{"id":128520,"date":"2024-10-01T13:55:35","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/01\/billie-burke-wizard-of-ozs-glinda-the-good-witch-everything-to-know-us-weekly\/"},"modified":"2024-10-01T13:55:35","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T13:55:35","slug":"billie-burke-wizard-of-ozs-glinda-the-good-witch-everything-to-know-us-weekly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/01\/billie-burke-wizard-of-ozs-glinda-the-good-witch-everything-to-know-us-weekly\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Burke, Wizard of Oz’s Glinda the Good Witch: Everything to Know – Us Weekly"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Billie Burke is best remembered for her iconic performance as Glinda The Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz <\/em><\/a>(1939). But her legacy spans far beyond that pink bubble \u2014 learn more about the actress, a constant presence during Hollywood\u2019s Golden Age.\n<\/p>\n

Her early years<\/h2>\n
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\n Billie Burke in 1905<\/span> PhotoQuest \/ Contributor\/Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1884, to William Burke, a famous clown who performed internationally with the Barnum & Bailey circus and her mother, Blanche. The future star grew up all over Europe. Eventually, their family settled down in London, England, where Burke would start acting on stage at age 19.<\/p>\n

At age 23, Burke made her way to America and began her career on the Broadway stage. It was there that she would eventually meet her husband, famed vaudeville producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.<\/p>\n

The pair married in 1914 and built their life together, welcoming daughter Patricia in 1916. During her marriage, Burke starred in 15 films and earned so much money that she even had plans to retire. But the couple lost their fortune with the stock market crash of 1929, and Burke returned to work.<\/p>\n

Ziegfeld died in 1932 at age 65.<\/p>\n

Her golden era<\/h2>\n

The 1932 film A Bill of Divorcement<\/em> served as Burke\u2019s return to Hollywood. In it, she played Katherine Hepburn\u2019s mother, Meg Fairfield, who plans to marry Gray Meredith (Paul Cavanagh) after her divorce from Hilary (John Barrymore) is finalized. But when he returns home from an insane asylum after 20 years, things start to change.<\/p>\n

Just a year after her husband\u2019s death, Burke\u2019s next film, Dinner at Eight<\/em> (1933), hit movie theaters nationwide. It starred Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore<\/strong>, and Marie Dressler,<\/strong> and it follows a young socialite as she tries to host a dinner party. In the film, Burke played a woman named Millicent Jordan.<\/p>\n

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Silver Screen Collection \/ Contributor\/Getty<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three years later, Burke portrayed actress Myrna Loy<\/strong> in the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld<\/em>, costarring William Powell.<\/strong> The film was a fictional retelling of the life of Burke\u2019s husband, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. The actress was reportedly very upset that she couldn\u2019t play herself in the film, but production ironically thought she was too old.<\/p>\n

Burke would star in several other films after that \u2014 including Topper<\/em> (1937) alongside Cary Grant<\/strong>. In it, Grant and his onscreen wife, played by Constance Bennett,<\/strong> die and come back as ghosts to haunt their friends, one of them portrayed by Burke.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tRelated: <\/span>Faye Dunaway ‘Started Crying’ Revealing Son’s Adoption: Doc Director<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tFaye Dunaway, now 83 and somewhat reclusive, revisits her exceptional rise to fame and subsequent decline in a new documentary \u2014 which also confronts her complicated reputation and reveals previously unknown details about her private life off camera. Dunaway was one of the busiest and most celebrated actresses of the late 1960s and 1970s, with [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Her next big break was Merrily We Live <\/em>(1938). Considered racy for its time, it follows women who hire ex-convicts as servants. Her character, Emily Kilbourne, eventually fires them for stealing, but the idea of wealthy women letting convicts into their homes was rather radical. This film earned Burke her only Oscar nomination in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category.<\/p>\n

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