Mary Nash

After a brief stab at films in 1913, actress Mary Nash returned to the stage, where she remained until settling in Hollywood permanently in 1934. In films until 1946, Nash was often cast as seemingly mild-mannered women who turned vicious when challenged, as witness her work in College Scandal (1936) and Charlie Chan in Panama (1940). As the hateful Fraulein Rottenmeier in Heidi (1937), she proved so effective at menacing Shirley Temple that she was rehired in 1939 to give Temple even more hell in The Little Princess (1939). Mary Nash's most sympathetic role was as the long-suffering wife of blustering capitalist J. B. Ball in Easy Living (1937).