Nancy Carroll

Carroll retired from film in 1938 to return to the stage, and later appeared primarily in television roles from 1950 to 1963. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.

• Name — Nancy Carroll • Birth Name — Ann Veronica Lahiff • Born — 19 November 1903 • Birthplace — New York City, U.S. • Died — 6 August 1965 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1923–1965

Of Irish parentage, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Lahiff, Carroll was born in New York City. Her education came at Holy Trinity School in New York, but she left there at age 16 to work as a stenographer in an office of a lace manufacturer. (Another source says that she left the eighth grade at age 14 "to go on the stage".) She was the seventh of 12 children. Although her parents had named her Ann, she said, "... finally I demanded that I be called Nancy, and they agreed it suited me." Carroll and her sister "worked up a little specialty number" and auditioned for the Shuberts, which resulted in their performing in a show.

Carroll's career began in 1923 when she performed in the chorus of The Passing Show in New York. She began her acting career in Broadway musicals. Although she initially wanted to be a character actress, she said, "But the moment I took off my hat, and that's the first thing a manager asks you to do when you go to apply for a job — every manager without exception would say: 'You must go into musical comedy. You're just the type. No chance for you in a dramatic production.'" She became a successful actress in sound films because her musical background enabled her to play in movie musicals of the 1930s. Her film debut was in Ladies Must Dress in 1927. Carroll's early experience included work in "second-rate road companies" and portrayal of Roxie Hart in the Los Angeles production of Chicago. • Illustration — 1930 lobby card In 1928 she made eight films. One of them, Easy Come, Easy Go, co-starring Richard Dix, made her a movie star. In 1929 she starred in The Dance of Life with Hal Skelly, and The Wolf of Wall Street along with George Bancroft and Olga Baclanova. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930 for The Devil's Holiday. Among her other films are Laughter (1930), Paramount on Parade (1930), Hot Saturday (1932) with Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933) directed by James Whale, and Broken Lullaby aka The Man I Killed (1932) directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Under contract to Paramount Pictures, Carroll often balked at the roles the studio offered her, and she earned a reputation as a recalcitrant and uncooperative actress. In spite of her ability to successfully tackle light comedies, tearful melodramas, and even musicals, and as well as garnering considerable praise by the critics and public – she received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930s – she was released from her contract by the studio. In the mid-1930s under a four-film contract with Columbia Pictures, she made four rather insignificant films and was no longer an A-list actress. Carroll retired from films in 1938, returned to the stage, and starred as the mother in the early television series The Aldrich Family in 1950. In the following year, she guest-starred in the television version of The Egg and I, starring her daughter, Patricia Kirkland.

Carroll's first husband was author Jack Kirkland. They were married seven years and divorced in 1931. Also in 1931 she married educator Francis Bolton Mallory. They were together for three years and separated for three years before they were divorced. She was married to C. H. J. Groen, a manufacturer of fiberglass. On August 6, 1965, she was found dead after failing to arrive at the theater for a performance. The cause of her death was an aneurysm. She was 61 years old.

For her contributions to the film industry, Carroll has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1725 Vine Street. The star was dedicated February 8, 1960.

• Film • Year — Film — Role — Notes • 1927 — Ladies Must Dress — Mazie • 1928 — Abie's Irish Rose — Rosemary Murphy — Incomplete • Easy Come, Easy Go — Barbara Quayle — Lost film • Chicken a La King — Maisie Devoe — Lost film • The Water Hole — Judith Endicott — Lost film • Manhattan Cocktail — Babs Clark — Lost film except for one-minute montage sequence by Slavko Vorkapich • The Shopworn Angel — Daisy Heath — Incomplete, held at the Library of Congress) • 1929 — The Wolf of Wall Street — Gert — Lost film • Sin Sister — Pearl — Lost film • Close Harmony — Marjorie Merwin • The Dance of Life — Bonny Lee King • Illusion — Claire Jernigan • Sweetie — Barbara Pell • 1930 — Dangerous Paradise — Alma — Alternate title: Two Against Death • Honey — Olivia Dangerfield • The Devil's Holiday — Hallie Hobart — Nominated for Best Actress Academy Award • Laughter — Peggy Gibson • Paramount on Parade — Herself — cameo appearance • Follow Thru — Lora Moore • 1931 — Stolen Heaven — Mary • The Night Angel — Yula Martini • Personal Maid — Nora Ryan • 1932 — Broken Lullaby — Fraulein Elsa — Alternate title: The Man I Killed • Wayward — Daisy Frost • Hot Saturday — Ruth Brock • Scarlet Dawn — Tanyusha Krasnoff • Under-Cover Man — Lora Madigan • 1933 — Child of Manhattan — Madeleine McGonegle • The Woman Accused — Glenda O'Brien • The Kiss Before the Mirror — Maria Held • I Love That Man — Grace Clark • 1934 — Springtime for Henry — Julia Jelliwell • Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round — Sally Marsh — Alternate title: Keep 'Em Laughing • Jealousy — Josephine "Jo" Douglas O'Roarke • 1935 — I'll Love You Always — Nora Clegg • After the Dance — Anne Taylor • Atlantic Adventure — Helen Murdock • 1938 — That Certain Age — Grace Bristow • There Goes My Heart — Dorothy Moore • Television • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1950–1951 — The Aldrich Family — Alice Aldrich #2 — Unknown episodes • 1951 — Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre — 1 episode • The Egg and I — Betty's mother — Unknown episodes • 1959 — The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen — Fanny Wilson — 1 episode • 1961 — Naked City — Bernice Hacker — 1 episode • 1962 — The United States Steel Hour — 2 episodes • 1963 — Rockabye the Infantry — Hortense Tyler — Television movie • 1963 — Going My Way — Nora Callahan — "Cornelius Come Home" (her final screen role on ABC-TV)