Editing Rose Hobart

{{Short description|American actress (1906–2000)}}
{{For|the surrealist film|Rose Hobart (film)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = Rose Hobart
| image            = Rose Hobart Press Photo 1942.jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = Hobart in 1942
| birth_name       = Rose Kefer  
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1906|05|01|mf=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2000|08|29|1906|05|01|mf=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Woodland Hills, California]], U.S.
| occupation       = Actress
| years_active     = 1923&ndash;1971
| spouse           = Benjamin Winter<br>({{abbr|m.|married}} 19??; {{abbr|div.|divorced}} 1929)<br>{{marriage|William M. Grosvenor|1932|1941|end=divorced}}<br>Barton H. Bosworth<br>({{abbr|m.|married}} 1948; died 19??)<ref name=Oliver/>
| children         = 1
}}

'''Rose Hobart''' (born '''Rose Kefer'''; May 1, 1906 &ndash; August 29, 2000)<ref name="opa" /> was an American actress and a [[Screen Actors Guild]] official.

==Early years==
Born in New York City,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Raw|first1=Laurence|title=Character Actors in Horror and Science Fiction Films, 1930–1960|date=2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786490493|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqBllx5lyuwC&dq=%22Rose+Kefer%22&pg=PA106|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> Hobart was the daughter of a cellist in the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]], Paul Kefer, and an opera singer, Marguerite Kefer. Her parents' divorce when she was seven resulted in Hobart and her sister, Polly, going to France to live with their grandmother. When [[World War I]] began, they came back to the United States and went to boarding schools.<ref name="ss">{{cite book|last1=Ankerich|first1=Michael G.|title=The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities Who Bridged the Gap Between Silents and Talkies|date=2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786485345|pages=111–123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4WhCAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rose+Kefer%22&pg=PA112|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> By 1921, she was a student at [[Kingston High School (New York)|Kingston High School]] in Kingston, New York.<ref>{{cite news|title=High School Minstrel Cast|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16143518/the_kingston_daily_freeman/|work=The Kingston Daily Freeman|date=May 19, 1921|location=New York, Kingston|page=1|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = February 21, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref>

== Career ==
When Hobart was 15, she debuted professionally in ''Cappy Ricks'', a [[Chautauqua]] production. She was accepted for the 18-week tour because she told officials that she was 18.<ref name=ss/> At that same age, she was cast in [[Ferenc Molnár]]'s ''[[Liliom]]'', which opened in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]].<ref name=Oliver>{{cite news |last1=Oliver |first1=Myrna |title=Rose Hobart; SAG Official; Blacklisted Actor |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-31-me-13393-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=31 August 2000 |access-date=30 March 2015}}</ref> Hobart's Broadway stage debut was on September 17, 1923 at the [[Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)|Knickerbocker Theater]], playing a young girl in ''Lullaby''. In 1925, she played Charmian in ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (play)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rose Hobart|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/rose-hobart-45259|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|access-date=22 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222030244/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/rose-hobart-45259|archive-date=22 February 2018}}</ref>

Hobart was an original member of [[Eva Le Gallienne]]'s Civic Repertory Theatre.<ref name="Hobart">{{cite book|last1=Hobart|first1=Rose|title=A Steady Digression to a Fixed Point|date=1994|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.|location=Metuchen, NJ|page=v}}</ref> In 1928, she made her London debut, playing Nina Rolf in ''The Comic Artist''. During her career in theater, she toured with [[Noël Coward]] in ''[[The Vortex]]'' and was cast opposite [[Helen Hayes]] in ''[[What Every Woman Knows (play)|What Every Woman Knows]]''.

Her performance as Grazia in ''[[Death Takes a Holiday]]'' won her a Hollywood contract.<ref name=Oliver/> Hobart appeared in more than 40 motion pictures over a 20-year period. Her first film role was the part of Julie in the first talking picture version of ''[[Liliom (1930 film)|Liliom]]'',<ref name="opa" /> made by [[Fox Film Corporation]] in 1930, starring [[Charles Farrell]] in the title role, and directed by [[Frank Borzage]]. Under contract to Universal, Hobart starred in ''[[A Lady Surrenders]]'' (1930), ''[[East of Borneo]]'' (1931), and ''[[Scandal for Sale]]'' (1932). On loan to other studios, she appeared in ''[[Chances (film)|Chances]]'' (1931) and ''[[Compromised (1931 film)|Compromised]]'' (1931). In 1931, she co-starred with [[Fredric March]] and [[Miriam Hopkins]] in [[Rouben Mamoulian]]'s original film version of ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' (1931). She played the role of Muriel, Jekyll's fiancée. In 1936, [[Surrealism|Surrealist]] artist [[Joseph Cornell]], who bought a print of ''East of Borneo'' to screen at home, became smitten with the actress, and cut out nearly all the parts that did not include her. He also showed the film at [[silent film]] speed and projected it through a blue-tinted lens. He named the resulting work ''[[Rose Hobart (film)|Rose Hobart]]''. Hobart often played the "other woman" in movies during the 1940s, with her last major film role in ''[[Bride of Vengeance]]'' (1949).<ref name="ss"/>

===Politics===
The [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] investigated Hobart in 1949, effectively ending her career.<ref name="ss" /> She believed that she first came to the attention of anti-Communist activists because of her commitment to improving working conditions for actors in Hollywood.<ref name=Bergan>{{cite web|last1=Bergan|first1=Ronald|title=Rose Hobart: Hollywood beauty blacklisted after complaining about studio working conditions|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/sep/14/guardianobituaries3|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=September 14, 2000 |access-date=30 March 2015}}</ref> In 1986, she recalled that "On my first three pictures, they worked me 18 hours a day and then complained because I was losing so much weight that they had to put stuff in my evening dress{{nbsp}}... When I did ''East of Borneo'' (1931), that schlocky horror [film that] I did, we shot all night long. They started at 6 o'clock at night and finished at 5 in the morning. For two solid weeks, I was working with alligators, jaguars and pythons out on the back lot. I thought, 'This is acting?' It was ridiculous. We were militant about the working conditions. We wanted an eight-hour day like everybody else."<ref name=Oliver/>

Hobart also served on the board of the [[Screen Actors Guild]] and was an active participant in the [[Actors' Laboratory Theatre]], a group which anti-Communists like Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] claimed was subversive.<ref name=Oliver/> In 1948, Hobart was subpoenaed to appear before the [[Tenney Committee on Un-American Activities]]. Although Hobart was not a member of the Communist Party, she refused to cooperate, instead reading a prepared statement that concluded, "In a democracy no one should be forced or intimidated into a declaration of his principles. If one does yield to such pressure, he gives away his birthright. I am just mulish enough not to budge when anyone uses force on me." In 1950, Hobart was also listed in the anti-Communist blacklisting publication, ''[[Red Channels]]''. Hobart never worked in film again, although she did work on stage, and, later as the blacklist eased, in the 1960s, she took on television roles, including a part on ''[[Peyton Place (TV series)|Peyton Place]]''.<ref name=Bergan/>

===Personal life===
Hobart was married three times. Her first marriage, to Benjamin L. Winter, ended in divorce in 1929.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wedding of Actress Set in October|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17699200/rose_hobart/|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=September 21, 1932|location=California, Los Angeles|page=3|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = February 22, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> On October 9, 1932, she married William Mason Grosvenor, Jr., an executive in a chemical engineering firm. They were divorced on February 17, 1941.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rose Hobart Gets Western Divorce|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17699507/rose_hobart/|work=The Kingston Daily Freeman|agency=Associated Press|date=February 18, 1941|location=New York, Kingston|page=2|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|access-date = February 22, 2018}} {{Open access}}</ref> She had one child, son Judson Bosworth, from her third marriage to architect Barton H. Bosworth.<ref name=Oliver/>

===Later years===
In 1994, Hobart published her [[autobiography]], ''A Steady Digression to a Fixed Point''.

==Death==
On August 29, 2000, Hobart died at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in [[Woodland Hills, California]], aged 94,<ref name="opa">{{cite book|last1=Lentz|first1=Harris M. III|page=111|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2000: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture|date=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786410248|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XjGCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rose+Kefer%22&pg=PA111|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref> from natural causes. She was survived by her only child, son Judson Bosworth (b. 1949).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/sep/14/guardianobituaries3|title=Obituary: Rose Hobart|first=Ronald|last=Bergan|date=14 September 2000|website=the Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Willis|first1=John|last2=Monush|first2=Barry|title=Screen World 2001|date=2002|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781557834782|page=343|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0G3hog_c2kC&dq=%22Rose+Kefer%22&pg=PA41|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>

==Filmography==
=== Film ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1930
| ''[[Liliom (1930 film)|Liliom]]'' 
| Julie
| 
|-
| ''[[A Lady Surrenders]]''
| Mabel 'Mike'
| Isabel Beauvel
|-
| rowspan=4 | 1931
| ''[[Chances (film)|Chances]]'' 
| Molly Prescott
| 
|-
| ''[[East of Borneo]]'' 
| Linda Randolph
| 
|-
| ''[[Compromised (1931 film)|Compromised]]'' 
| Ann Brock
| 
|-
| ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' 
| Muriel Carew
| 
|-
| 1932
| ''[[Scandal for Sale]]'' 
| Claire Strong
| 
|-
| 1933
| ''[[The Shadow Laughs (film)|The Shadow Laughs]]'' 
| Ruth Hackett
| 
|-
| 1935
| ''[[Convention Girl]]'' 
| Cynthia 'Babe' LaVal
|
|-
| 1939
| ''[[Tower of London (1939 film)|Tower of London]]'' 
| Anne Neville
| 
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1940
| ''[[Wolf of New York]]'' 
| Peggy Nolan
| 
|-
| ''[[Susan and God]]''
| Irene
| 
|-
| ''[[A Night at Earl Carroll's]]'' 
| Ramona Lisa
| 
|-
| rowspan=6 | 1941
| ''[[Ziegfeld Girl (film)|Ziegfeld Girl]]'' 
| Mrs. Merton
| 
|-
| ''[[Singapore Woman]]''
| Alice North
| 
|-
| ''[[Lady Be Good (1941 film)|Lady Be Good]]'' 
| Mrs. Carter Wardley
|
|-
| ''[[I'll Sell My Life]]'' 
| Dale Layden (Mary Jones)
|
|-
| ''[[Nothing But the Truth (1941 film)|Nothing But the Truth]]'' 
| Mrs. Harriet Donnelly
|
|-
| ''[[No Hands on the Clock]]''
| Marion West 
|
|-
| rowspan=6 | 1942
| ''[[A Gentleman at Heart]]'' 
| Claire Barrington
| 
|-
| ''[[Mr. and Mrs. North (film)|Mr. and Mrs. North]]'' 
| Carol Brent
|
|-
| ''[[Who Is Hope Schuyler?]]'' 
| Alma Pearce
| 
|-
| ''[[Gallant Lady (1942 film)|Gallant Lady]]''
| Rosemary Walsh
| 
|-
| ''[[Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant]]'' 
| Mrs. Black
| 
|-
| ''[[The Adventures of Smilin' Jack (serial)|The Adventures of Smilin' Jack]]'' 
| Fraulein Von Teufel
| 
|-
| rowspan=5 | 1943
| ''[[Air Raid Wardens]]'' 
| 
| (scenes deleted)
|-
| ''[[Salute to the Marines]]'' 
| Mrs. Carson
| (uncredited)
|-
| ''[[Swing Shift Maisie]]''
| Lead Woman
| (uncredited)
|-
| ''[[The Mad Ghoul]]'' 
| Della
| 
|-
| ''[[Crime Doctor (film)|Crime Doctor's Strangest Case]]'' aka ''Strangest Case'' 
| Mrs. Diana Burns
| 
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1944
| ''[[Song of the Open Road]]'' 
| Mrs. Powell
| 
|-
| ''[[The Soul of a Monster]]''
| Lilyan Gregg
| 
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1945
| ''[[The Brighton Strangler]]''
| Dorothy Kent
| 
|-
| ''[[Conflict (1945 film)|Conflict]]'' 
| Kathryn Mason
| 
|-
| ''[[Isle of the Dead (film)|Isle of the Dead]]'' 
| Mrs. Mary St. Aubyn 
| (in long shot; uncredited)
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1946
| ''[[Claudia and David]]'' 
| Edith Dexter
| 
|-
| ''[[The Cat Creeps (1946 film)|The Cat Creeps]]'' 
| Connie Palmer
| 
|-
| ''[[Canyon Passage]]'' 
| Marta Lestrade
| 
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1947
| ''[[The Farmer's Daughter (1947 film)|The Farmer's Daughter]]'' 
| Virginia Thatcher
| 
|-
| ''[[The Trouble with Women (film)|The Trouble With Women]]''
| Agnes Meeler
| 
|-
| ''[[Cass Timberlane]]'' 
| Diantha Marl
| 
|-
| 1948
| ''[[Mickey (1948 film)|Mickey]]'' 
| Lydia Matthews
| (uncredited)
|-
| 1949
| ''[[Bride of Vengeance]]'' 
| Lady Eleonora
| 
|}

=== Television ===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1968
| ''[[The Invaders]]''
| Housekeeper - Irma
| 1 episode
|-
| 1968
| ''[[Gunsmoke]]''
| Melanie Karcher
| 1 episode
|-
| 1968–1969
| ''[[The F.B.I. (TV series)|The F.B.I.]]''
| Molly Ferguson / Maid
| 2 episodes 
|-
| 1971
| ''[[Cannon (TV series)|Cannon]]''
| Nina's Mother
| 1 episode
|-
| 1971
| ''[[Night Gallery]]''
| Mrs. Hugo (segment "The Dear Departed") 
| 1 episode; final appearance
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|New York City|Film|Television}}
{{commons category|Rose Hobart}}
*{{iMDb name|0387556}}
*{{IBDB name}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobart, Rose}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:American television actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from New York City]]
[[Category:Hollywood blacklist]]