Evelyn Laye

She died in London from respiratory failure. She died in Los Angeles, California, of lung cancer. During a tribute in 1992 at the London Palladium the actor John Mills described her as "the fairest prima donna this side of heaven". Her near-pathological fear of germs did not interfere with her career. Her acting career ranks as one of the longest in British theatre. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, and repeated it in nine more films. Awarded an OBE in 1973, Laye continued acting well into her nineties. She played Ma Kettle in The Egg and I in 1947 opposite Percy Kilbride as Pa Kettle.

Her other stage successes included Silver Wedding (1957) with Lawton, and The Amorous Prawn (1959) and Phil the Fluter (1969). She made six comedies with Wallace Beery in the 1940s. She acted several times opposite her second husband, the actor Frank Lawton. She again transferred a strong stage performance, as a dude ranch operator in The Women, to film in 1939. She continued acting in such productions as The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. She repeated her stage role in Dead End in the movie version of 1937, and was subsequently cast repeatedly as the mother of gangsters. Married to the actor Sonnie Hale from 1926, Laye received widespread public sympathy when Hale left her for the actress Jessie Matthews in 1930. She married Stanley LeFevre Krebs, who died in 1935.

She made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet. She began playing upper class dowagers, but was ultimately typecast in abrasive, domineering, salty roles: her distinct voice was like chalk upon a blackboard. Among her sucesses during the 1920s were Madame Pompadour, The Dollar Princess and Lilac Time. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931. Born Elsie Evelyn Lay in Bloomsbury, London, England, Laye made her first stage appearance in 1915, and for the first few years of her career played mainly in musical comedy. She worked in vaudeville on the Chautauqua and Orpheum circuits, and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Evelyn Laye (July 10 - 1900 - February 17, 1996) was a British theatre actress. Born in Acton, Indiana as Mary Tomlinson, she attended Franklin College, in Franklin, Indiana. She adopted a stage name to avoid embarrassing her father, who was a minister.

Marjorie Main (24 February 1890-10 April 1975) was an American character actress who was best known for her role as Ma Kettle in a series of ten Ma and Pa Kettle movies. The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm - 1957- Ma Kettle. Friendly Persuasion - 1956. The Kettles in the Ozarks - 1956 - Ma Kettle.

Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki - 1955 - Ma Kettle. Ricochet Romance - 1954. Rose Marie - 1954. Ma and Pa Kettle at Home - 1954 - Ma Kettle.

The Long, Long Trailer - 1954. Fast Company - 1953. Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation - 1953 - Ma Kettle. Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair - 1952 - Ma Kettle.

The Belle of New York - 1952. A Letter from a Soldier - 1951. It's a Big Country - 1951. The Law and the Lady - 1951.

Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm - 1951 - Ma Kettle. Imperium - 1951. Mr. Malone - 1951.

O'Malley and Mr. Mrs. Summer Stock - 1950. Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town - 1950 - Ma Kettle.

The Harvey Girls - 1946. Murder, He Says - 1945. Gentle Annie - 1944. Louis - 1944.

Meet Me in St. Rationing - 1944. Johnny Come Lately - 1943. Heaven Can Wait - 1943.