Louisa Catherine Proctor (November 12, 1878Louisa Catherine Proctor, birth record, in the Ontario, Canada Births, 1832-1917, via Ancestry. – August 24, 1967) was a Canadian actress whose career included roles on Broadway, in silent films, and on radio and television. She was called "one of the authentic great ladies of the stage" in a Montreal newspaper in 1956.
Early life and education Proctor was born in New Edinburgh, Ontario, one of the six children of William Proctor and Catherine McDonald Proctor. Her father worked in real estate and hotels, and died in 1892. She began performing as a dramatic reader while still a girl. She attended the Toronto College of Music, and appeared in college theatrical productions. Career Proctor had a busy stage career for over five decades. She toured with stock companies beginning in 1902. Her stage credits included roles in The Pretty Sister of José, The Other Girl, Peter Pan, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1906), Paid in Full, Society and the Bulldog (1908), The Concert (1910–1912), The Easiest Way (1912), The Governor's Lady (1913), Now and To-morrow (1915), Depths of Purity (1915), Out There (1917), The Wooing of Eve (1917), Happiness (1917–1918), The Matinee Hero (1918), The Mirage (1920–1921), Ambush (1921), The Wife with the Smile (1921), East of Suez (1922), Bristol Glass (1923), Macbeth (1924), The Steam Roller (1924), Ariadne (1925), The Importance of Being Earnest (1926), L'Aiglon (1927–1928), Electra (1928), Girl Trouble (1928), Sakura (1928), The Royal Box (1928–1929), The Ghost Parade (1929), Greater Love (1931), If Booth Had Missed (1932), Nine Pine Street (1933), Ah, Wilderness! (1935), The Puritan (1936), Howdy Stranger (1937), Reflected Glory (1937), Miss Quis (1937), Biography (1937), The Late George Apley (1944–1945), Arsenic and Old Lace (1943, 1950, 1956), Mistress of Jalna (1953), and Separate Tables (1958).
On radio, Proctor was in a 1934 production of a comedy Thursday Night. She appeared in several silent films, and had small roles in several more sound pictures. "Yes, I have seen myself in a film," she told a Toronto newspaper in 1915. "It feels most uncanny. Sometimes I thought, 'Surely I never looked as badly as that?'"
Filmography Film
Without Hope (1914) – La Belle Not Guilty (1915) – Dora Birch The Foolish Virgin (1916) – Nance Anthony A Society Scandal (1924) – Mrs. Burr Youth Takes a Fling (1938) – Mrs. Aspitt The Women (1939) – Woman in Cabinet (uncredited) Emergency Squad (1940) – Emily (uncredited) Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) City of Chance (1940) – (uncredited) A Woman's Face (1941) – Mrs. Sergerblum (uncredited)
Television
+ Year Title Role Notes 1952 Not for Publication 1 episode 1957 On Camera Mrs. Taylor 1 episode 1958 Johnny Belinda Mrs. Lutz Television film 1960 Dow Hour of Great Mysteries Mrs. Vesey 1 episode 1960 First Person 2 episodes 1954–1960 Encounter Ellen 7 episodes 1961 Festival Lady Clem Episode: "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" 1961 Festival The Old Lady Episode: "The Offbeats" 1961 Quest 1 episode 1964 Playdate Sophie 1 episode 1965 CBC Show of the Week Little Old Lady 1 episode
References
External links
Frank C. Bangs, "Catherine Proctor" (photograph), in the Billy Rose Theatre Division Photograph File, New York Public Library Digital Collection