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{{Infobox person
| image              = Hermione_Gingold_(1973)_by_Allan_Warren.jpg
| caption            = Gingold in 1973, by [[Allan Warren]]
| birth_name         = Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1897|12|9|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Maida Vale]], [[County of London|London]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1987|5|24|1897|12|9|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| spouse             = {{marriage|[[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]]|1918|1926|end=divorced}}<br>{{marriage|[[Eric Maschwitz]]|1926|1945|end=divorced}}
| children           = 2
| occupation         = Actress
| yearsactive        = 1909–1984
}}

'''Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold''' ({{IPAc-en|'|g|i|ng|g|ou|l|d}};<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gobulldogs.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/lucus-gingold/685|title=Lucus Gingold - Football Coach|website=Fresno State Athletics}}</ref> 9 December 1897{{spaced ndash}}24 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character.

Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of [[Nodule (medicine)|nodules]] on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and early 1930s.

After a successful career as a child actress, she established herself on the stage as an adult, playing in comedy, drama and experimental theatre, and radio broadcasting. She found her milieu in revue, which she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with the English actress [[Hermione Baddeley]]. Later she played formidable elderly characters in such films and stage musicals as ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'' (1958), ''[[Bell, Book and Candle (film)|Bell, Book and Candle]]'' (1958), ''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (1962) and ''[[A Little Night Music]]'' (1973).

From the early 1950s Gingold lived and made her career mostly in the U.S. Her American stage work ranged from ''[[John Murray Anderson's Almanac]]'' (1953) to ''[[Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad]]'' (1963), the latter of which she also played in London. She became a well known guest on television talk shows. She made further appearances in revue and toured in plays and musicals until an accident ended her performing career in 1977.

==Biography==

===Early years===
Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold was born in Carlton Hill, [[Maida Vale]], London,<ref>Births, ''The Times'', 13 December 1897, p. 1</ref> the elder daughter of a prosperous [[Austria]]n-born Jewish [[stockbroker]], James Gingold, and his wife, Kate Frances (née Walter). Her paternal grandparents were the Ottoman-born British subject, Moritz "Maurice" Gingold, a London stockbroker, and his Austrian-born wife, Hermine, after whom Hermione was named (Gingold mentions in her autobiography that her mother might have got 'Hermione' from Shakespeare's play ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'', which she was reading shortly before her birth). On her father's side, she was descended from [[Solomon Sulzer]], a synagogue cantor and Jewish liturgical composer in Vienna. James felt that religion was something children needed to decide on for themselves, and Gingold grew up with no particular religious beliefs.<ref name=g7>Gingold, p. 7</ref>

Gingold's professional début was in 1908 when she had just turned 11. She played the herald in [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree]]'s production of ''Pinkie and the Fairies'' by W. Graham Robertson, in a cast including [[Ellen Terry]], [[Frederick Volpe]], [[Marie Löhr]] and [[Viola Tree]].<ref name=pinkie>"At the Play: His Majesty's Pinkie and the Fairies", ''[[The Observer]]'' 20 December 1908, p. 7</ref> She was promoted to the leading role of Pinkie for a provincial tour.<ref name=dnb>[[Ned Sherrin|Sherrin, Ned]], [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39931 "Gingold, Hermione Ferdinanda (1897–1987)"], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 3 October 2013 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> Tree cast her as Falstaff's page, Robin, in ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]]''.<ref name=dnb/> She attended Rosina Filippi's stage school in London. In 1911, she was cast in the original production of ''[[Where the Rainbow Ends]]''<ref>New York Times obituaries Hermione Gingold</ref>  which opened to very good reviews on 21 December 1911.

On 10 December 1912, the day after her 15th birthday, Gingold played Cassandra in [[William Poel]]'s production of ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' at the King's Hall, [[Covent Garden]], with [[Esmé Percy]] as Troilus and [[Edith Evans]] as Cressida.<ref>"Troilus and Cressida", ''The Times'', 11 December 1912, p. 12.</ref> The following year she appeared in a musical production, ''The Marriage Market'', in a small role in a cast that included [[Tom Walls]], [[W H Berry]], and [[Gertie Millar]].<ref>"New Musical Play at Daly's", ''The Observer'', 18 May 1913, p. 11</ref> In 1914, she played Jessica in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' at the [[Old Vic]].<ref name=m143/> In 1918, Gingold married the publisher [[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]], with whom she had two sons, the younger of whom, [[Stephen Joseph|Stephen]], became a pioneer of theatre in the round in Britain.<ref name=dnb/>

===1920 to 1948===
Gingold's adult stage career was slow to take off. She played Liza in ''If'' at the [[Ambassadors Theatre (London)|Ambassador's]] in May 1921, and the Old Woman in [[Ben Travers]]'s farcical comedy ''[[The Dippers]]'' produced by Sir [[Charles Hawtrey (actor born 1858)|Charles Hawtrey]] at the [[Criterion Theatre|Criterion]] in August 1922.<ref name=m143>Morley, pp. 143–144</ref>

In 1926 Gingold was divorced from Joseph. Later in the same year she married the writer and lyricist [[Eric Maschwitz]], whom she divorced in 1945.<ref name=dnb/> She underwent a vocal crisis in the late 1920s and early 1930s: she had hitherto described herself as "Shakespearian and soprano" but nodules on her vocal cords brought a drastic drop in pitch, about which she commented, "One morning it was Mozart and the next 'Old Man River'".<ref name=dnb/> The critic [[J. C. Trewin]] described her voice as "powdered glass in deep syrup".<ref name=dnb/> During this period she broadcast frequently for the [[BBC]] and established herself at the experimental theatre-club the [[Gate Theatre Studio]] in London, first as a serious actress and later in the genre for which she became famous, [[revue]].<ref>Programme listings including, ''The Times'', 15 January 1927; 1 April 1930. p. 28; 17 May 1930, p. 17; 31 March 1931, p. 13; 15 February 1932, p. 7; 11 January 1933, p. 10; 10 May 1934, p. 4; 1 June 1925, p. 31; 18 February 1936, p. 12; 26 April 1937, p. 8; and 8 June 1938, p. 10.</ref> According to ''[[The Times]]'' it was in ''Spread It Abroad'' (1936) a revue at another theatre, the [[Saville Theatre|Saville]], with material by [[Herbert Farjeon]] that she truly found her milieu.<ref name=times>"Obituary – Hermione Gingold – Kindly malice in wonderland", ''The Times'', 25 May 1987, p. 14</ref>

In the 10 years from 1938, Gingold concentrated on revue, appearing in nine productions in the [[West End theatre|West End]]. The first four were ''The Gate Revue'' (transferred from the Gate to the [[Ambassador Theatre Group|Ambassadors]], 1939), ''Swinging the Gate'' (1940), ''Rise Above It'' (1941) and ''Sky High'' (1942). During this period she and [[Hermione Baddeley]] established a stage partnership of what ''The Times'' called "briskly sustained mock-rivalry".<ref name=times/> In June 1943 she opened in a revue at the Ambassadors, ''[[Sweet and Low (musical)|Sweet and Low]]'', which was continually revised and refreshed over a run of almost six years, first as ''Sweeter and Lower'' and then ''Sweetest and Lowest''.<ref name=m143/> In her sketches she tended, as the writer of the shows, [[Alan Melville (writer)|Alan Melville]], recalled, to portray "grotesque and usually unfortunate ladies of dubious age and occasionally, morals; the unhappy female painted by Picasso who found herself lumbered with an extra limb or two … the even less fortunate female who, after years of playing the cello in Palm Court orchestras, ended up bow-legged beyond belief".<ref>Melville, Alan. "Lady of Laughter", ''The Guardian'', 25 May 1987, p. 9</ref> In a biographical sketch, [[Ned Sherrin]] writes "Gingold became a special attraction for American soldiers and 'Thanks, Yanks' was one of her most appropriate numbers. During the astringent, name-dropping 'Sweet' series, she played 1,676 performances, before 800,000 people, negotiating 17,010 costume changes".<ref name=dnb/>

===Postwar===
[[File:Publicity photo of actress Hermione Gingold and host Garry Moore from the television game show I%27ve Got a Secret.jpg|thumb|Gingold as a guest on ''I've Got a Secret'' with host Garry Moore]]
Gingold's first new revue after the war was ''Slings and Arrows'' at the [[Comedy Theatre|Comedy]] in 1948. She was praised, but the material was judged inferior to that of her earlier shows.<ref>"Comedy Theatre", ''The Times'', 18 November 1948, p. 7; and [[Ivor Brown|Brown, Ivor]], "At the Theatre", ''The Observer'', 21 November 1948, p. 2</ref> She appeared in cameo roles in British films, of which Sherrin singles out ''[[The Pickwick Papers (1952 film)|The Pickwick Papers]]'' (1952), in which she played the formidable schoolmistress, Miss Tompkins.<ref name=dnb/> Gingold became well known to BBC radio audiences in "Mrs Doom's Diary" in the weekly show ''Home at Eight''; this was a parody of the radio soap opera ''[[Mrs Dale's Diary]]'' in the manner of [[the Addams Family]] with Gingold as Drusilla Doom and [[Alfred Marks]] as her sepulchral husband.<ref name=dnb/>

Gingold and Baddeley co-starred in a [[Noël Coward]] double bill in November 1949, presenting ''[[Fumed Oak]]'' and ''[[Fallen Angels (play)|Fallen Angels]]''. Reviews were poor, and Coward thought the performances crude and overdone, but the production was a box-office success, running until August the following year.<ref name=dnb/><ref>"Ambassadors Theatre", ''The Times'' 30 November 1949, p. 8; "Fallen Angels", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 1 December 1949, p. 4; and "Theatres", The Times, 8 August 1950, p. 2</ref>
[[File:C7aif51sd9dj9fs5.jpg|thumb|200px|Gingold in the 1950s]]
Between 1951 and 1969 Gingold worked mostly in the US. Her first engagement there was at the [[Brattle Theatre]] in Cambridge, Massachusetts in ''It's About Time,'' a revue that incorporated some of her London material.<ref name=nyt/> In December 1953, she opened in ''[[John Murray Anderson's Almanac]]'' which made her an instant Broadway success and for which she won the [[Donaldson Award]] in 1954.<ref name=nyt/> She also became a regular guest on talk shows.<ref name=dnb/> In 1951 she cited as her hobbies; 'Interior decoration' and 'collecting china'.<ref>Who's Who in the Theatre (11th Edn.) ed John Parker (London)</ref>

Gingold continued to make films. In 1956 she played a London "sporting lady" in ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in 80 Days]]'',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120711230146/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6c03919e "Around the World in Eighty Days"], British Film Institute, accessed 4 October 2013</ref> and won a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for her performance in the 1958 film ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'' playing Madame Alvarez, Gigi's loving grandmother. In the film, she sang "I Remember It Well" with [[Maurice Chevalier]]. She said "It was my first American film and I was very nervous." Chevalier put her at ease. "I had to sing, and I hadn't got a great voice, but with him, I felt the greatest prima donna in the world."<ref>Freedland, p. 219</ref> Gingold followed this with another hit film ''[[Bell, Book and Candle (film)|Bell, Book and Candle]]'', also 1958, in which her role was Mrs Bianca De Pass.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120712024048/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6a59b2c5 "Bell, Book and Candle"], British Film Institute, accessed 4 October 2013</ref> She played the haughty wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn, of River City Mayor George Shinn, played by character actor [[Paul Ford]], in ''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (1962) starring [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]] and [[Shirley Jones]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120711201700/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b104ce9 "The Music Man"], British Film Institute, accessed 4 October 2013</ref>

In October 1963, Gingold opened in [[Arthur Kopit]]'s ''[[Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad]]'', playing a monstrously possessive mother driving her son crazy. She played the role in the London production in 1965. Reviewing the latter, and noting that the first night had been greeted with cheering at the end, the critic [[Philip Hope-Wallace]] wrote:{{quote|It marks, of course, the return of Hermione Gingold, which would be cause enough for cheering. Blatant as ever, deafeningly loud, strutting like a parody of every tragedy queen, male or female, since time began, she was in splendid relishing form, her lips drawn back over fangs and her voice swooping campingly through a whole two octaves of sneer.<ref>Hope-Wallace, Philip. "Oh Dad at the Piccadilly", ''The Guardian'', 7 October 1965, p. 9</ref>}}

===Last years===
[[File:Hermione Gingold 2 Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|Gingold in 1973]]
In 1972, she was among the guests in [[David Winters (choreographer)|David Winters]]' musical [[television special]] ''[[The Special London Bridge Special]]'', starring [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]], and [[Jennifer O'Neill]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 6, 1972|title=Lake Havasu city plays a starring role in special|page=12-D|work=Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph}}</ref>

Gingold was a member of the original 1973 Broadway cast of [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[A Little Night Music]]'' in the role of the elderly Mme. Armfeldt, a former [[courtesan]]. [[Clive Barnes]] wrote of her performance, "Hermione Gingold is immeasurably grande dame as the almost Proustian hostess (I haven't loved her so much since she sang about the Borgia orgies 30 years ago)."<ref>Barnes, Clive, "A triumph for Stephen Sondheim", ''The Times'', 28 February 1973, p. 13</ref> When the production transferred to London in 1975 Gingold reprised the role,<ref>Wardle, Irving, "An artistic reunion", ''The Times'', 16 April 1975, p. 13</ref> and later played it in the [[A Little Night Music (1978 film)|film version]] of the musical (1977).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120714194611/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6be5ed04 "A Little Night Music"], British Film Institute archive; accessed 4 October 2013</ref>

At the age of 77, Gingold made her operatic début, joining the [[San Francisco Opera]] to play the spoken role of the Duchess of Crackenthorp in [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti's]] ''[[La fille du régiment]]'' in 1975.<ref>Morley, Sheridan, "Solid gold Gingold", ''The Times'', 12 April 1975, p. 9</ref> In 1977 she took over the narrator's role in ''[[Side by Side by Sondheim]]'' on Broadway. After the New York run, the show toured the U.S. In Kansas City, the 79-year-old Gingold suffered an accident that broke her knee and dislocated her arm; this brought her performing career to an end. Still, she appeared in a 1980s [[Goya Foods|Goya]] commercial for its drink Coca Goya Colada while lounging on a [[chaise longue]], shaking the two cans like [[maracas]].<ref name=dnb/>

===Death===
Gingold died from heart problems and pneumonia at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on 24 May 1987, aged 89.<ref name=nyt>Saxon, Wolfgang, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DF133FF936A15756C0A961948260 "Hermione Gingold, English Actress, Dies At 89"], ''The New York Times'', 25 May 1987.</ref>

==Legacy==
Gingold's autobiography, ''How to Grow Old Disgracefully'', was published posthumously in 1988. It was published in installments: ''The World Is Square'' (1946), ''My Own Unaided Work'' (1952) and ''Sirens Should Be Seen and Not Heard'' (1963). She also wrote a play titled ''Abracadabra'' and contributed original material to the many revues in which she performed.<ref name=nyt/>

The [[Gingold Theatrical Group]] in New York is a company devoted to producing plays about human rights. It was founded by [[David Staller]], a great friend of Gingold for many years, as a tribute to her. They specialise in presenting the works of [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]] and are the first group to present all of Shaw's 65 plays.<ref>[http://www.projectshaw.com/ Gingold Theatrical Group website], accessed 1 October 2013</ref>

==Screen performances==
===Film===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[[Dance Pretty Lady]]'' (1931)
* ''[[Public Nuisance No. 1]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Someone at the Door (1936 film)|Someone at the Door]]'' (1936) - Lizzie Appleby
* ''[[Merry Comes to Town]]'' (1937) - Ida Witherspoon
* ''[[Meet Mr. Penny]]'' (1938) - Mrs. Wilson
* ''[[The Butler's Dilemma]]'' (1943) - Aunt Sophie
* ''[[The Pickwick Papers (1952 film)|The Pickwick Papers]]'' (1952) - Miss Tompkins
* ''[[Cosh Boy]]'' (1953) - Queenie
* ''[[Our Girl Friday]]'' (1953) - Spinster
* ''[[Around the World in 80 Days (1956 film)|Around the World in 80 Days]]'' (1956) - Sporting Lady
* ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]'' (1958) - Madame Alvarez
* ''[[Bell, Book and Candle]]'' (1958) - Bianca de Passe
* ''[[The Naked Edge]]'' (1961) - Lilly Harris
* ''[[The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man]]'' (1962) - Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn
* ''[[Gay Purr-ee]]'' (1962) - voice of Mme. Rubens-Chatte
* ''[[The World of Henry Orient]]'' (1964, scenes deleted)
* ''[[I'd Rather Be Rich]]'' (1964) - Miss Grimshaw
* ''[[Harvey Middleman, Fireman]]'' (1965) - Mrs. Koogleman
* ''The Itch'' (1965) (short subject) - voice of Woman
* ''[[Promise Her Anything]]'' (1966) - Mrs. Luce
* ''[[Munster, Go Home!]]'' (1966) - Lady Effigie Munster
* ''[[Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon]]'' (1967) - Angelica
* ''[http://www.happypancakewitch.com/ Winter of the Witch]'' (short) (1969) - the Old Witch
* ''[[Tubby the Tuba (1975 film)|Tubby the Tuba]]'' (1975) - voice of Miss Squeek
* ''[[A Little Night Music (film)|A Little Night Music]]'' (1977) - Mme. Armfeldt
* ''[[Garbo Talks]]'' (1984) - Elizabeth Rennick
{{div col end}}

===Television===
* ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' with [[Jack Paar]] and later [[Johnny Carson]] (frequent guest from 1958 to 1962)
* ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'' with [[Merv Griffin]] (frequent guest)
* ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'' panelist (12/8/1959, 30/12/1959, 14/1/1963)
* ''[[What's My Line?]]'' Mystery Challenger  (19/4/1959, 8/9/1963)
* ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' ("The Schartz-Metterklume Method"—1960) - Miss Hope/Lady Charlotte
* ''[[Beyond the Fringe]]'' (1967) (14 episodes)
* ''[[It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series)|It Takes a Thief]]'' (1968) ("Lay of the Land" – S01E15) - Duchess Christina
* ''Winter of the Witch'' (1969) - Witch
* ''[[Ironside (TV series)|Ironside]]'' ("Check Mate and Murder") (1970) - Ernestine Mugford
* ''[[Love, American Style]]'' (1971) - Jane (segment "Love and the Heist")
* ''[[Banyon]]'' (1971) (pilot for series) - Peggy Revere
* ''Simple Gifts'' (1977) - Narrator (segment "The Great Frost") (voice)
* ''Amy & the Angel'' (1982) - Pincus
* ''[[Hotel (U.S. TV series)|Hotel]]'' ("Charades") (1983) - Felicity
* ''[[How to Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days]]'' (1983) - Miss Sandwich

==Works==
* {{cite book|last=Gingold|first=Hermione|title=My own unaided work|year=1952|publisher=Laurie|asin=B0000CI8AI}}
* {{cite book|last=Gingold|first=Hermione|title=The World is Square|year=1958|publisher=Athene|asin=B000Q3R1P8}}
* {{cite book|last=Gingold|first=Hermione|title=Sirens should be seen and not heard|year=1962|publisher= Lippincott}}
* {{cite book|last=Gingold|first=Hermione|title= How to Grow Old Disgracefully: An Autobiography|year=1989|publisher=Gollancz|isbn=0575044772}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | last= Castle | first= Charles | year= 1972| title= Noël | location=London | publisher=W H Allen | isbn=0491005342 }}
* {{cite book | last=Freedland | first=Michael | year=1981 | title=Maurice Chevalier | location= London| publisher= Barker| isbn=0213167891 }}
* {{cite book | last=Gingold | first=Hermione | year=1945 | title=The World is Square | location= London| publisher= Home and Van Thal| oclc=8103593 }}
* {{cite book|last= Morley|first= Sheridan|year= 1986|title= The Great Stage Stars|location= London|publisher= Angus & Robertson|isbn= 0816014019|url-access= registration|url= https://archive.org/details/greatstagestarsd0000morl}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{IBDB name}}


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[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Maida Vale]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:Audiobook narrators]]
[[Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]]
[[Category:Donaldson Award winners]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English musical theatre actresses]]
[[Category:English people of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English voice actresses]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
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[[Category:20th-century English singers]]
[[Category:20th-century English women singers]]