Aline Macmahon

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Aline Laveen MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress.

Her career began on stage in 1921.

She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed (1944).

Early life

MacMahon was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, the only child of William Marcus MacMahon and Jennie (née Simon) MacMahon. Her father was a telegraph operator, arbitrage broker and writer / editor in the Munsey publishing company, including their flagship title, Munsey's Magazine.

Aline's parents married on July 14, 1898, in Columbus, Ohio. Her father died on September 6, 1931. Her mother, an avid bell collector, died in 1984, just weeks before her 107th birthday.

MacMahon first appeared on stage as early as 1905. That year the family moved to Brooklyn from McKeesport, and Aline's mother began training her in the art of elocution. Soon, Aline was performing at local churches and festivals where she recited poems and played the violin. By 1908 she was well known enough to attract the attention of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, who reported "a series of songs and dances by Aline MacMahon" to be performed at St. Jude's Church in Brooklyn. Although she had been earning handsome wages for many years on New York's so-called Strawberry Circuit, MacMahon made her true professional debut with a program of readings, recitations and music at New York's McAlpin Hotel in 1914.

Education

MacMahon was raised first in the Pittsburg suburb of McKeesport, then in Brooklyn, New York. She attended New York's public school 103, then entered Erasmus Hall High School (Brooklyn) in 1912. In 1916 the MacMahon family moved to the upper west side of Manhattan and Aline enrolled in nearby Barnard College. It was there that Aline received a more serious education in acting, enrolling in "Wigs and Cues", the theater program run by the woman who became Aline's first great mentor, Minor Latham. By graduation she had appeared in nearly every program the school had mounted during those four years, and found multiple suitors for her talents, including offers from the Provincetown Players, producer / actor Walter Hampden, and the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Personal life

On March 28, 1928, MacMahon and Clarence Stein were married after a long courtship. The pair were devoted to each other, but Stein was sometimes depressed as Aline spent six months a year working in Los Angeles, while he lived and worked in New York City. Stein died in 1975 at the age of 92. The couple had no children, apparently something of a disappointment to her. MacMahon was chairwoman of the Equity Library Theater in 1950. She organized productions for community theaters and was active in relief charities. During the late 1940's and 1950's she was blacklisted as a Communist sympathizer and appeared on the notorious Communist watchlist pamphlet, Red Channels. The FBI began covert investigations of her and Clarence Stein that lasted decades before being quietly dropped in the mid-60's. Throughout their lives the Steins were inveterate travelers, having sailed around the world in 1935-36, including stops in Bali, China and Siam (Thailand), as well as visits across Scandinavia, Europe, South America, Israel and the Middle East.

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Career

In 1920, Aline made her (uncredited) Broadway debut in The Mirage as a craps-playing debutante. She has appeared on Broadway and regional stage performances in her career, with several other off-Broadway and regional stage appearances throughout her career. She was discovered by Warner Brothers director Mervyn LeRoy after heading to Los Angeles to star in Once in a Lifetime (1931) and made her film debut in the Pre-Code drama Five Star Final (1931). Aline spent the remainder of her career splitting time between New York and Hollywood in order to be with her husband, the Manhattan-based architect and city planner Clarence Stein, after signing a long-term contract with Warners. She was a critical darling in the 1930s and 40's, often depicted as the acerbic comedienne with a heart of gold or the long-suffering woman who was unlucky in love. She briefly rose to fame above-the-titles, but her career was stifled as a result of her husband's health problems. "She was a naturally sympathetic actress with a quick wit and tart tongue who then went into character roles with ease as she became plumper and more motherly looking," a screen World Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors states of MacMahon.

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