Aline MacMahon - Biography

Aline MacMahon (May 3, 1899 – October 12, 1991) was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed (1944).

Early life

Aline Laveen MacMahon was born to William M. MacMahon and Jennie C. Simon in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Her parents married on July 14, 1898 in Columbus, Ohio. According to the 1910 United States Federal Census, her father was born in 1878 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania to an Irish-born father, whose occupation was a telegraph operator. Her mother, Jennie, was born in 1879 in Russia of Jewish origin; Jennie MacMahon died in 1984, aged 105.

Education

Aline MacMahon was raised in New York City and educated at Erasmus Hall High School (Brooklyn) and Barnard College.

Career

MacMahon began appearing on Broadway in 1921. Her first film role was in 1931 in Five Star Final; she alternated between Broadway and Hollywood throughout her career.

Personal life

MacMahon was married to Clarence Stein, an architect and city planner, who founded the Regional Planning Association in 1928. He died in 1975. They had no children. Aline MacMahon died in 1991, aged 92, of pneumonia in New York City, only seven years after the death of her own mother.

Select filmography

• Five Star Final (1931)
• The Mouthpiece (1932)
• Life Begins (1932)
• One Way Passage (1932)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933)
• Heroes for Sale (1933)
• The World Changes (1933)
• Babbitt (1934)
• Heat Lightning (1934)
• I Live My Life (1935)
• Ah, Wilderness! (1935)
• Kind Lady (1935)

• When You're in Love (1937)
• Out of the Fog (1941)
• The Lady is Willing (1942)
• Dragon Seed (1944)
• The Mighty McGurk (1947)
• Roseanna McCoy (1949)
• The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
• The Man from Laramie (1955)
• Cimarron (1960)
• The Young Doctors (1961)
• Diamond Head (1963)
• I Could Go On Singing (1963)
• All the Way Home (1963)

Census and other data

• The 1910 United States Federal Census for Brooklyn, New York, April 16, 1910, Enumeration District 1409, Sheet 5.
• The 1920 United States Federal Census for Manhattan Assembly District 13, January 25, 1920, Enumeration District 943, Sheet 9A.
• U.S. Passport Applications 1795–1925, Roll 1533-6376-6749, 19 March 1921-21 March 1921, Ancestry.com.

External links