Marie Ault (2 September 1870 – 9 May 1951) was a British character actress of stage and film.

Biography Born Emily Cragg, in Wigan, Lancashire, the daughter of Jane Ann (née Ault) and Thomas Cragg, a plumber by trade. She made her first stage appearance in Babes in the Wood at Lincoln in 1891, touring the provinces for many years in various different productions. She made her debut on the London stage in 1906. Her later theatre work included the original production of Love on the Dole in 1935, as well as the 1941 film version. She married James Alexander Paterson in Dudley, Staffordshire in 1893.

Ault was a star in many British films of the silent era but is most remembered for her role as Daisy Bunting's mother in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. She also played small but significant roles in three Ivor Norvello movies. The Rat, The Triumph Of The Rat and The Return Of The Rat released from 1925 to 1929.

Ault played characters of various nationalities, including Scottish, Irish, Italian, French, and English. In an interview with Pictures and the Picturegoer, Ault said her favorite role was the Amah from the play East of Suez. She wanted to play the role in the film version. However, the 1925 film cast Mrs. Wong Wing.

Other notable film work includes the role of Rummy Mitchens in the film of Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (1941).

She also had bit parts in films such as Jamaica Inn (1939) and Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).

She died in a nursing home in Chelsea on 9 May 1951.

Selected filmography

Class and No Class (1921) - Liza Ann Wee MacGregor's Sweetheart (1922) - Miss Todd A Prince of Lovers (1922) - Nannie If Four Walls Told (1922) - Minor Role The Grass Orphan (1922) - Landlady Paddy the Next Best Thing (1923) - Mrs. Adair The Monkey's Paw (1923) - Mrs. White The Starlit Garden (1923) - Old Prue Woman to Woman (1923) - Henrietta The Colleen Bawn (1924) - Sheelah The Rat (1925) - Mere Colline The Prude's Fall (1925) - Mrs. Masters The Triumph of the Rat (1926) - Mère Colline / The Landlady The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) - The Landlady A Daughter in Revolt (1927) - Mrs. Dale Mademoiselle from Armentieres (1927) - Aunt Roses of Picardy (1927) - Baroness d'Archeville Madame Pompadour (1927) - Belotte Hindle Wakes (1927) - Mrs. Hawthorn The Rolling Road (1927) - Grannie The Silver Lining (1927) - Mrs. Hurst Dawn (1928) - Mme. Rappard Victory (1928) - Mother Virginia's Husband (1928) - Aunt Janet God's Clay (1928) - Hannah Yellow Stockings (1928) - Countess Life (1928) - Isidora Troublesome Wives (1928) Little Miss London (1929) The Alley Cat (1929) - Ma The Return of the Rat (1929) - Mère Colline Kitty (1929) - Sarah Greenwood Downstream (1929) - Martha Jaikes Third Time Lucky (1931) - Mrs. Midge The Speckled Band (1931) - Mrs. Hudson (uncredited) Contraband Love (1931) - Sarah Sterling Hobson's Choice (1931) Money for Speed (1933) - Ma Daughters of Today (1933) - Mrs. Tring Maid Happy (1933) - Miss Woods Their Night Out (1933) - Cook (uncredited) Little Fella (1933) - Mrs. Turner Song at Eventide (1934) Swinging the Lead (1934) - Mrs. Swid Windfall (1935) - Maggie Spooner Lend Me Your Wife (1935) - Aunt Jane Tropical Trouble (1936) - Nonnie Little Miss Somebody (1937) - Martha Gribble Owd Bob (1938) - Mrs. Sanderson (uncredited) Jamaica Inn (1939) - Coach Passenger (uncredited) Freedom Radio (1941) - Woman Customer You Will Remember (1941) - Minor Role (uncredited) Major Barbara (1941) - Rummy Mitchens Love on the Dole (1941) - Mrs. Jike The Missing Million (1942) - Mrs. Tweedle We Dive at Dawn (1943) - Mrs. Metcalfe (uncredited) The Demi-Paradise (1943) - Mrs. Jones (uncredited) It Happened One Sunday (1944) - Madame Twilight Hour (1945) - Liz (uncredited) Blithe Spirit (1945) - Cook (uncredited) The Man from Morocco (1945) - Hotelière Waltz Time (1945) - Cenci's Maid Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) - Egyptian Lady (uncredited) They Knew Mr. Knight (1946) - Grandma Blake Wanted for Murder (1946) - Flower Seller (uncredited) I See a Dark Stranger (1946) - Mrs. O'Mara Carnival (1946) - Mrs. Dale Blanche Fury (1948) - Old Gypsy The Three Weird Sisters (1948) - Beattie No Room at the Inn (1948) - Vicar's Maid (uncredited) Madness of the Heart (1949) - Nun Cheer the Brave (1951) - Mother-in-Law (final film role)

References Citations

General The Stage, "Marriages", 2 September 1900, Page 18. Aberdeen Evening Express, "Actress, 80, Dies", 9 May 1951, Page 7. Edinburgh Evening News, "Marie Ault Dead", 9 May 1951, Page 5. Daily News (London), "Fame Came To Her At Fifty", 10 May 1951, Page 3.

External links