Kathryn Card

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kathryn Card (October 4, 1892 – March 1, 1964) was an American radio, television and film actress who may be best remembered for her role as Mrs. MacGillicuddy, Lucy's mother on I Love Lucy.

Her first screen credit was in 1945 for her role as Louise in the Corliss Archer movie Kiss and Tell, starring Shirley Temple as Corliss Archer. The next year she appeared in Undercurrent with Robert Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Robert Mitchum. Then, in 1949, Card gave an interesting albeit brief performance (uncredited) as an extremely polite but no-nonsense loan processor for prospective borrower Joan Bennett in The Reckless Moment.

On February 8, 1954, Card made her first television appearance in an episode of I Love Lucy. The installment, entitled "Fan Magazine Interview", featured Card playing a slatternly woman named Minnie Finch. The following year she was cast as a totally different character, Mrs. MacGillicuddy, Lucy's bird-brained mother. She joined the Ricardos and the Mertzes in Hollywood when Lucy's husband, Ricky Ricardo, was given the opportunity to star in a motion picture. Mrs MacGillicuddy would frequently annoy Ricky immeasurably by mistakenly calling him "Mickey" or mistaking him for his fellow bandleader Xavier Cugat. She portrayed that character in five episodes during the 1954-1955 season, and appeared in three more installments during the 1955-1956 season when the Ricardos and the Mertzes traveled to Europe. However, Card's character never appeared again once both couples moved to Connecticut in the following year. She reprised that role for the last time in one episode of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show entitled "The Ricardos Go to Japan", which also featured guest star Robert Cummings, in 1959.

In addition to I Love Lucy, Card guest starred on several other television shows. She made two guest appearances in 1959 on Perry Mason, as Hannah Barton in "The Case of the Deadly Toy," and Harriet Snow in "The Case of the Watery Witness." Other television appearances included Make Room for Daddy, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Rawhide. Her final film appearance was in the 1964 MGM musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown.