- Born
- Died
- Birth nameEstelle Ruth Goodwin
- When Estelle saw the girl on a white horse at the circus, she then decided that she wanted to be an actress. And she was from the age of 5, to the disapproval of her father. Her mother had her train with the Liverpool Repertory Company, and Estelle performed in many plays and many roles in the West End. In 1916, she made her debut on Broadway and worked with a number of acclaimed stage actors. Estelle spent the rest of the 'teens and '20s working in plays on both sides of the Atlantic. Being an actor in the theater, Estelle was not about to be one of those who acted in flicks and held out for a very long time. In fact, besides a small role in a few English films in the early 1930s, her real debut was Quality Street (1937), a picture that she undertook when she was in her 50s. Anyway, that was enough as it would be almost two decades before she would return to the big screen. She appeared on the stage in the plays "The Merry Wives of Windsor," "Ten Little Indians," and "The Importance of Being Earnest." But, in 1955, Estelle did return to the movies as Leslie Caron's "fairy godmother" in The Glass Slipper (1955). Estelle would spend the next 10 years appearing in films, often cast as eccentric, frail old ladies, some of whom could be deadly. Not to be left out, Estelle also would work on Television, doing guest spots in a number of shows. At 84, Estelle played a woman who was enamored by crooked Zero Mostel in the comedy The Producers (1967). Her last film would be the detective spoof Murder by Death (1976). When Estelle was asked, on the occasion of her 100th birthday, how she felt to have lived so long, she replied, "How rude of you to remind me!".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
- SpousesRobert Barton Henderson(June 1, 1944 - June 20, 1984) (her death)Francis Barlow Bradley(April 2, 1928 - May 7, 1929) (his death)Arthur Chesney(1907 - ?) (divorced)
- ParentsGeorge Abraham GoodwinLouise Rosalie Ellis
- Winwood's best friend from the 1920s until her death in the 1960s was Tallulah Bankhead.
- At the time of her death (at age 101) she was the all-time oldest member of the Screen Actor's Guild.
- George Cukor died only hours after sending her a telegram for her 100th birthday.
- When she was 95, she acknowledged on Merv Griffin's talk show that she smoked three packs of cigarettes a day.
- Her first husband, Arthur Chesney, was the brother of Edmund Gwenn.
- [on reaching her centenary] "Who wants to be 100?"
- [speaking at age 100] "I wouldn't mind being dead - it would be something new."
- I don't want to remember yesterday! It's all I can do to remember today!
- On appearing in the Mel Brooks classic The Producers (1967): "Oh, that dreadful picture. I can't bear to watch it, even on a small television. I must have needed the money - living in Hollywood weakens one's motives. It reminds me of the saying that nobody ever went broke underestimating the American public's taste".
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