The daughter of an actress and a backstage carpenter, Laura Hope Crews entered the theatre in 1883 at the tender
age of four. She left the stage to complete her education, then returned to play ingenue roles.
A firmly entrenched character actress by the '20s, Laura fought hard to retain her place in the spotlight, and
tolerated no nonsense from anyone who didn't take the theatre seriously; at one point, she called for the dismissal
of a frivolous newcomer named Bette Davis.
Laura arrived
in Hollywood in 1929, not as an actress, but as a vocal coach for untrained silent-film stars. She had a solid
film career and is best known for playing Aunt Pittypat in "Gone With the Wind."
Laura died at the age of 62 and is buried at Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California.
