{{Short description|American actress (1893–1973)}} {{Infobox person | name = Fay Holden | image = Fay Holden.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Publicity still from about 1940 | birth_name = Dorothy Fay Hammerton | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1893|09|26}} | birth_place = [[Birmingham]], Warwickshire, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1973|06|23|1893|09|26}} | death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, U.S. | resting_place = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale]] | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1935–1958 | spouse = David Clyde (1914–1945; his death) }} '''Dorothy Fay Hammerton''' (26 September 1893 – 23 June 1973), known professionally as '''Fay Holden''', was a British-born, American-based actress. She was known as '''Gaby Fay''' early in her career.
==Biography== Holden was born in Birmingham, England. After leaving England in 1929, Holden and her husband moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for a time.<ref name=empress>{{cite web|title=The Clydes, the Butlers and the Empress Theatre|url=http://evelazarus.com/the-clydes-the-butlers-and-the-empress-theatre/|website=Eve Lazarus|date=20 April 2011 |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> They co-owned The [[Empress Theatre (Montreal)|Empress Theatre]] until 1933,<ref name=empress /> and they created a theatre company, The British Guild Players, that specialized in comedies during the depression era.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Szloboda|first1=Sarah|title=Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood North|url=http://vancouverisawesome.com/2011/06/10/mr-and-mrs-hollywood-north/|website=@VIAwesome|access-date=3 January 2017|date=10 June 2011}}</ref> Eventually they left Vancouver and moved to Hollywood.<ref name=empress />
Holden appeared in 46 motion pictures between 1935 and 1958, and she is best known for her recurring role as Emily Hardy, mother of [[Mickey Rooney]]'s character in the ''[[Andy Hardy]]'' film series.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fay Holden – Brief Entry About the Hardy Family Matriarch|url=http://immortalephemera.com/58471/fay-holden/|website=Immortal Ephemera|access-date=3 January 2017|date=21 April 2015}}</ref> The series was enormously popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and Holden was in 15 of the 16 Hardy movies, surpassed only by Rooney, who was in all 16.
Holden is remembered for her performance as [[Hazzelelponi|Hazel]], the mother of [[Samson]] ([[Victor Mature]]), in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s ''[[Samson and Delilah (1949 film)|Samson and Delilah]]'',<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kozlovic|first1=Anton Karl|title=Constructing the Motherliness of Manoah's Wife in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949)|url=http://wjudaism.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/wjudaism/article/view/230/315|website=Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary e-Journal|access-date=3 January 2017|language=en|date=31 January 2006}}</ref> in which she utters her character's most notable line: "He wants to marry a Philistine!"
She was married to David Clyde from 1914 until his death in 1945.<ref>{{cite web|title=David Clyde: Stage and film actor|url=http://www.helensburgh-heritage.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=711:david-clyde-stage-and-film-actor&catid=81:the-arts&Itemid=458|website=www.helensburgh-heritage.co.uk| date=4 April 2010 |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> She died in Los Angeles, California, aged 79, from cancer.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ellenberger|first1=Allan R.|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|date=May 2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786409839|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&q=fay+holden+cancer&pg=PA54|access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref>
==Partial filmography== {{div col}} *''[[The Pace That Kills (1935 film)|The Pace That Kills]]'' (1935) as Madame / Henchwoman *''[[I Married a Doctor]]'' (1936) as Ella Stowbody *''[[The White Angel (1936 film)|The White Angel]]'' (1936) as Queen Victoria (uncredited) *''[[Wives Never Know]]'' (1936) as Mrs. Gossamer *''[[Polo Joe]]'' (1936) as Aunt Minnie *''[[The Accusing Finger]]'' (1936) as Little Old Lady (uncredited) *''[[Guns of the Pecos]]'' (1937) as Aunt Carrie Burton *''[[Bulldog Drummond Escapes]]'' (1937) as Natalie *''[[Internes Can't Take Money]]'' (1937) as Mother Teresa *''[[King of Gamblers]]'' (1937) as Nurse *''[[Exclusive (film)|Exclusive]]'' (1937) as Mrs. Swain *''[[Souls at Sea]]'' (1937) as Mrs. Martin (uncredited) *''[[Double or Nothing (1937 film)|Double or Nothing]]'' (1937) as Martha Sewell Clark *''[[You're Only Young Once]]'' (1937) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Love Is a Headache]]'' (1938) as Mary, Peter's Secretary *''[[Judge Hardy's Children]]'' (1938) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Test Pilot (film)|Test Pilot]]'' (1938) as Lingerie Saleslady (uncredited) *''[[Hold That Kiss]]'' (1938) as Mrs. Evans *''[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]'' (1938) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Out West with the Hardys]]'' (1938) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Sweethearts (1938 film)|Sweethearts]]'' (1938) as Hannah *''[[Sergeant Madden]]'' (1939) as Mary Madden *''[[The Hardys Ride High]]'' (1939) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever]]'' (1939) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Judge Hardy and Son]]'' (1939) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Andy Hardy Meets Debutante]]'' (1940) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Bitter Sweet (operetta)|Bitter Sweet]]'' (1940) as Mrs. Millick *''[[Andy Hardy's Private Secretary]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[The Penalty (1941 film)|The Penalty]]'' (1941) (scenes deleted) *''[[Washington Melodrama]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Claymore *''[[Ziegfeld Girl (film)|Ziegfeld Girl]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Regan *''[[I'll Wait for You (film)|I'll Wait for You]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Miller *''[[Blossoms in the Dust]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Kahly *''[[Life Begins for Andy Hardy]]'' (1941) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[H.M. Pulham, Esq.]]'' (1941) as Mrs. John Pulham *''[[The Courtship of Andy Hardy]]'' (1942) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Andy Hardy's Double Life]]'' (1942) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble]]'' (1944) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Canyon Passage]]'' (1946) as Mrs. Overmire *''[[Little Miss Big]]'' (1946) as Mary Jane Baxter *''[[Love Laughs at Andy Hardy]]'' (1946) as Mrs. Emily Hardy *''[[Whispering Smith]]'' (1948) as Emmy Dansing *''[[Samson and Delilah (1949 film)|Samson and Delilah]]'' (1949) as Hazelelponit *''[[The Big Hangover]]'' (1950) as Martha Belney *''[[Andy Hardy Comes Home]]'' (1958) as Mrs. Emily Hardy (final film role) {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0390189}} *{{find a Grave|4780}} *{{IBDB name}} (as Gaby Fay)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Fay}} [[Category:1893 births]] [[Category:1973 deaths]] [[Category:American film actresses]] [[Category:English film actresses]] [[Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma in California]] [[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players]] [[Category:Actresses from Birmingham, West Midlands]] [[Category:Actresses from Greater Los Angeles]] [[Category:British emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:20th-century American actresses]] [[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]] [[Category:20th-century English actresses]]