18 Facts About Cora Witherspoon

Cora Witherspoon was an American stage and film character actress whose career spanned nearly half a century.

Cora Witherspoon began in theatre where she remained rooted even after entering motion pictures in the early 1930s.

Cora Witherspoon was born in New Orleans, to Cora S Bell and Henry Edgeworth Witherspoon.

Cora Witherspoon's father was an assistant surgeon with the Confederate Army during the American Civil War while her mother was an aunt of the civil rights advocate Judge John Minor Wisdom.

Cora Witherspoon was orphaned by age 10 and raised at least in part by her older sister, Maud, who, while still in her teens founded the Maud Cora Witherspoon Rag Doll Manufacturing Company.

Cora Witherspoon's ancestors had reportedly once owned Ellington Plantation in St Charles Parish, Louisiana.

Cora Witherspoon made her professional stage debut in 1905 with a New Orleans stock company.

Cora Witherspoon first appeared in New York at the Belasco Theatre in the 1910 hit comedy The Concert, which was Leo Ditrichstein's adaptation of the stage play, in which the 20-year-old actress portrayed the 76-year-old Edith Gordon.

Cora Witherspoon appeared with Ditrichstein in September 1913 for a four-month run at the Belasco and briefly the Theatre Republic playing Fanny Lamont in The Temperamental Journey, from the comedy Pour Vivre Heureux by Andre Rivoire and Yves Mirandeis.

Cora Witherspoon had a long run between November 1915 and June 1916 at the Longacre Theatre as Mrs Van Ness in The Great Lover, another play by Ditrichstein, written in collaboration with Fanny and Frederic Hatton.

In 1926 Cora Witherspoon was a member of the summer stock cast at Denver's Elitch Theatre, where she performed with Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, and Beulah Bondi.

Cora Witherspoon remained active on stage for another three decades often in long-running Broadway plays, such as:.

Cora Witherspoon's first film appearance was a small role in the 1931 motion picture Tarnished Lady starring Tallulah Bankhead.

Cora Witherspoon played supporting roles in Hollywood films for nearly 25 years.

Cora Witherspoon played Mrs Burns Norville in Libeled Lady with Jean Harlow and William Powell; Nesta Pett in Piccadilly Jim; Nora in Madame X; Patty in Quality Street; Countess de Noailles in Marie Antoinette; Carrie in Dark Victory; Mrs Van Adams in The Women; Susie Watson in Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise; and Mrs Williamson in The Mating Season.

Cora Witherspoon appeared in several episodes of the classic American television series Fireside Theatre, Kraft Theatre and Studio One in Hollywood, and on radio in the NBC Great Plays series.

Cora Witherspoon used to rap with me and the poet till nearly day break in the San Jacinto lobby.

Cora Witherspoon died in 1957, aged 67, at Las Cruces, New Mexico and interred at the Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans.