Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, the youngest of four children and obtained her teaching certificate in 1923 from the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School in Boston.

On June 13, 1931, Margaret Hamilton married Paul Boynton Meserve, a landscape architect. Together they had one son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve. The marriage ended in divorce in 1938 and Margaret raised her son alone in California.
For nearly fifteen years, Margaret Hamilton lived in Los Angeles, California before establishing permanent residence in New York City in 1951. Wherever her home was, she regularly traveled back and forth between coasts to perform in both movies and the theatre and later in television.
Among her other accomplishments, Margaret Hamilton was an honorary trustee of the Cleveland PlayHouse and was the recipient in 1977 of the Governor's Award of the State of Ohio. She was also a member of the Veterans Hospital Radio and TV Guild. She would visit hospitals to work with disabled veterans interested in the theatre and broadcasting.
in 1951. Wherever her home was, she regularly traveled back and forth between coasts to perform in both movies and the theatre and later in television.
Among her other accomplishments, Margaret Hamilton was an honorary trustee of the Cleveland PlayHouse and was the recipient in 1977 of the Governor's Award of the State of Ohio. She was also a member of the Veterans Hospital Radio and TV Guild. She would visit hospitals to work with disabled veterans interested in the theatre and broadcasting.
Margaret Hamilton's performances included some seventy-five movies, at least as many stage plays, countless radio and television dramas, and commercials.
Margaret Hamilton had already played in some twenty-five films before she accepted the role of Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz". Margaret Hamilton once said this about her role as the Wicked Witch, "I don't look on it as any great shakes of acting," she explained to Al Cohn in an interview for Newsday (March 19, 1978). "It's not subtle or restrained. It isn't any of the things you like to think might apply to your acting."
Some other memorable films that Margaret Hamilton appeared in after "The Wizard of Oz" included: "My Little Chickadee", "The Oxbow Incident", "Guest in the House","George White's Scandals", "State of the Union", "The Red Pony", "The Beautiful Blonde", "Bashful Bend", "13 Ghosts" and "Brewster McCloud."
One of Margaret Hamilton's assets as a character actress has been her distinctive nose, whose bump she inherited from her father.