ALICE BRADY

Alice Brady was an actress from the 1910s to the 1930s. She started acting in 1914 at the age of 22, and was a successful silent actress (a star with first Select Pictures, and then switching to Realart Pictures in 1920), and she was one of the very few to successfully make the transition to sound, playing character roles in the 1930s. But very sadly, she developed cancer in 1939 and passed away, and she was just 46. Some of her movies include: My Man Godfrey (nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this film), In Old Chicago (winner of the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this film), and Young Mr. Lincoln. Note that Miss Brady is the subject of one of the most unusual pieces of Oscar trivia ever, but the Motion Picture Academy reasonably downplays it (because it is embarrassing), so few have heard of it. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the 1938 ceremony, but she was unable to attend due to a broken ankle. When they announced her award, a man stood up and "accepted it for her", and later, she called the Academy and asked what they had done with her Oscar, and it turned out the man was an impostor, and had hijacked her Oscar! Back then, they had no procedure for replacing Oscars, and she passed away in 1939 at the age of 46, never receiving it. What a sad story!