Line #50 Creator/MargaretHamilton


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/margarethamilton.jpg]]
2	->''(During an interview, Margaret recalls a conversation with her agent when she was first offered the role of the Wicked Witch of the West.)''\
3	'''Agent:''' They're sort of interested in you for a part in ''The Wizard of Oz''.\
4	'''Margaret Hamilton:''' Oh gosh! Think of that! I've loved that story from the time I was four years old, what (part) is it?\
5	'''A:''' Well, the witch.\
6	'''MH:''' The witch?!?\
7	'''A:''' Yes, what else?\
8	''(Cue gales of laughter from the audience)''
9
10	''I'll get you, my tropers! And your little bio of me too!''
11
12	Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985) was an American film character actress [[StarMakingRole best known for her portrayal]] of the Wicked Witch of the West, based on Dorothy Gale's malevolent neighbor, Miss Almira Gulch, whom Hamilton also played, in Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer's classic film ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
13
14	A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in films for seven years[[note]]often as a stiff, square MoralGuardian type; the character of Miss Gulch in ''Oz'' is very similar to the prissy spinsters she often played[[/note]] before [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJja7CvCjPs she was offered the role]] [[IAmNotSpock that defined her public image]]. The Wicked Witch of the West was eventually ranked No. 4 in the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of All Time, making her the highest ranking female villain. In later years, Hamilton made frequent [[TheCameo cameo appearances]] on television sitcoms and commercials. Younger viewers may associate her as Cora the grocer from the Maxwell House ads. She also gained recognition for her work as an advocate of causes designed to benefit [[FriendToAllChildren children]] and [[FriendToAllLivingThings animals]], and retained a lifelong commitment to public education. In her later life, Hamilton fully embraced her legacy as the Wicked Witch, making personal appearances, often (in keeping with her passions) in school auditoriums, signing all of her autographs "W.W.W." and deconstructing her role on ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' as well as reprising it on ''Series/SesameStreet'', in an episode that was lost for nearly a half-century before it was rediscovered in 2022. Well into her old age, she was able to provide her legendary EvilLaugh on command, and reported that everyone always asked for it. In a charming surviving audio clip from a 1968 appearance they shared on ''The Merv Griffin Show'', even her costar Creator/JudyGarland requests the laugh... and Hamilton brings down the house when she does it.
15
16	Hamilton had one son, whom she raised as a single mother after she divorced her husband. Unlike many children of Golden Age Hollywood celebrities, he remembered her fondly and would claim that she often used the immortal catchphrase "I'll get you, my pretty... and your little dog, too!" in her private life. Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon in ''Series/Batman1966'', was a distant cousin.
17	----
18	!She appeared in:
19	!!Film and television
20	* ''Film/TheFarmerTakesAWife''
21	* ''Film/NothingSacred''
22	* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer''
23	* ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns''
24	* ''Film/{{Saratoga}}''
25	* ''Film/FoursACrowd'' (1938)
26	* ''Film/BabesInArms''
27	* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''
28	* With Creator/WCFields ''Film/MyLittleChickadee''
29	* ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion''
30	* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily''
31	* ''Film/ThirteenGhosts''
32	* ''Film/TheDaydreamer''
33	* ''Film/BrewsterMcCloud''
34	* ''Series/SesameStreet''
35	* ''Series/SigmundAndTheSeaMonsters''
36	* ''Series/ThePartridgeFamily''
37	* ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood''
38	* ''Series/ThePaulLyndeHalloweenSpecial''
39	* ''Series/LouGrant''
40	* ''Film/TheNightStrangler''
41	----
42
43	!!Theater
44	* ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic''
45	----
46	!!Tropes
47	* ActorAllusion:
48	** Also counts as a CastingGag. Hamilton's appearance in ''Film/ThirteenGhosts'' as a Witch... [[spoiler:This time she's a good witch, helping the household keep up with the trapped ghosts.]]
49	** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' -- she was offered the role of Grandmama Addams, who is explicitly described as a witch and looks very much like your stereotypical old hag, but declined. She ''did'', however, appear in the recurring role of Morticia's mother Hester Frump, who is also a witch but appears as a typical middle-aged woman of TheSixties.
50	* KindheartedCatLover: Starting in the mid-[[TheSeventies 1970's]], she appeared with her beloved cats in a number of [=PSAs=] for the Humane Society, with a [[TearJerker short poignant speech about abandoned kittens]] and reminding us to get our companions spayed and neutered.
51	* MeanCharacterNiceActor: She's known for playing antagonistic roles, especially that of [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the Wicked Witch of the West]], when she was actually a very sweet woman who worked as a kindergarten teacher before acting.
52	* StarMakingRole: As [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the Wicked Witch of the West]]. [[IAmNotSpock Perhaps painfully so]].
53	* {{Typecasting}}: As a witch. In her later career, as a CoolOldLady GrannyClassic.

Context Creator / MargaretHamilton