Nydia Westman(1902-1970)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
This adorable character actress tended to play older than she really
was on stage, screen and TV. Petite and quite pretty in her youth,
Nydia Westman was born in 1902 to vaudevillian parents, actor-composer
Theodore Westman and actress-playwright Lily Wren, and was thrust into
the limelight at an early age as part of the family act ("Troubles of
Joy"). Her younger brother,
Theodore Westman Jr., was also an
actor/writer who died tragically at a very young age in 1927.
In her teens, Nydia grew in experience on the Orpheum, Ziegfeld and Keith circuits, and later made her Broadway debut with the comedy "Pigs" in 1924. A mainstay throughout the late 1920s, other prominent NY theater roles include "Two Girled Wanted" (1926), "Jonesy" (1929) and "Lysistrata" (1930). With the advent of sound, films soon became a viable medium for her as well. She began her movie career in 1932 featured in two dramas, Strange Justice (1932) and Manhattan Tower (1932) and, while she appeared in plenty more heavier material, including Le succès à tout prix (1934), L'obsession de Madame Craig (1936) and L'enchanteresse (1936), it was comedy that became her forte, lending cute and flighty foil support in La demoiselle du téléphone (1934) with Cary Grant, Le mystère de la maison Norman (1939) with Bob Hope, The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with William Holden, and Un mariage à Boston (1947) with Ronald Colman, among others. Elsewhere, she gave her usual sparkle in the glossy musicals Un soir en scène (1934), in which she joined Irene Dunne and others in the title song, La chanson à deux sous (1936), Hullabaloo (1940), The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Liens éternels (1943), playing assorted friends, maids, gossips and society types.
In the post WWII years, Nydia veered away from filming and concentrated instead on stage and TV work. On Broadway, she appeared in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1948), "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1953) and "The Sleeping Prince" (1956), and went on to win an Obie Award for her off-Broadway eccentrics in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1958). On TV, the small, round matron was featured in a number of showcase-type dramas and comedies and was a fluttery, twinkle-eyed delight on such programs as The Donna Reed Show (1958), Perry Mason (1957), La famille Addams (1964), Les monstres (1964), F Troop (1965), Cher oncle Bill (1966) and Ma sorcière bien aimée (1964). She also appeared with relative frequency on the revamped Dragnet 1967 (1967) series in the 1960s. Nydia died of cancer in 1970 and was survived by her daughter.
In her teens, Nydia grew in experience on the Orpheum, Ziegfeld and Keith circuits, and later made her Broadway debut with the comedy "Pigs" in 1924. A mainstay throughout the late 1920s, other prominent NY theater roles include "Two Girled Wanted" (1926), "Jonesy" (1929) and "Lysistrata" (1930). With the advent of sound, films soon became a viable medium for her as well. She began her movie career in 1932 featured in two dramas, Strange Justice (1932) and Manhattan Tower (1932) and, while she appeared in plenty more heavier material, including Le succès à tout prix (1934), L'obsession de Madame Craig (1936) and L'enchanteresse (1936), it was comedy that became her forte, lending cute and flighty foil support in La demoiselle du téléphone (1934) with Cary Grant, Le mystère de la maison Norman (1939) with Bob Hope, The Remarkable Andrew (1942) with William Holden, and Un mariage à Boston (1947) with Ronald Colman, among others. Elsewhere, she gave her usual sparkle in the glossy musicals Un soir en scène (1934), in which she joined Irene Dunne and others in the title song, La chanson à deux sous (1936), Hullabaloo (1940), The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Liens éternels (1943), playing assorted friends, maids, gossips and society types.
In the post WWII years, Nydia veered away from filming and concentrated instead on stage and TV work. On Broadway, she appeared in "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1948), "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1953) and "The Sleeping Prince" (1956), and went on to win an Obie Award for her off-Broadway eccentrics in Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" (1958). On TV, the small, round matron was featured in a number of showcase-type dramas and comedies and was a fluttery, twinkle-eyed delight on such programs as The Donna Reed Show (1958), Perry Mason (1957), La famille Addams (1964), Les monstres (1964), F Troop (1965), Cher oncle Bill (1966) and Ma sorcière bien aimée (1964). She also appeared with relative frequency on the revamped Dragnet 1967 (1967) series in the 1960s. Nydia died of cancer in 1970 and was survived by her daughter.
