1931)
• Symphony of Six Million (1932)
• What Price Hollywood? (1932)
• Infernal Machine (1933)
• It's a Gift (1934)
• The Life of Vergie Winters (1934)
• Servants' Entrance (1934)
• Jealousy (1934)
• Love Time (1934)
• Mills of the Gods (1934)
• Under Pressure (1935)
• Redheads on Parade (1935)
• Shanghai (1935)
• Follow Your Heart (1936)
• Easy to Take (1936)
• Beware of Ladies (1936)
• Beg, Borrow or Steal (1937)
• Hotel Haywire (1937)
• Stage Door (1937)
• Married Before Breakfast (1937)
• Larceny on the Air (1937)
• Double Wedding (1937)
• Blondie (1938)
• Too Hot to Handle (1938)
• Women Are Like That (1938)
• Lucky Night (1939)
• The Women (1939)
• Boy Trouble (1939)
• Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)
• Glamour Boy (1941)
• Life with Henry (1941)
• Unfinished Business (1941)
• Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
• Lady in a Jam (1942)
• The Magnificent Dope (1942)
• Dixie (1943)
• Standing Room Only (1944)
• The Enchanted Cottage (1945)
• Having Wonderful Crime (1945)
• State Fair (1945)
• Life with Blondie (1945)
• Affairs of Geraldine (1946)
• Easy to Wed (1946)
• Rendezvous with Annie (1946)
• That Brennan Girl (1946)
• The Virginian (1946)
• The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947)
• The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947)
• Song of Love (1947)
• One Touch of Venus (1948)
• Sitting Pretty (1948)
• Train to Alcatraz (1948)
• The Accused (1949)
• Adventure in Baltimore (1949)
• Chinatown at Midnight (1949)
• The Fountainhead (1949)
• In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
• The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949)
• Chinatown at Midnight (1950)
• Shakedown (1950)
• Molly (1951)
• Here Comes the Groom (1951)
• A Place in the Sun (1951) - Margaret - Eastman's Secretary (uncredited)
• Too Young to Kiss (1951)
• The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
• Forever Female (1954)
• A Star Is Born (1954)
• The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956)
• The Buccaneer (1959)

{{div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Josephine Whittell}}

• {{IMDb name|0926475}}
• {{Tcmdb name}}
• {{IBDB name|69063}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittell, Josephine}}

Category:1883 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Actresses from San Francisco