Tempe Pigott

Tempe Pigott
Pigott as the charwoman in Becky Sharp (1935)
Born(1869-02-02)2 February 1869
Queensland, Australia[1]
Died6 October 1962(1962-10-06) (aged 93)
Woodland Hills, California, United States
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1951 (films only)

Tempe Pigott (2 February 1869[1] – 6 October 1962) was an Australian[1] silent and sound screen character actress. In the pre-film era she was a stage actress in England, Australia, Canada and the United States. She began appearing in motion pictures in the 1920s.

In 1907, she was a member of the Lillian Meyers Dramatic Company which toured Australia; for some years thereafter, she remained in Australia and acted in such theatrical productions as Nobody's Daughter (1911),[2] Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance (1912),[3] and Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's His House in Order (1914).[4] She is given one credit for her role as Mrs. Hubbard in Douglas Murray's Broadway stage play, Perkins, which starred Ruth Chatterton, and ran for 23 performances at Henry Miller's Theatre in the fall of 1918.

Her silent and sound film appearances were numerous. She is remembered mainly for playing the mother of John McTeague (Gibson Gowland) in Erich von Stroheim's Greed (1924), and as the landlady Mrs. Hawkins in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

She died at Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, USA.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Nissen, Axel (1 August 2016). Accustomed to Her Face: Thirty-Five Character Actresses of Golden Age Hollywood. McFarland and Co. pp 172–173. ISBN 9780786497324 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Palace Theatre". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 September 1911. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Palace Theatre". The Sydney Morning Herald. 22 January 1912. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Little – 'His House in Order'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 31 October 1914. p. 16. Retrieved 31 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Mrs. Tempe Pigott". Los Angeles Times. 14 October 1962. p. 42. Retrieved 31 March 2020 – via Newspapers.com.