Biography

Rosemary DeCamp

Jump to

Born
November 14, 1910 · Prescott, Arizona, USA
Died
February 20, 2001 · Torrance, California, USA (complications from pneumonia)
Birth name
Rosemary Shirley DeCamp
Height
5′ 2½″ (1.59 m)

Rosemary Shirley DeCamp was the quintessential small-town American mother, a calming and steadying presence in scores of films in the 1940s and 1950s. She came to Hollywood after a successful career on the stage and in radio, making her film debut in 1941. Though she worked for many studios, she was most closely associated with Warner Bros., for whom she made many pictures, often playing a young mother or the friend or sister of the heroine. Her best-known role was probably as the mother of George M. Cohan (played by James Cagney) in the classic Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). She also did a lot of work on television; she was a regular on The Bob Cummings Show (1961) and played Marlo Thomas's mother on That Girl (1966).
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

On July 7, 1946, she and her husband were in their house in Beverly Hills, California, when an aircraft crashed into the roof of the house next door, and its wing cut through the roof of her house and landed in the bedroom, where she and her husband were. The plane, an experimental model called the XF-11, had experienced mechanical problems after taking off from the airport at nearby Culver City. It was piloted by Howard Hughes, and finally came to rest after crashing through the wall of the house of another of DeCamp's neighbors and exploding. Hughes was rescued from the cockpit by a bystander and, although receiving several broken bones, burns and gashes, was not severely injured and eventually made a full recovery. He paid for the damage to the houses in the neighborhood out of his own pocket.
DeCamp was just 11 years older than Doris Day, who played her daughter in On Moonlight Bay (1951) and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953).
Was actually 11 years younger than James Cagney, who played her son in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).
Gave birth to her 4th child at age 41, a daughter Nita Louise Schidler on March 21, 1952. Child's father was her husband, John Schidler.
Gave birth to her 1st child at age 32, a daughter Margaret Mina Schidler on November 21, 1942. Child's father was her husband, John Schidler.

Suggest an edit or add missing content