{{Short description|American actress (1919–2000)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Use American English|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Margaret Early | image = Margaret Early in Stage Door Canteen (1943).png | caption = Early in ''Stage Door Canteen'' (1943) | birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|12|25}} | birth_place = Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|11|29|1919|12|25}} | death_place = Laguna Beach, California, U.S. | resting_place = Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona del Mar, California | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1937–1946 | spouse = Wales Wallace <br> ({{abbr|m.|married}} 19??) }}
'''Margaret Early''' (December 25, 1919 – November 29, 2000) was an American film actress who was active in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her endearing Southern charm.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15754164/des_moines_tribune/|title=Identical Pins Lend Variety to Costumes|date=1943|work=Des Moines Tribune|access-date=2017-12-13|pages=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== Life and career==
Born on Christmas Day 1919<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=Margaret+Early+grave+1919+2000&pg=PA217|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|last=Wilson|first=Scott|date=2016-09-16|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476625997|pages=217|language=en}}</ref> into a devout Episcopal family, she grew up on a farm near Birmingham, Alabama.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15738949/the_st_louis_star_and_times/|title=Cutting room scraps|date=1937-06-21|work=The St. Louis Star and Times|access-date=2017-12-12|pages=17|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>. She came to Hollywood with her father on a business trip, and was asked to try out for a role in Harold Lloyd's Beverly Hills Little Theatre for Professionals production where Gregory La Cava saw her perform.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15738857/the_philadelphia_inquirer/|title=Wicked Hollywood|date=1937-06-13|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|access-date=2017-12-12|pages=36|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=13 June 1937 |title=Wicked Hollywood |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15738857/the_philadelphia_inquirer/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |pages=36 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Eventually, she was signed with RKO.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15738613/the_tampa_tribune/|title=Young Players Get Roles in Radio's 'Stage Door'|date=1937-06-13|work=The Tampa Tribune|access-date=2017-12-12|pages=34|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her Southern accent was called "as sweet and thick as cream," in a column by Donald Kirkley for ''The Baltimore Sun''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15739449/the_baltimore_sun/|title=What it Takes to Be a Star|last=Kirkley|first=Donald|date=1937-08-11|work=The Baltimore Sun|access-date=2017-12-12|pages=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
[[File:Stage-Door-Canteen-LC-6.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Lon McCallister, Marjorie Riordan, William Terry, Cheryl Walker, Margaret Early and Michael Harrison in ''Stage Door Canteen'' (1943)]]
Her first screen role came in ''Stage Door'' (1937) opposite Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Adolphe Menjou. Her next role came at Warner Bros. Studios playing Spring Byington's daughter in ''Jezebel'' (1938) opposite the likes of George Brent, Bette Davis, and Fay Bainter. She later became a freelance actress and found herself working in various roles at such studios as RKO, Warner Bros., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her other screen roles include parts in ''Judge Hardy and Son'' (1939), ''Strike Up The Band'' (1940), ''Andy Hardy's Private Secretary'' (1941), and ''Stage Door Canteen'' (1943).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247401/|title=Margaret Early|website=IMDb }}</ref> She made her last screen appearance in ''Cinderella Jones'' (1946).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15753783/chicago_tribune/|title=Movie Starts, and Stays, on Wrong Foot|date=1946-05-25|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2017-12-13|pages=13|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She spent the remainder of her days living in Laguna Beach, California, being active in her church and the Republican party. She was good friends with Cheryl Walker, Mickey Rooney,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15739398/the_los_angeles_times/|title=Good Reason For This Romance|date=1937-08-01|work=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-12-12|pages=63|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Laraine Day, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, Joel McCrea, and Dennis Morgan.
==Death== On November 29, 2000, Margaret Early died at her home in Laguna Beach, California,<ref name=":0" /> from congestive heart failure at age 80. She is interred at Pacific View Memorial Park, Bayview Terrace, Lot 9F, in Corona del Mar, California.<ref name=":0" />
==Filmography== * ''Stage Door'' (1937) * ''Jezebel'' (1938) as Stephanie Kendrick * ''The Young in Heart'' (1938) * ''Swing That Cheer'' (1938) * ''Judge Hardy and Son'' (1939) * ''Forty Little Mothers'' (1940) * ''Strike Up the Band'' (1940) * ''Andy Hardy's Private Secretary'' (1941) * ''Small Town Deb'' (1941) * ''To the Shores of Tripoli'' (1942) * ''Stage Door Canteen'' (1943) * ''Three Is a Family'' (1944) * ''Cinderella Jones'' (1946)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0247401}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Early, Margaret}} Category:1919 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Actresses from Birmingham, Alabama Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American memoirists Category:Actresses from Laguna Beach, California Category:Alabama Republicans Category:American film actresses Category:Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park Category:California Republicans Category:American stage actresses Category:American women memoirists Category:20th-century American women writers Category:American Episcopalians