Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley was an English actress, who was known for her Disney role as Ellen the maid in Mary Poppins. She also appeared in The Happiest Millionaire as Mrs. Worth, as Irene in The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin, and provided the voice of Madame Adelaide Bonfamille in The Aristocats.
Born in England, Baddeley was known for playing brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy". She found her milieu in revue, in which she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with the English actress Hermione Gingold, which included Fallen Angels. It was around this time that she married aristocrat David Tennant and they had two children. The couple divorced in 1937.
Her other stage roles included Edith Runcible in Whodunnit and Flora Goforth in The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore for which she was nominated a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Her film appearances mainly consisted of supporting roles in films, like Scrooge, Passport to Pimlico, Tom Brown's Schooldays, The Pickwick Papers, The Belles of St. Trinian's, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Brighton Rock, Room at the Top, Harlow, Marriage on the Rocks, and The Secret of NIMH.
In 1975 she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series for her portrayal of Nell Naugatuck in the TV series Maude. Her other television credits included Bewitched, The Cara Williams Show, Batman, Little House on the Prairie, Camp Runamuck, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels, and The Good Life.
Baddeley died following a series of strokes on August 19, 1986, aged 79, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She was interred in St. Mary and St. Melor Parish Church in Amesbury, Wiltshire.
Roles[]
(The Happiest Millionaire)
(The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin)
