Clara Blandick was a character actress who was born aboard an American ship off the coast of Hong Kong on June 4, 1880. Little is known about her early life until she became an actress. Although she appeared in 118 films, she was primarily a stage actress. Clara actually began her film career at a late age. She was 33 when she was picked for the role as Emily Mason in _Mrs. Black Is Back . By this time Clara had been suffering from poor health for years, and retired from the screen. On Palm Sunday, April 15, 1962, Clara went to church in Hollywood, California. When she returned she wrote a note stating she was about to take the greatest adventure of her life. She took an overdose of sleeping tablets and pulled a plastic bag over her head, thus ending her life. She was 81 years old.
Interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum.
Suffering from severe arthritis and impending blindness, Clara fixed her hair, dressed up in her best outfit, placed her favorite photos and memorabilia around her room and sadly left this world by overdosing on sleeping tablets.
Best remembered for her portrayal of Dorothys Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz .
Her suicide note read: "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen."
Played different roles in different screen versions of "Huckleberry Finn". In the 1931 version, she played Tom Sawyers Aunt Polly, a carryover from the 1930 film of "Tom Sawyer", in which she played the same role. In 1939 she played the role of Miss Watson in the Mickey Rooney film "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
Made her Broadway debut in 1901, in the original run of If I Were King by Justin Huntly McCarthy.
Appeared in three Broadway shows with May Irwin between 1913 and 1915. Orlando Daly and Lynn Pratt appeared in at least two of these productions.
