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Mary Wickes (June 13, 1910 in film|1910 - October
22, 1995 in film|1995) was a United States film
and television actor|actress.

Born Mary Isabelle Wickenhauser in St. Louis,
Missouri, Wickes began acting in films in the late
1930s. She was also a member of Orson Welles
troupe on his radio drama Mercury Theatre|Mercury
Theatre of the Air during this period. One of her
earliest significant film appearances was in The
Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage
role of Nurse Preen. A tall, gangling woman with a
distinctive voice, Wickes would ultimately prove
herself adept as a comedienne, but she first
attracted attention in the film Now, Voyager
(1942), as the wise-cracking nurse who helped
Bette Davis' character during her mother's
illness.  The same year she had a large part in
the Bud Abbott and Lou Costello comedy-whodunnit,
titled Who Done It?.  She continued playing
supporting roles in films during the next decade. 
 

In the 1950s she played regular roles in the
television sitcoms Make Room for Daddy and Dennis
The Menace, as well as appearing as Emma the
housekeeper in the holiday classic White Christmas
(1954), starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary
Clooney and Vera-Ellen. She served as the
live-action reference model for Cruella De Vil in 
Walt Disney film One Hundred and One Dalmatians
(1961).  A lifelong friend of Lucille Ball, she
played frequent guest roles in each of Ball's
television series, I Love Lucy, Here's Lucy and
The Lucy Show. She was also a regular on the Sid
and Marty Krofft children's television show
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.  By the 1980s, her
appearances in television series such as M*A*S*H
(TV series)|M*A*S*H, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The
Night Stalker and Murder, She Wrote had made her a
widely recognisable character actor|character
actress.

Her appearance in the 1990 film Postcards From the
Edge brought her attention; however, she achieved
the biggest success of her career in Sister Act
(1992).  As Sister Mary Lazarus, Wickes' portrayal
of a gruff but vulnerable elderly nun contributed
to the film's popularity, and she reprised the
role in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
(1993).  She appeared in the 1994 film version of
Little Women (1994 movie)|Little Women before she
became ill.

Hospitalised in 1995, Wickes died after surgery
for cancer.

Her final film role, voicing the gargoyle Laverne
in the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre
Dame (1996 animated film)|The Hunchback of Notre
Dame was released posthumously in 1996.

==External links==
*http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0926897/ Mary Wickes
at the Internet Movie Database
*http://www.meekermuseum.com/mwickes.html "Who
Done It?" - Mary Wickes with Abbott and Costello
*http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/archives/guid
es/wickes.html Washington University Library Site
- Papers of Mary Wickes including photograph