Lois Hamilton

Her body was returned to the United States for interrment in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1957. Following an automobile accident, in which she suffered severe injuries, she became addicted to painkillers that ended with her taking her own life through an overdose of sleeping pills in 1999. Hull made one more film, The Lady from Texas (1951), and appeared in a TV version of Arsenic and Old Lace in 1949, before retiring. Beyond these activities, her favorite pastime was flying, having obtained her pilot's license and purchasing a 1936 German WWII Bi-plane. She brought her two best stage roles to film in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) playing a homicidal aunt, and in Harvey (1950) as the batty sister of a man whose friend is an invisible rabbit, for which she won the 1950 Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Multi-talented, she also wrote the book Move Over Tarzan that was a woman's guide on how to compete successfully in a business world dominated by men. Hull made a total of five films.

Despite her busy career, she became an accomplished sculptress and painter, her works on display at a number of one-woman shows in Los Angeles. Through the 1920s she continued working in the theater, and in the 1930s had three Broadway hits in You Can't Take It With You (1936), Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), and Harvey (1944). Her widely publicized image led to acting jobs and, under the name Lois Hamilton or Lois Areno, she appeared in several Hollywood films as well as on television shows including many popular series such as the "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Three's Company.". Hull was a stage success in Craig's Wife (1926), and in Daisy Mayme (1926), a role which was written especially for her. Although she earned degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts, and wanted to pursue her interest in the arts, her looks brought an opportunity with the Ford Modeling Agency where she became one of its top models during the 1970s. Her husband died in 1919, and in 1923 Hull returned to show business under the name Josephine Hull. Aurino and studied at Temple University in her native Philadelphia before going on to the University of Florence in Florence, Italy. She made her stage debut in stock in 1905, and spent five years as a chorus girl and touring stock before she married Shelley Hull in 1910.

A descendant of Italian nobility, she was born Lois I. Hull was born Josephine Sherwood in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and attended Radcliffe College and The New England Conservatory of Music. Lois Hamilton, born October 14, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – died December 23, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was an accomplished model, author, actress, artist, and aviatrix. Josephine Hull (January 3, 1886 - March 12, 1957) was an American actress who had a successful 50-year career on Broadway before taking some of her best roles to film.