{{Short description|American actress (1897–1981)}} {{For|those of a similar name|Catherine Alexander (disambiguation)}} {{upscaled images|date=May 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Katharine Alexander | image = Katharine Alexander 1929.jpg | caption = Alexander while performing "Little Accident" in 1929 | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|09|22}} | birth_place = Fort Smith, Arkansas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|01|10|1897|09|22}} | death_place = Tryon, North Carolina, U.S. | other_names = Katherine Alexander | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1930–1951 | spouse = {{marriage|William A. Brady Jr.|1926|1935|end=d.}} | children = 1 | website = }} '''Katharine Alexander''' (sometimes '''Katherine'''; September 22, 1897 – January 10, 1981) was an American actress on stage and screen. She appeared in 44 films between 1930 and 1951.
==Biography== Alexander was born on September 22, 1897,<ref name=":0" /> in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the daughter of Joseph Hall "Josiah" Alexander and Susan Sophronia Duncan.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fortsmithhistory.org/archive/kalexander.html |title=Katherine Alexander |publisher=Fort Smith Historical Society |accessdate=2023-01-24}}</ref> She was an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, listed as 1/16th Cherokee on the Dawes Rolls.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.okhistory.org/research/dawesresults.php?fname=&lname=&tribe=&rollnum=&cardnum=1450&action=Search |title=Dawes Rolls |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |accessdate=2023-01-24}}</ref> As a young woman, she planned to be a concert artist, but Samuel Goldwyn saw her giving a violin recital and gave her a chance on stage. She became one of Broadway's leading ladies but went into films in 1930.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}
==Theatrical productions== [[File:Katharine Alexander in After Office Hours trailer.jpg|right|thumb|Alexander in the trailer for ''After Office Hours'' (1935)]]
Alexander debuted on stage in ''A Successful Calamity'' with William Gillette.<ref name="be">{{cite news |title=Katharine Alexander Stars In New Play by Jock Munro, Playhouse Stage Manager |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68274826/katharine-alexander/ |access-date=January 23, 2021 |work=The Berkshire Eagle |date=July 23, 1938 |location=Massachusetts, Pittsfield |page=12|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
[[File:Katharine Alexander in Moonlight Murder trailer.jpg|thumb|''Moonlight Murder'' trailer (1936)]] Her Broadway credits included ''Time for Elizabeth'' (1948), ''Little Brown Jug'' (1946), ''Letters to Lucerne'' (1941), ''The Party's Over'' (1933), ''Honeymoon'' (1932), ''Best Years'' (1932), ''The Left Bank'' (1931), ''Stepdaughters of War'' (1930), ''Hotel Universe'' (1930), ''The Boundary Line'' (1930), ''Little Accident'' (1929), ''The Queen's Husband'' (1928), ''Hangman's House'' (1926), ''Gentle Grafters'' (1926), ''The Call of Life'' (1925), ''Arms and the Man'' (1925), ''It All Depends'' (1925), ''Ostriches'' (1925), ''The Stork'' (1925), ''That Awful Mrs. Eaton'' (1924), ''Leah Kleschna'' (1924), ''Chains'' (1923), ''Love Laughs'' (1919), ''Good Morning, Judge'' (1919), and ''A Successful Calamity'' (1917).<ref name="ibdb">{{cite web |title=Katherine (sic) Alexander |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/katherine-alexander-66725 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=January 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607210530/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/katherine-alexander-66725 |archive-date=June 7, 2020}}</ref>
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==Personal life== On January 5, 1926, Alexander married producer William A. Brady Jr. in New York City.<ref name="wedding">{{cite news |title=W. A. Brady Jr. weds Katherine Alexander |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103710383 |access-date=January 22, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=January 6, 1926 |page=16|id={{ProQuest|103710383}}}}</ref> Brady was the son of William A. Brady a theatre actor, producer, and sports promoter; and the actress Grace George. They had a daughter, Barbara Alexander Brady, who became an actress.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Nissen |first1=Axel |title=Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood |year= 2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9732-4 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9PIDAAAQBAJ&q=%22Katharine+Alexander%22+actress&pg=PA58 |access-date=January 22, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
==Death== Alexander died in Tryon, North Carolina on January 10, 1981, aged 82. She was buried in the Fairmount addition to Forest Park Cemetery in her native Fort Smith.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&dq=katharine+alexander+brady+interred+in+westwood&pg=PA14 |access-date=March 6, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
==Partial filmography== {{cols|rules=yes}} * ''Should Ladies Behave'' (1933) as Mrs. Winifred Lamont * ''Death Takes a Holiday'' (1934) as Alda * ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' (1934) as Arabel Barrett * ''Operator 13'' (1934) as Pauline * ''The Painted Veil'' (1934) as Mrs. Townsend * ''Enchanted April'' (1935) as Mrs. Rose Arbuthnot * ''After Office Hours'' (1935) as Julia Patterson * ''Cardinal Richelieu'' (1935) as Queen Anne * ''Alias Mary Dow'' (1935) as Evelyn Dow * ''The Girl from 10th Avenue'' (1935) as Valentine French Marland * ''Ginger'' (1935) as Mrs. Elizabeth Parker * ''She Married Her Boss'' (1935) as Gertrude Barclay * ''Splendor'' (1935) as Martha Lorrimore * ''Sutter's Gold'' (1936) as Anna Sutter * ''Moonlight Murder'' (1936) as Louisa Chiltern * ''The Devil Is a Sissy'' (1936) as Hilda Pierce * ''Reunion'' (1936) as Mrs. Crandall * ''As Good as Married'' (1937) as Alma Burnside * ''The Girl from Scotland Yard'' (1937) as Lady Helen Lavering * ''That Certain Woman'' (1937) as Mrs. Rogers * ''Stage Door'' (1937) as Cast of Stage Play * ''Double Wedding'' (1937) as Claire Lodge * ''Rascals'' (1938) as Mrs. Agatha Adams * ''The Great Man Votes'' (1939) as Miss Billow * ''Broadway Serenade'' (1939) as Harriet Ingalls * ''In Name Only'' (1939) as Laura * ''Three Sons'' (1939) as Abigail Pardway * ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1939) as Madame de Lys * ''Anne of Windy Poplars'' (1940) as Ernestine Pringle * ''Dance, Girl, Dance'' (1940) as Miss Olmstead * ''Play Girl'' (1941) as Mrs. Dice * ''Sis Hopkins'' (1941) as Clara Hopkins * ''Angels with Broken Wings'' (1941) as Charlotte Lord * ''The Vanishing Virginian'' (1942) as Marcia Marshall * ''On the Sunny Side'' (1942) as Mrs. Mary Andrews * ''Small Town Deb'' (1942) as Mrs. Randall * ''Now, Voyager'' (1942) as Miss Trask * ''The Human Comedy'' (1943) as Mrs. Steed * ''Kiss and Tell'' (1945) as Janet Archer * ''For the Love of Mary'' (1948) as Miss Harkness * ''John Loves Mary'' (1949) as Phyllis McKinley {{colend}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0018540}} * {{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Katharine}} Category:American film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Cherokee Nation actresses Category:Actresses from Arkansas Category:Native American actresses Category:People from Fort Smith, Arkansas Category:1897 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Cherokee Nation people (1794–1907) Category:Cherokee people on the Dawes Rolls Category:Actors from Sebastian County, Arkansas Category:Native American people from Arkansas