Blossom Rock

Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald (August 21, 1895 – January 14, 1978), also known as Blossom Rock, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage, film and television. During her career she was also billed as Marie Blake or Blossom MacDonald. Her younger sister was screen actress and singer Jeanette MacDonald.[2] Rock is probably best known for her role as "Grandmama" on the 1960s macabre/black comedy sitcom The Addams Family.[3]

This article is about the American vaudeville actress. For the geologic feature in the San Francisco Bay, see Blossom Rock (San Francisco Bay).

Blossom Rock
Born
Edith Marie Blossom McDonald

(1895-08-21)August 21, 1895
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJanuary 14, 1978(1978-01-14) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, Memory Slope #1183
Other names
  • Blossom Rock
  • Blossom MacDonald
  • Marie Blake
Occupation(s)Actress, vaudevillian
Years active1923–1966
Spouse
Clarence Warren Rock
​
​
(m. 1926; died 1960)​
[1]
RelativesJeanette MacDonald (sister)

Personal life
Blossom Rock with her sister Jeanette MacDonald

Blossom Rock was born on August 21, 1895, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[4] She was the second of three daughters born to Anna May (née Wright) and Daniel McDonald. The family later changed the spelling of their last name to MacDonald. As a youth, Blossom first performed in vaudeville with her younger sister, Jeanette. She had an elder sister, Elsie Wallace MacDonald, who had also been a vaudeville performer and then operated a dance school until 1962.[1]

She married actor Clarence Warren Rock, on September 26, 1926, in Manhattan,[5] and they performed as a vaudeville act titled "Rock and Blossom" from 1925 to 1929.[1][6] Clarence Rock died in 1960, and the couple had no children.

Career

Rock adopted the name Marie Blake for her film career, beginning as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in 1937 with an uncredited appearance in My Dear Miss Aldrich. Her first credited major part was Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), and she then played her most notable onscreen role as Sally, the hospital switchboard operator, in the nine films that comprised MGM's popular Dr. Kildare series from 1938 to 1942.[6] She once had the same agent as Irene Ryan, whose similar career later caused Rock to fire him.[1]

Rock returned to using her real name in the 1950s, and later gained her biggest fame by playing "Grandmama" on the ABC sitcom The Addams Family, which was originally broadcast from 1964 to 1966.[6] In October 1964, she made a public appearance in character at a haunted house at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.[1][7]

Blossom as Grandmama

Illness and death

Rock suffered a stroke in December 1967 that affected her speech and prevented her from reuniting with fellow castmates for the 1977 television film Halloween with the New Addams Family. However, she watched the film from the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.[6] She died at age 82 on January 14, 1978, in Los Angeles, California, and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[8]

Selected filmography

References
  1. Inman, Julie (October 22, 1964). "Addams' Grandmama Visits Haunted House". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  2. Mansour, David (2011). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 190. ISBN 9780740793073. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  3. Gross, Ed (August 5, 2020). "Here's What Happened to the Cast of 'The Addams Family' — and Not a Lot of it Was Good!". Closer Weekly. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  4. Rowan, Terry. character-Based Film Series Part 1. Lulu.com. p. 60. ISBN 9781365421051. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  5. "J. MacDonald's Sis Plays Granny Addams". El Paso Herald-Post. Texas, El Paso. July 17, 1965. p. 30. Retrieved January 7, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.open access
  6. Cox, Stephen (1998). The Addams Chronicles: An Altogether Ooky Look at the Addams Family. Cumberland House Publishing (2nd Edition). ISBN 1888952911.
  7. Staff. "Chapter 3 - 1964-1982". The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Archived from the original on February 4, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
  8. Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. (2 volume set). McFarland. pp. 637–638. ISBN 9780786479924. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
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