14 Comments

  1. What’s not to love? And learning that she tried include massages as a deduction only makes me love her more. She was the creme de la creme. Thanks for a swell addition to the blogathon.

  2. I just realized I know very little about Alice Brady, but I adore her in “My Man Godfrey”. That hangover scene is a classic. So glad you chose to highlight her for the blogathon!

  3. joelnox

    She’s great in Gay Divorcee but I’d say Godfrey is her best and the Oscar she won for In Old Chicago surely a consolation for losing there. I’ve seen quite a few of her films thanks to TCM and I think at least on film comedy was her forte. I’ve read that she was very commanding on stage in drama but then that’s a different medium with a different impact. This was nice to run across today since it happens to be her birthday.

    • Yes, I agree. She was wonderful in comedies! The Academy doesn’t often give Oscars for comedic roles, though admittedly, supporting roles get a bit more of a chance. I think you’re probably right that this was their chance to honor her, just as Cary Grant finally got a nomination for a drama. I’d totally missed that it was her birthday! Thank you for letting me know:) Leah

  4. Thank you for this post on such a great actress! She steals every scene, and her batty screwball zaniness is priceless. One of my favorites is the scavenger hunt in My Man Godfrey. And I agree with you, she’s amazing in every moment of The Gay Divorcee! I wish they had done a spin-off about Horton and Brady’s characters!

  5. Alice Brady was such a talented actress, and remarkably versatile (and how sad that she died so young). She brought an ‘edge’ to her comic characterizations – she seems so spontaneous, you feel you don’t know what she’s going to do next. But her dramatic performance in In Old Chicago is beautifully done; she takes what could have been a cliched role and makes it moving and original. Thanks for highlighting so many wonderful aspects of this great actress!

    • I think you’re right–it’s her unpredictability that explains so much of her comic genius. We’ve seen that kind of flighty character so many times, but I can’t predict her gestures/expressions/tone. She’ll play it straight when I expect hyperbole and vice versa, and the result is hilarious:) Thank you for sharing your appreciation for her with me! Leah

  6. I’d say from your summation that the case is closed, and the verdict is that Alice is guilty of being a great actress! It’s especially cruel that her name is now buried in cyberspace under a mountain of Brady Bunch references… ugh! Just saw My Man Godfrey again recently (saw it for the first time 20 or so years ago). Remembered liking it a lot, but this time around I was much less enthused– the Carole Lombard character irritated the hell out of me. But Alice saved it.

    • Doesn’t she? I admit it took a while for me to like Lombard because of that performance. Not her fault, really. Just a supremely irritating character. I like to skim to Brady’s parts:) Thanks for commenting! Always good to find more Brady fans. Leah

Leave a Reply to Patricia Nolan-Hall (@CaftanWoman)Cancel reply