Queenie Smith

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Queenie Smith
Smith in 1920
Born
Anna Miriam Smith

(1899-09-08)September 8, 1899
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 5, 1978(1978-08-05) (aged 78)
Burbank, California, U.S.
OccupationsBallet dancer, actress
Years active1915–1978
Spouse
Robert Garland
​
​
(m. 1931; div. 1937)​

Anna Miriam "Queenie" Smith (September 8, 1899 – August 5, 1978) was an American ballet dancer, and a stage, television, and film actress. In later life she became a talent agent. She is best known for her Southern-belle character roles in the W. C. Fields-Bing Crosby film Mississippi (1935) and the Irene Dunne-Allan Jones musical Show Boat (1936); her role as Jimmy Durante's wife in the Christmas perennial The Great Rupert (1950); and for her appearances as The Bowery Boys' Irish landlady (1956–57).

Life and career

Born Anna Miriam Smith[a] in New York City, on September 8, 1899,[1][3][4] Smith was one of at least four (three daughters and one son), born to recently transplanted San Antonians, Emma (née Koenigheim) and Charles Smith.[5][2][6][7][8]

Smith got an early start, studying at the Metropolitan Opera's ballet school and spent her teen years performing as a dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Company[9] in operas such as Aida, La Traviata, and Faust.

In September 1919, shortly after her 20th birthday,[10] Smith made the transition to musical comedy at New York's Knickerbocker Theatre, making her Broadway debut as Ida Loring in Roly Boly Eyes.[10][11] Her other Broadway credits included the part of Tillie Olsen in Rudolf Friml's musical Cinders,[12] and roles in Helen of Troy, New York (1923), Sitting Pretty (1924), and The Street Singer (1929).[10] Her last Broadway credit was in 1934, for a two-month run of the play Every Thursday.[10]

She journeyed west to try her luck in motion pictures. After being featured in the Lillian Roth musical featurette Masks and Memories (1934), she was cast as a showboat entertainer in Mississippi. She costarred in the 1936 Universal Pictures film version of Jerome Kern's Show Boat, playing Ellie May Chipley. Smith replaced stage actress Eva Puck, who had starred as Chipley in the 1927 premiere and 1932 revival of Show Boat.

Apart from a single feature film in 1939, she made no screen appearances until 1946, when she began playing character roles on film, and later, television. She was seen in guest shots on many television shows, usually playing feisty old ladies, in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, A.E.S. Hudson Street, Rhoda, Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, Barney Miller, Mother, Jugs & Speed, Chico and the Man, McMillan & Wife, Love American Style, The Waltons, Here's Lucy, The Funny Side, Hawaii Five-O, The Monkees, The Odd Couple, The Love Boat, Maude, and Little House on the Prairie (in a recurring role as Mrs. Whipple).

Smith was a teacher and mentor to many young actors. She taught at the Hollywood Professional School and was the director for the training program at Melodyland Theater in Anaheim, California, during the 1960s. She also established a talent agency.

She worked until the year of her death, her last role being Elsie in the Chevy Chase-Goldie Hawn film Foul Play. (1978).[13]

Personal life and death

Smith married drama critic Robert Garland on May 17, 1931. They were divorced on April 30, 1937.[14] She died of cancer at age 78.

Partial filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1967The MonkeesMrs. FilchokS2:E4, "Monkee Mayor"

She played Mrs Whipple in the Little House on the Prairie.

Notes

  1. As per New York City birth records.[1] In light of the article detailing Gatti-Casazza's comments upon first witnessing Smith in class (i.e. "That little fat girl there! Why haven't you told me about her?"),[2] it becomes clear that the stage name "Queenie" was simply a somewhat dubious term of 'endearment' (presumably the brainchild of Smith's British-born father), likening Anna to the like-named, famously corpulent British Queen who reigned over assorted parts—and eventually the whole—of Great Britain during the first two decades of the eighteenth Century.

References

  1. "New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WW8-5Z5 : Wed Mar 12 01:06:31 UTC 2025), Anna Miriam Smith, 08 Sep 1899.
  2. Patterson, Bellah (December 26, 1924). "SAN ANTONIO GIRL HAS NEW YORK AT HER FEET; BECAME WORLD FAMOUS OVERNIGHT". San Antonio Evening News. p. 9. Retrieved October 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. But the strange thing about Queenie's career is that twice she has opened new shows under extremely sad circumstances. On the night she was to make her first appearance in 'Cinders,' which New York was wild to see, her father Charles Smith died. And on that night she was obliged to trip and twirl and grin and giggle while her heart was breaking. But New York did not know, and the audience cheered and tossed her flowers and demanded that she come back again and again to receive the applause. And when she opened 'Helen of Troy' there was another dreadful note of sadness, for on that night her only brother, Bernie, died.
  3. "United States, Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JT4R-3YD : 11 January 2021), Queenie Smith, Aug 1978; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  4. "Editorial". Opera News. New York City. December 16, 1916. p. 5. Retrieved October 17, 2026 – via Google Books. Miss Queenie Smith, Solo dancer with the Metropolitan Grand Opera Company Ballet, born in New York City, September 8th, 1899, and is the youngest member of the Opera Corps. At the age of four, she began to show a developing ability as a ballet dancer, and when only twelve years old, persuaded her parents to allow her to join the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School. Under the direction of Madame Verhoerven, Miss Smith studied very hard, and after a few years, she was the recognized Premiere Danseuse of the Ballet School.
  5. "The Landlord of the Wasteland". San Antonio Express and News. March 17, 1968. p. 1-H. Retrieved October 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Marcus Koenigheim's granddaughter, Queenie Smith, who is the daughter of Emma Koenigheim and Charles Smith of New York City, is the directress of the Melodyland Theater in Anaheim, the Carousel Theater in the San Gabrielle Valley and the Circle Star Theater on the San Carlos Peninsula, all in California. She took her early training in ballet and became the solo danseuse at the Metropolitan Opera House, appearing first at age 18 as a deputy for Rosina Galli; later she was featured in 'Le Coq d'Or' and 'Petrouchka.' From that beginning Miss Smith embarked upon a theatrical career, though still managing to complete her academic studies and receive a master's degree from Barnard College. While she met first success as a dancer, she is perhaps best known for her roles as a musical comedy star and also as a principal in straight plays. Throughout the 1920s she was in great demand. Following active work as a motion picture actress, she became the talent liaison for the New York Theater.
  6. "United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M5HZ-RML : Wed Aug 13 19:06:13 UTC 2025), Queenie A Smith in entry for Charles Smith, 1910.
  7. "New York, State Census, 1905", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SPN7-4GZ : Fri Jan 31 23:33:45 UTC 2025), Chas Smith, 1905.
  8. "United States, Census, 1900", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSKP-8K3 : Sun Oct 19 03:05:29 UTC 2025), Anna Smith in entry for Charles Smith, 1900.
  9. Lukes, Margaret M. (January 22, 1927). "No more clothes-horses in the chorus". Deseret News. Salt Lake City. Public Ledger. p. 31. Retrieved February 2, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Queenie Smith". Internet Broadway Database. Archived from the original on February 2, 2020. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  11. Campbell (November 16, 1919). "They're Singing the Season's Song Successes". New York Tribune. p. 9. Retrieved October 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. If any one thinks that Queenie Smith's only accomplishment is dancing, let them hasten to a performance of John Cort's 'Roly-Boly Eyes' and hear her sweet singing of 'Old-Fashioned Flowers,' the captivating song hit of that show.
  12. Mantle, Burns (April 4, 1923). "Cinders The Newest of the Cinderellas". New York Daily News. p. 20.
  13. "Foul Play". LetterBoxd. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  14. "Divorces Robert Garland: Former Queenie Smith, Actress, Freed From Critic at Reno". The New York Times. May 1, 1937. p. 16. Retrieved October 16, 2026.