Attended Hickman Dramatic School in Washington D.C. and once appeared with legend Will Rogers in a stage production of "Ah, Wilderness" at the Hollywood Playhouse.
Came from a nautical family: her brother was Rear Admiral W.R.Shoemaker and her father, Captain Charles Shoemaker, was head of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service.
Character actress of the 30s and 40s stage and film who played everybody's benevolent mom at one time or another, including Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.
Fondly remembered for playing FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, after replacing Anne Seymour on the Broadway stage, she also played her in the film version of Sunrise at Campobello (1960). She also portrayed Harry Truman's mom in the TV movie Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur (1976) (TV). She was 85 at the time.
Fondly remembered for playing FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, after replacing Anne Seymour on the Broadway stage, she also played her in the film version of Sunrise at Campobello (1960). She also portrayed Harry Truman's mom in the TV movie "Collision Course" in 1976. She was 85 at the time.
Had one child, daughter Anne Hall, who was a song lyricist.
Retired pretty much by 1950, she returned to acting following the death of her husband, character actor Henry Stephenson in 1956.
Stage debut with the Keith Stock Company in Philadelphia'. First on Broadway in David Belasco's 'Nobody's Widow' (1910).