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Nydia Westman(1902-1970)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
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Nydia Westman in Adam-12 (1968)
This adorable character actress tended to play older than she really was on stage, screen and TV. Petite and quite pretty in her youth, Nydia Westman was born in 1902 to vaudevillian parents, actor-composer Theodore Westman and actress-playwright Lily Wren, and was thrust into the limelight at an early age as part of the family act ("Troubles of Joy"). Her younger brother, Theodore Westman Jr., was also an actor/writer who died tragically at a very young age in 1927.

In her teens, Nydia grew in experience on the Orpheum, Ziegfeld and Keith circuits, and later made her Broadway debut with the comedy "Pigs" in 1924. A mainstay throughout the late 1920s, other prominent NY theater roles include "Two Girled Wanted" (1926), "Jonesy" (1929) and "Lysistrata" (1930). With the advent of sound, films soon became a viable medium for her as well. She began her movie career in 1932 featured in two dramas, Strange Justice (1932) and Manhattan Tower (1932) and, while she appeared in plenty more heavier material, including Success at Any Price (1934), Craig's Wife (1936) and The Gorgeous Hussy (1936), it was comedy that became her forte, lending cute and flighty foil support in Ladies Should Listen (1934) with Cary Grant, The Cat and the Canary (1939) with Bob Hope, The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with William Holden, and The Late George Apley (1947) with Ronald Colman, among others. Elsewhere, she gave her usual sparkle in the glossy musicals Sweet Adeline (1934), in which she joined Irene Dunne and others in the title song, Pennies from Heaven (1936), Hullabaloo (1940), The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Hers to Hold (1943), playing assorted friends, maids, gossips and society types.

In the post WWII years, Nydia veered away from filming and concentrated instead on stage and TV work. On Broadway, she appeared in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1948), "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1953) and "The Sleeping Prince" (1956), and went on to win an Obie Award for her off-Broadway eccentrics in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1958). On TV, the small, round matron was featured in a number of showcase-type dramas and comedies and was a fluttery, twinkle-eyed delight on such programs as The Donna Reed Show (1958), Perry Mason (1957), The Addams Family (1964), The Munsters (1964), F Troop (1965), Family Affair (1966) and Bewitched (1964). She also appeared with relative frequency on the revamped Dragnet 1967 (1967) series in the 1960s. Nydia died of cancer in 1970 and was survived by her daughter.
BornFebruary 19, 1902
DiedMay 23, 1970(68)
BornFebruary 19, 1902
DiedMay 23, 1970(68)
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Photos15

Jesslyn Fax, Lurene Tuttle, and Nydia Westman in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Jesslyn Fax, Lurene Tuttle, and Nydia Westman in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Clive Brook, Charles Fallon, and Nydia Westman in Dressed to Thrill (1935)
Cary Grant, George Barbier, and Nydia Westman in Ladies Should Listen (1934)
James Stewart, Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, and Nydia Westman in The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
Sterling Holloway, Virginia Bruce, Franklin Pangborn, Jean Rogers, Kent Taylor, and Nydia Westman in When Love Is Young (1937)
Tutta Rolf, Dina Smirnova, and Nydia Westman in Dressed to Thrill (1935)
Barbara Hale and Nydia Westman in Perry Mason (1957)
Billie Burke, Basil Rathbone, Wendy Barrie, Louis Hayward, Pauline Lord, and Nydia Westman in A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, John Beal, Douglass Montgomery, Elizabeth Patterson, Gale Sondergaard, and Nydia Westman in The Cat and the Canary (1939)
Lois Butler, Bill Goodwin, and Nydia Westman in Mickey (1948)
Cary Grant, Edward Everett Horton, and Nydia Westman in Ladies Should Listen (1934)

Known for

Paulette Goddard in The Cat and the Canary (1939)
The Cat and the Canary
7.1
  • Cicily
  • 1939
John Barrymore, Louise Campbell, and John Howard in Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938)
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
5.9
  • Gwen Longworth
  • 1938
Don Knotts, Philip Ober, Liam Redmond, and Joan Staley in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
7.2
  • Mrs. Cobb
  • 1966
Ronald Colman, Peggy Cummins, Richard Haydn, and Richard Ney in The Late George Apley (1947)
The Late George Apley
7.0
  • Jane Willing
  • 1947

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Rabbit, Run (1970)
    Rabbit, Run
  • The Murdocks and the McClays
  • Harry Morgan and Jack Webb in Dragnet 1967 (1967)
    Dragnet 1967
    • ...
  • Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, and Dick York in Bewitched (1964)
    Bewitched
  • Silent Night, Lonely Night (1969)
    Silent Night, Lonely Night
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1969)
    Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • Kent McCord and Martin Milner in Adam-12 (1968)
    Adam-12
  • Lancer (1968)
    Lancer
  • The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968)
    The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit
    • (uncredited)
  • Judd for the Defense (1967)
    Judd for the Defense
  • Premiere (1968)
    Premiere
  • Family Affair (1966)
    Family Affair
  • The Second Hundred Years (1967)
    The Second Hundred Years
  • Don Knotts in The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)
    The Reluctant Astronaut
  • Marlo Thomas in That Girl (1966)
    That Girl

Soundtrack

  • Eddie Cantor and Baby Quintanilla in Forty Little Mothers (1940)
    Forty Little Mothers
    • ("Little Curly Hair in a High Chair" (1940), uncredited)
  • Virginia Bruce and Robert Montgomery in The First Hundred Years (1937)
    The First Hundred Years
    • ("Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet" (1909), uncredited)
  • Sweet Adeline (1934)
    Sweet Adeline
    • (uncredited)
  • Grace Moore in One Night of Love (1934)
    One Night of Love
    • (uncredited)

Personal details

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    • February 19, 1902
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • May 23, 1970
    • Burbank, California, USA(cancer)
    • Robert Sparks1930 - 1937 (divorced, 1 child)
    • Kate Williamson
  • Other works
    Active on Broadway in the following productions:

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Grandmother of Elizabeth Ruscio, Michael Ruscio and Nina Ruscio.
    • Best known for saying "They used Bon-Ami!" over and over in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) (1966)

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