Editing Nancy Carroll

{{Short description|American actress (1903–1965)}}
{{About|the American actress, 1903–1965|the British actress, born 1973|Nancy Carroll (British actress)|the actress of a similar name|Nancy Carell}}
{{Lead too short|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name                  = Nancy Carroll
| image                 = File:Nancy Carroll - Willow Green.jpg
| imagesize             = 
| caption               = Carroll in 1930
| birth_name            = Ann Veronica Lahiff
| birth_date            = {{Birth date|1903|11|19}}
| birth_place           = New York City, U.S.
| death_date            = {{Death date and age|1965|08|06 |1903|11|19 |mf=y}} 
| death_place           = New York City, U.S.
| resting_place         = 
| occupation            = Actress
| years_active          = 1923–1965
| spouse= {{ubl|{{marriage|[[Jack Kirkland]]|1924|1931|reason=divorce}}|{{marriage|Francis Bolton Mallory|1931|1935|reason=divorce}}|{{marriage|C.H. "Jappe" Groen|1953}}}}
}}

'''Nancy Carroll''' (born '''Ann Veronica Lahiff'''; November 19, 1903 &ndash; August 6, 1965) was an American actress.<ref>Obituary ''[[Variety Obituaries|Variety]]'', August 11, 1965.</ref> She started her career in Broadway musicals and then became an actress in sound films and was in many films from 1927 to 1938. She was then in television roles from 1950 to 1963. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960.

==Early years==
Of Irish parentage, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Lahiff, Carroll was born in New York City. Her education came at [[Holy Trinity Catholic Schools|Holy Trinity School]] in New York, but she left there at age 16 to work as a stenographer in an office of a lace manufacturer.<ref name="gr">{{cite book|last1=Aaker|first1=Everett|title=George Raft: The Films|date=2013|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786493135|pages=34–35|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qi7JiuIsQbsC&lpg=PA31&vq=%22Wynne%20Gibson%22&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=Carroll&f=false|access-date=8 November 2016|language=en}}</ref> (Another source says that she left the eighth grade at age 14 "to go on the stage".<ref name=s>{{cite magazine |last=Talbott |first=Thomas |date=September 1930 |pages=55, 118-119 |title=News! Nancy Carroll |url=https://archive.org/details/screenland21unse/page/n582/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Screenland |access-date=February 16, 2025 }}</ref>) She was the seventh<ref name=pp>{{cite magazine |last=Bell |first=Caroline |date=April 1928 |pages=26, 107 |title=A Rose of Tenth Avenue |url=https://archive.org/details/pictureplaymagaz28unse/page/n153/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Picture Play |access-date=February 16, 2025 }}</ref> of 12 children.<ref name="ppg">{{cite news |last1=Tighe |first1=Dixie |title=Meet Nancy Carroll---Wife, Mother and Screen Star |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-post-gazette-nancy-carroll/165784825/ |access-date=February 16, 2025 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=November 4, 1929 |page=19|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref> Although her parents had named her Ann, she said, "... finally I ''demanded'' that I be called Nancy, and they agreed it suited me."<ref name="pp" />

Carroll and her sister "worked up a little specialty number" and auditioned for the Shuberts, which resulted in their performing in a show.<ref name="pp" />

== Career ==
Carroll's career began in 1923 when she performed in the chorus of ''The Passing Show'' in New York.<ref name="hcobit">{{cite news |title=Actress Nancy Carroll Found Dead in New Yorkl |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-nancy-carroll/165642027/ |access-date=February 15, 2025 |work=The Hartford Courant |agency=Associated Press |date=August 8, 1965 |page=34 A|via = [[Newspapers.com]] }}</ref> She began her acting career in Broadway musicals. Although she initially wanted to be a character actress, she said, "But the moment I took off my hat, and that's the first thing a manager asks you to do when you go to apply for a job — every manager without exception would say: 'You must go into musical comedy. You're just the type. No chance for you in a dramatic production.'"<ref name="s" /> She became a successful actress in sound films because her musical background enabled her to play in movie musicals of the 1930s. Her film debut was in ''[[Ladies Must Dress]]'' in 1927.{{Citation needed |date=February 2025}} 

Carroll's early experience included work in "second-rate road companies" and portrayal of Roxie Hart in the Los Angeles production of ''[[Chicago (play)|Chicago]]''.<ref name=pp131>{{cite magazine |last=Oettinger |first=Malcolm H. |date=January 1931 |pages=34, 115 |title=One of the Calmer Redheads |url=https://archive.org/details/picturepla34stre/page/n39/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Picture Play |access-date=February 16, 2025 }}</ref> 

[[File:The Devil's Holiday Lobby Card.jpg|right|thumb|1930 lobby card]]
In 1928 she made eight films. One of them, ''[[Easy Come, Easy Go (1928 film)|Easy Come, Easy Go]]'', co-starring [[Richard Dix (actor)|Richard Dix]], made her a movie star. In 1929 she starred in ''[[The Dance of Life (film)|The Dance of Life]]'' with [[Hal Skelly]], and ''[[The Wolf of Wall Street (1929 film)|The Wolf of Wall Street]]'' along with [[George Bancroft (actor)|George Bancroft]] and [[Olga Baclanova]]. She was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] in 1930 for ''[[The Devil's Holiday]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=("Nancy Carroll" search results)|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=950627580087|website=Academy Awards|access-date=9 November 2016}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Among her other films are ''[[Laughter (1930 film)|Laughter]]'' (1930), ''[[Paramount on Parade]]'' (1930), ''[[Hot Saturday]]'' (1932) with [[Cary Grant]] and [[Randolph Scott]], ''[[The Kiss Before the Mirror]]'' (1933) directed by [[James Whale]], and ''[[Broken Lullaby]]'' aka ''The Man I Killed'' (1932) directed by [[Ernst Lubitsch]].

Under contract to [[Paramount Pictures]], Carroll often balked at the roles the studio offered her, and she earned a reputation as a recalcitrant and uncooperative actress. In spite of her ability to successfully tackle light comedies, tearful melodramas, and even musicals, and as well as garnering considerable praise by the critics and public &ndash; she received the most fan mail of any star in the early 1930s &ndash; she was released from her contract by the studio. In the mid-1930s under a four-film contract with [[Columbia Pictures]], she made four rather insignificant films and was no longer an A-list actress.{{Citation needed |date=February 2025}} 

Carroll retired from films in 1938, returned to the stage,{{Citation needed |date=January 2020}} and starred as the mother in the early television series ''[[The Aldrich Family#Television|The Aldrich Family]]''<ref name="sw">{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=John |title=Screen World, 1966 |date=1966 |publisher=Biblo & Tannen Publishers |isbn=978-0-8196-0307-4 |page=234 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VCQ9AErr-uMC&q=%22Ann+Veronica+Lahiff%22&pg=PA234 |access-date=January 29, 2020 |language=en}}</ref> in 1950. In the following year, she guest-starred in the television version of ''[[The Egg and I (film)|The Egg and I]]'', starring her daughter, [[Patricia Kirkland]].

== Personal life and death ==
Carroll's first husband was author [[Jack Kirkland]]. They were married seven years and divorced in 1931. Also in 1931 she married educator Francis Bolton Mallory. They were together for three years and separated for three years before they were divorced.<ref name="hcobit" /> She was married to C. H. J. Groen, a manufacturer of fiberglass.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Val |title=Fonda to Appear on 2d TV Special: Star to Be Host-Narrator of 'The Good Years' on C.B.S |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/05/archives/fonda-to-appear-on-2d-tv-special-star-to-be-hostnarrator-of-the.html |access-date=February 14, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=September 5, 1961|page=71 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> On August 6, 1965, she was found dead after failing to arrive at the theater for a performance.<ref>{{Cite news|date=7 August 1965|title=Nancy Carroll, Actress, Is Dead|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/08/07/archives/nancy-carroll-actress-is-dead-s-found-in-apartment-after-failing-to.html|access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref> The cause of her death was an aneurysm.{{Citation needed |date=November 2022}} She was 61 years old.

==Hollywood Walk of Fame==
For her contributions to the film industry, Carroll has a [[List of actors with Hollywood Walk of Fame motion picture stars|motion picture star]] on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] at 1725 Vine Street. The star was dedicated February 8, 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/nancy-carroll |title=Hollywood Walk of Fame -Nancy Carroll  |website=walkoffame.com |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |access-date=February 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032922/http://www.walkoffame.com/nancy-carroll |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;"
! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film
|- align="center"
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Film
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes
|-
| 1927
| ''[[Ladies Must Dress]]'' 
| Mazie 
|
|-
| rowspan=6|1928
| ''[[Abie's Irish Rose (1928 film)|Abie's Irish Rose]]''
| Rosemary Murphy 
|'''Incomplete'''
|-
| ''[[Easy Come, Easy Go (1928 film)|Easy Come, Easy Go]]''
| Barbara Quayle 
|'''Lost''' film
|-
| ''[[Chicken a La King (film)|Chicken a La King]]''
| Maisie Devoe 
|'''Lost''' film
|-
| ''[[The Water Hole]]'' 
| Judith Endicott 
|'''Lost''' film
|-
| ''[[Manhattan Cocktail (film)|Manhattan Cocktail]]'' 
| Babs Clark 
| '''Lost''' film except for one-minute montage sequence by [[Slavko Vorkapich]]
|-
| ''[[The Shopworn Angel (1928 film)|The Shopworn Angel]]'' 
| Daisy Heath 
| '''Incomplete''', held at the [[Library of Congress]])
|-
| rowspan=6|1929
| ''[[The Wolf of Wall Street (1929 film)|The Wolf of Wall Street]]''
| Gert
| '''Lost''' film
|-
| ''[[Sin Sister]]''
| Pearl
|'''Lost''' film
|-
| ''[[Close Harmony (1929 film)|Close Harmony]]''
| Marjorie Merwin 
|
|-
| ''[[The Dance of Life (film)|The Dance of Life]]''
| Bonny Lee King
|
|-
| ''[[Illusion (1929 film)|Illusion]]'' 
| Claire Jernigan 
|
|-
| ''[[Sweetie (1929 film)|Sweetie]]'' 
| Barbara Pell 
|
|-
| rowspan=6|1930
| ''[[Dangerous Paradise (1930 film)|Dangerous Paradise]]''
| Alma
| Alternate title: ''Two Against Death''
|-
| ''[[Honey (1930 film)|Honey]]'' 
| Olivia Dangerfield 
|
|-
| ''[[The Devil's Holiday]]''
| Hallie Hobart 
| Nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress Academy Award]]
|-
| ''[[Laughter (1930 film)|Laughter]]''
| Peggy Gibson 
|
|-
| ''[[Paramount on Parade]]''
| Herself
| [[cameo appearance]]
|-
| ''[[Follow Thru]]''
| Lora Moore 
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1931
| ''[[Stolen Heaven (1931 film)|Stolen Heaven]]''
| Mary
|
|-
| ''[[The Night Angel]]''
| Yula Martini 
|
|-
| ''[[Personal Maid]]''
| Nora Ryan 
|
|-
| rowspan=5|1932
| ''[[Broken Lullaby]]''
| Fraulein Elsa 
| Alternate title: ''The Man I Killed''
|-
| ''[[Wayward (film)|Wayward]]''
| Daisy Frost
|
|-
| ''[[Hot Saturday]]''
| Ruth Brock
|
|-
| ''[[Scarlet Dawn]]''
| Tanyusha Krasnoff 
|
|-
| ''[[Under-Cover Man]]''
| Lora Madigan 
|
|-
| rowspan=4|1933
| ''[[Child of Manhattan (film)|Child of Manhattan]]''
| Madeleine McGonegle 
|
|-
| ''[[The Woman Accused]]''
| Glenda O'Brien 
|
|-
| ''[[The Kiss Before the Mirror]]''
| Maria Held 
|
|-
| ''[[I Love That Man]]''
| Grace Clark
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1934
| ''[[Springtime for Henry]]''
| Julia Jelliwell 
|
|-
| ''[[Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round]]''
| Sally Marsh
| Alternate title: ''Keep 'Em Laughing''
|-
| ''[[Jealousy (1934 film)|Jealousy]]''
| Josephine "Jo" Douglas O'Roarke 
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1935
| ''[[I'll Love You Always]]''
| Nora Clegg 
|
|-
| ''[[After the Dance (film)|After the Dance]]''
| Anne Taylor
|
|-
| ''[[Atlantic Adventure]]''
| Helen Murdock 
|
|-
| rowspan=2|1938
| ''[[That Certain Age]]''
| Grace Bristow 
|
|-
| ''[[There Goes My Heart (film)|There Goes My Heart]]''
| Dorothy Moore
|
|-
|- align="center"
! colspan=4 style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Television
|- align="center"
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Year
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Title
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Role
! style="background: #CCCCCC;" | Notes
|-
| 1950–1951
| ''[[The Aldrich Family#Television|The Aldrich Family]]''
| Alice Aldrich #2
| Unknown episodes
|-
| rowspan=2|1951
| ''Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre''
|
| 1 episode
|-
| ''The Egg and I''
| Betty's mother
| Unknown episodes
|-
| 1959
| ''[[The Adventures of Ellery Queen#The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen|The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen]]''
| Fanny Wilson
| 1 episode
|-
| 1961
| ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]''
| Bernice Hacker
| 1 episode
|-
| 1962
| ''The United States Steel Hour''
|
| 2 episodes
|-
| 1963
| ''Rockabye the Infantry''
| Hortense Tyler 
| Television movie
|-
| 1963
| ''[[Going My Way (TV series)|Going My Way]]''
| Nora Callahan
| "Cornelius Come Home" (her final screen role on ABC-TV)
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0007216|name=Nancy Carroll}}
*{{Find a Grave|7893762}}
*[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=707 Photographs of Nancy Carroll]
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/alicejapan/sets/72157616272305709/with/5480373761 Set of Carroll portraits and promotional shots]

{{Authority control}}
{{Portal|Biography|Film}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Nancy}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Actresses from New York City]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American silent film actresses]]
[[Category:American musical theatre actresses]]
[[Category:American television actresses]]
[[Category:Deaths from aneurysm]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures contract players]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]