Biography
American actress Edith Atwater gained Broadway fame in 1939 as the original Maggie Cutler in Kaufman and Hart's
The Man Who Came to Dinner. This role was played in the film version of
Dinner by
Bette Davis; it was Edith Atwater's fate (not unusual among theatrical performers) to be ideal for leading roles on stage, but to be consigned to supporting roles in films. The actress began her stage career at age 15; she made her first film,
We Went to College, in 1935. Her best known film appearance was producer
Val Lewton's
The Body Snatcher (1945), as the mother of a crippled child. Fans of the 1970s TV series
The Hardy Boys will remember Ms. Atwater as the Hardy brothers' Aunt Gertrude. Edith Atwater was married to actor
Kent Smith, whom she outlived by only one year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide