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IMDbPro

Hope Emerson(1897-1960)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Hope Emerson
A trail guide escorts a group of women from Chicago to California to marry men that have recently begun settling there.
Play trailer3:34
Westward the Women (1951)
3 Videos
10 Photos
Although there may have been "bigger" actresses in Hollywood's history, there were few larger than Hope Emerson. She notably appeared as a witness for the defense in "Adam's Rib". At 6' 2" and 230 pounds, she towered over many of her male co-stars, and her size, brusque voice and stern demeanor typed her for a career in villainous roles, such as her star turn as the sadistic prison matron in Caged (1950), which garnered her an Oscar nomination. She could, however, play lighter parts, as in Westward the Women (1951), in which she played, of all things, a mail-order bride. She also worked steadily in television and played "Mother" in the landmark series Peter Gunn (1958). In the 1950s she was the voice of Elsie the Cow in a series of TV commercials for Borden's milk. She died of liver disease in 1960.
BornOctober 29, 1897
DiedApril 24, 1960(62)
BornOctober 29, 1897
DiedApril 24, 1960(62)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar
    • 2 nominations total

Photos10

Lee J. Cobb, Richard Conte, Hope Emerson, Edwin Max, Maurice Samuels, and George Tyne in Thieves' Highway (1949)
Hope Emerson in Death Valley Days (1952)
Joan Fontaine, Bob Hope, Basil Rathbone, Hope Emerson, and Arnold Moss in Casanova's Big Night (1954)
Veda Ann Borg, Eileen Christy, Gloria Clark, Hope Emerson, Dorothy Ford, Kathleen Freeman, Angela Greene, Virginia Grey, and Vera Ralston in A Perilous Journey (1953)
Robert Taylor, Hope Emerson, John McIntire, and Renata Vanni in Westward the Women (1951)
Robert Taylor, Julie Bishop, Hope Emerson, and Marilyn Erskine in Westward the Women (1951)
Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, and Hope Emerson in Westward the Women (1951)
Robert Taylor, Julie Bishop, Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson, and Marilyn Erskine in Westward the Women (1951)
Joan Fontaine, Bob Hope, Basil Rathbone, Audrey Dalton, Hope Emerson, Frieda Inescort, and Hugh Marlowe in Casanova's Big Night (1954)

Known for:

Eleanor Parker in Caged (1950)
Caged
7.6
  • Evelyn Harper
  • 1950
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in Adam's Rib (1949)
Adam's Rib
7.4
  • Olympia La Pere
  • 1949
Craig Stevens in Peter Gunn (1958)
Peter Gunn
8.1
TV Series
  • Mother
Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, and Richard Conte in House of Strangers (1949)
House of Strangers
7.3
  • Helena Domenico
  • 1949

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • The Dennis O'Keefe Show (1959)
    The Dennis O'Keefe Show
    • Amelia 'Sarge' Sargent
    • TV Series
    • 1959–1960
  • Ronald Reagan in General Electric Theater (1953)
    General Electric Theater
    • Ada
    • TV Series
    • 1959
  • Craig Stevens in Peter Gunn (1958)
    Peter Gunn
    • Mother
    • TV Series
    • 1958–1959
  • Knock on Every Door
    • Nadine Emmerson
    • Short
    • 1958
  • Death Valley Days (1952)
    Death Valley Days
    • Big Liz Barton
    • TV Series
    • 1958
  • Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Maxwell, and Connie Stevens in Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
    Rock-a-Bye Baby
    • Mrs. Rogers
    • 1958
  • "Eighty Yard Run, The" (Playhouse 90) Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. 1957 CBS
    Playhouse 90
    • Mrs. Downey
    • TV Series
    • 1958
  • Studio One (1948)
    Studio One
    • Rosie McTaggart
    • Mrs. Bascomb
    • Mrs. Flo Flower - Landlady
    • TV Series
    • 1955–1958
  • Red Skelton in The Red Skelton Show (1951)
    The Red Skelton Show
    • Sadie's Mother
    • Clara's Mother
    • TV Series
    • 1956–1958
  • Howard Duff and Ida Lupino in Mr. Adams and Eve (1957)
    Mr. Adams and Eve
    • Fannie
    • TV Series
    • 1958
  • The Bob Cummings Show (1955)
    The Bob Cummings Show
    • Esther Flintridge
    • TV Series
    • 1956–1957
  • Goodyear Television Playhouse (1951)
    Goodyear Television Playhouse
    • Caroline Barnes
    • TV Series
    • 1957
  • Glynis Johns in The Day They Gave Babies Away (1957)
    The Day They Gave Babies Away
    • Mrs. Pugmeister
    • 1957
  • Audie Murphy, Jeff Donnell, Hope Emerson, Kathryn Grant, and Jeanette Nolan in The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957)
    The Guns of Fort Petticoat
    • Hannah Lacey
    • 1957
  • The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956)
    The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
    • Mrs. Quincy
    • TV Series
    • 1957

Soundtrack

  • Craig Stevens in Peter Gunn (1958)
    Peter Gunn
    • performer: "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?", "Oh! Look at That Baby"
    • TV Series
    • 1959

Videos3

Original Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 3:34
Original Theatrical Trailer
House of Strangers
Trailer 2:14
House of Strangers
Caged (1950)
Trailer 2:05
Caged (1950)

Personal details

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  • Height
    • 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
  • Born
    • October 29, 1897
    • Hawarden, Iowa, USA
  • Died
    • April 24, 1960
    • Hollywood, California, USA(liver ailment)
  • Parents
      John Alvin Emerson
  • Relatives
    • Infant Emerson(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared (as "Lampito"; Broadway debut) in "Lysistrata" on Broadway. Comedy (revival). Written by Aristophanes. Material adapted by Gilbert Seldes. Music by Leo Ornstein. Choreographed by Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. Directed by Norman Bel Geddes. 44th Street Theatre: 5 Jun 1930-Jan 1931 (closing date unknown/252 performances). Cast: Hortense Alden (as "Myrrhine"), Lillian Ardell, Helen Blair Bailey, Ada Barbour, Gloria Braggiotti, Lionel Braham (as "President of the Senate"), Myra Brooks, Charles R. Burrows, Conrad Cantzen (as "Fifth Old Man"), Justine Chase, Virginia Chauvenet, John F. Clearman, Louise Closser Hale (as "Dancer"), John C. Davis, Dave DeSin, Charles E. Douglas, Eric Dressler (as "A Herald from Sparta"), Consuelo Flowerton, Ruth Garland, May Gerald, Etienne Girardot (as "Third Old Man"), John Glenn, Ilse Gronau, Chester Hammond, Paul Haskle, Ernestine Henoch, Harry Henshaw, Doris Hesser, Mary Ann Holt, Ernest Howard, Letitia Ide, Clayton Irving, Bernard Jay, Violet Kemble Cooper (as "Lysistrata"), Elizabeth Kennedy, Ada Klein, Marie Lalloz, Charles Laskey, Jerome Lawlor, Jose Limon, James McCallion, Burton McEvilly, Nancy McKnight, Owen Meech, Gwendolyn Mervin, Thomas Moody, Morton Moore, Marion Morehouse, Mary Morris, Pauline Potter, Elsie Rand, Elizabeth Rechelle, Houston Richards, Albert Robinson, Miriam Schiller, Betty Schlaffer, Lucian Scott, Maud Sinclair (as "Old Women's Chorus"), Helen Strumlauf, Elliot Sullivan, Ernest Truex (as "Kinesias"), Neville Westman, Nydia Westman, Thornton Whitney, June Wilkinson, George J. Williams, Howard Wilson, Ian Wolfe (as "First Old Man"). Produced by Philadelphia Theatre Association Inc.
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Was the voice of Elsie the Cow for Borden Milk commercials.

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