Lucile Watson est une actrice américaine d’origine canadienne (Québec, 27 mai 1879 – 24 juin 1962) qui sera surnommée la « reine des douairières » en raison de ses nombreux rôles de mères, tantes ou grand-mères qu’elle tint au cinéma. L’un d'eux lui vaudra une nomination à l’Oscar du « Meilleur second rôle féminin » en 1943 pour son rôle de la mère de Bette Davis dans Veille sur le Rhin (Watch on the Rhine). Parmi ses autres films, citons : What Every Woman Knows (1934), Trois jeunes filles à la page (Three smarts girls) (1936), The Young In Heart (1938), La Valse dans l'ombre (Waterloo Bridge) (1940), Le Grand Mensonge (The Great lie) (1941), Demain viendra toujours (Tomorrow Is Forever) (1946), Les Quatre Filles du docteur March (Little Women - 1949) et Mon passé défendu (My Forbidden Past) (1951).

Biographie

Watson's first name, Lucile, is often misspelled in her movie credits as Lucille. Watson in her youth had an inordinate beauty but with a stern expression on her face. Photos taken during her Broadway years show a look that movie audiences would become accustomed to. It is not known if she cultivated this look for films or if she wanted to ward off a lot of male attention to her subtle beauty. Sometime in the 1910s she was briefly married to silent film star Rockliffe Fellowes and they would produce no children. Her second husband was playwright Louis E. Shipman, whom she married in 1928 and was widowed in 1933. Watson died on June 25, 1962 after suffering a heart attack at age 83. She is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Ses meilleurs films