{{short description|American actress and writer (1884–1967)}} {{Infobox person | name = Norma Mitchell | image = Norma Mitchell, actress.jpg | alt = A young woman, seated on a bench, wearing a large dark hat, a light-colored blouse with a scooped neckline, and a light-colored skirt | caption = Mitchell {{circa|1910}} | other_names = Norma Steele, Norma Talbot (married names) | birth_name = Norma Stafford Mitchell | birth_date = May 8, 1884 | birth_place = Eastham, Massachusetts | death_date = May 29, 1967 | death_place = Greenwich, Connecticut | occupation = Actress, writer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = ''Cradle Snatchers'' (1925), ''Post Road'' (1934) | spouse = Wilbur Daniel Steele, Hayden Talbot | relatives = }}
'''Norma Stafford Mitchell''' (May 8, 1884 – May 29, 1967) was an American actress and writer.
== Early life == Mitchell was born in Eastham, Massachusetts, the daughter of George William Mitchell and Mary Louisa Horton Mitchell. Her father was a mining engineer.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Mitchell appeared in Broadway comedies, including ''The Call of the Cricket'' (1910), ''The Truth Wagon'' (1912),<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hines|first1=Dixie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pf0PAAAAYAAJ&dq=Norma+Mitchell+Talbot+Steele&pg=PA433|title=Who's who in Music and Drama|last2=Hanaford|first2=Harry Prescott|date=1914|publisher=H.P. Hanaford|pages=433|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jordon|first=Sanger &|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oqg5AQAAMAAJ&dq=Hayden+Talbot+Norma&pg=PA171|title=Catalogue of Plays, 1916|date=1916|publisher=Sanger & Jordan|pages=171|language=en}}</ref> ''Her Husband's Wife'' (1917),<ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 20, 1917|title=New Attractions for New York Playgoers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWtDAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22+1910&pg=RA2-PA7|journal=Dramatic Mirror|volume=77|pages=7}}</ref> ''March Hares'' (1921), ''To the Ladies'' (1922), ''The Goldfish'' (1922), ''Why Not?'' (1922), ''The New Poor'' (1924), and ''Dancing Mothers'' (1924). She also acted in the films ''The Woman Accused'' (1933),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Glancy|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3vQTEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PA505|title=Cary Grant, the Making of a Hollywood Legend|year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-005313-0|pages=505|language=en}}</ref> ''Melody in Spring'' (1934), and ''Susan and God'' (1940).<ref name=":1" />
Mitchell wrote ''Cradle Snatchers'' (1925) with Russell G. Medcraft,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lD4cQ2BjmNgC&q=%22Norma+Mitchell%22|title=Cradle Snatchers|publisher=Samuel French, Inc.|isbn=978-0-573-60733-2|language=en}}</ref> a comedy starring Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver, and a young Humphrey Bogart;<ref>{{Cite news|last=Allen|first=Kelcy|date=September 8, 1925|title='Cradle Snatchers', Succession of Hearty Laughs, Opens at Music Box|page=6|work=Women's Wear<!-- |via=ProQuest --><!-- Needs ProQuest URL --> }}</ref> it was adapted for the screen three times, as ''Cradle Snatchers'' (1927), as ''Why Leave Home?'' (1929), and as Cole Porter's musical ''Let's Face It'' (1943).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mordden|first=Ethan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zF7nCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PA13|title=Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-512851-2|pages=13|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pro7DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PA164|title=Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Modernism|last2=Londré|first2=Felicia Hardison|year=2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-5381-0786-7|pages=164|language=en}}</ref> Mitchell and Medcraft collaborated again in writing ''Buy, Buy, Baby'' (1926).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tucker|first=David C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M56vBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PA141|title=Shirley Booth: A Biography and Career Record|year=2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-3600-2|page=141|language=en}}</ref> Mitchell also wrote a sketch, "Her Morning Bath", made popular in 1926 by vaudeville star Charlotte Greenwood.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Hayter-Menzies|first=Grant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EnWze2oYMfwC&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PA234|title=Charlotte Greenwood: The Life and Career of the Comic Star of Vaudeville, Radio and Film|year=2007|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2995-0|pages=141, 234|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Mantle|first=Burns|date=1925-09-13|title=Cussing Drama's New Start|pages=141|work=Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85146002/cussing-dramas-new-startburns-mantle/|access-date=2021-09-11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Mitchell and her second husband cowrote the plays ''Any Woman'' (1934)<ref name="bde082834">{{cite news |title='Any Woman' |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=August 28, 1934 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> and ''Post Road'' (1934–1935),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kabatchnik|first=Amnon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J0GbcGlgnksC&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22+1910&pg=PA405|title=Blood on the Stage, 1925–1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection : an Annotated Repertoire|date=2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6963-9|pages=403–405|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBOQDAEACAAJ&q=%22Norma+Mitchell%22|title=Post Road, by Wilbur Steele & Norma Mitchell|date=1936|publisher=Montreal Repertory Theatre|language=en}}</ref> "a stubborn but not untalented play that refuses to make its peace with the theatre", according to critic Brooks Atkinson.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Atkinson|first=Brooks|date=December 5, 1934|title=The Play: Lucile Watson in a Mystery Comedy by Wilbur Daniel Steele and Norma Mitchell|page=28|work=The New York Times<!-- |via=ProQuest -->}}</ref> ''Post Road'' was adapted for television in 1952 for ''Robert Montgomery Presents,'' and again in 1956 for ''Encounter''. Her final play on Broadway was ''Autumn Hill'' (1942), written with John Harris.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=April 25, 1942|title=Autumn Hill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KAwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Norma+Mitchell%22&pg=PT9|magazine=Billboard|pages=10}}</ref>
== Personal life == Mitchell married twice.<ref>{{Cite news|date=January 15, 1932|title=Wilbur Daniel Steele Marries in London|page=18<!-- |via=ProQues -->t}}</ref> Her first husband was journalist and playwright Hayden Talbot, father of editor Betsy Blackwell; they married in 1913 and divorced in 1921.<ref>{{Cite news|date=June 12, 1913|title=Author Talbot Weds Actress Saturday|work=Los Angeles Herald|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19130612.2.17&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|access-date=September 11, 2021|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}}</ref> Her second husband was writer Wilbur Daniel Steele;<ref>{{Cite news|date=1929-07-28|title=Author Seeking Older America|pages=1|work=The Spokesman-Review|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85145783/author-seeking-older-america/|access-date=2021-09-11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> they married in 1932, in London.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1932-01-15|title=U.S. Writers Wed in London|pages=29|work=The Pittsburgh Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85142990/us-writers-wed-in-london/|access-date=2021-09-11|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Steele survived her when she died in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1967, aged 83 years.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|date=1967-05-30|title=Norma Mitchell, Actress, Dead; Co-Author of 'Cradle Snatchers'|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/05/30/archives/norma-mitchell-actress-dead-coauthor-of-cradle-snatchers.html|access-date=2021-09-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{IMDb name|0593628}} * {{IBDB name|id=7908}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Norma}} Category:1884 births Category:1967 deaths Category:People from Eastham, Massachusetts Category:American women writers Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:American actresses Category:20th-century American women