Paula Trueman

Paula Trueman
Trueman (left) with Barbara Britton in Wake Up Darling, 1956
Born(1897-04-25)April 25, 1897
New York City, U.S.
DiedMarch 23, 1994(1994-03-23) (aged 96)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)Film, stage and television actress
Years active1930–1988
Spouse
Harold Sterner
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(m. 1936; died 1976)​

Paula Trueman (April 25, 1897 – March 23, 1994) was an American film, stage and television actress.[1][2][3]

Life and career

Born in 1897 in New York City, to Joseph and Eva (née Cohn) Trueman, she had two sisters, a twin, Natalie (Mrs. Sternberg) and an elder sister, Hannah (Mrs. Bottstein). They were raised in Manhattan. Paula attended Hunter College before gaining admission to the Neighborhood Playhouse to study dancing.[4] Her stage career began with The Grand Street Follies revues in 1924, and at the end of that year she made her dramatic debut in The Little Clay Cart. She was also in the 1930 revue Sweet and Low, which starred Fannie Brice, George Jessel, and James Barton,[5] and appeared in Kiss and Tell, For Love or Money and Wake Up, Darling in the 1940s and 1950s.[4]

Her film debut was in Crime Without Passion (1934). She later played "Mrs. Fenty" in Paint Your Wagon and "Grandma Sarah" in The Outlaw Josey Wales (both with Clint Eastwood). She appeared in Annie Hall and Zelig (both by Woody Allen), Dirty Dancing, and had an uncredited role in Moonstruck. In 1978, she played Maggie Flannigan in All My Children.[4] She appeared as Aunt Teresa in the Tales from the Darkside episode (2/12 - 1985) "Monsters in My Room" and the dying great grandmother in "The Cutty Black Sow" (1988), series 4 episode 14.

Death

Trueman died of natural causes in New York Hospital in 1994, aged 96. She was predeceased in 1976 by her husband, Harold Sterner, an architect, whom she married in 1936.[4]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1934 Crime Without Passion Buster Malloy Uncredited
1941 One Foot in Heaven Miss Peabody Uncredited
1969 Paint Your Wagon Mrs. Fenty
1971 The Anderson Tapes Nurse
1974 Homebodies Mattie
1975 The Stepford Wives Welcome Wagon Lady
1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales Grandma Sarah
1977 Annie Hall Street Stranger #6
1980 Can't Stop the Music Stick-up Lady
1982 The Electric Grandmother Old Agatha TV movie
1983 Zelig Woman on Telephone
1984 Grace Quigley Dorothy Trugert
1984 Mrs. Soffel Mrs. Stevenson
1986 Say Yes Lady on Bus
1986 Seize the Day Woman #1
1987 Sweet Lorraine Mrs. Falkman
1987 Dirty Dancing Mrs. Schumacher
1987 Moonstruck Lucy
1990 The Sun and the Moon

References

  1. ^ Year of birth confirmed by 1920, 1930 and 1940 US census records as well as her 1922 U.S. passport application.
  2. ^ U.S. passport application stamped September 16, 1922, ancestry.com; accessed November 15, 2016.
  3. ^ "Paula Trueman, 96, Stage and Film Actress", The New York Times obituary, dated March 25, 1994, also cites 1897.
  4. ^ a b c d "Paula Trueman wed to Harold Sterner; Stage and Screen Actress the Bride of Architect, Son of Noted Painter", The New York Times, November 18, 1936.
  5. ^ "'Sweet and Low' has audacious fun; Fannie Brice, George Jessel and James Barton Starred in Musical Revue", The New York Times, November 18, 1930.