Addie McPhail

McPhail was born Addie Dukes in White Plains, Kentucky, on July 15, 1905.[1] Her parents were Van and Cordelia Dukes, and she attended schools in Madisonville and Providence, Kentucky.[2] Her father worked in insurance, and the family often moved. They went to Chicago in 1911 and "settled for a long period".[1] While there, she won several contests on stage.[2] They went to Hollywood in 1925, a move that McPhail considered to be fate because she wanted to be an actress.[1]

McPhail began her work in films with Stern Brothers, a studio that produced short comedies that Universal distributed.[1] She appeared in more than 60 films between 1927 and 1941. The physical demands of comedy gradually diminished McPhail's interest in acting, and she later said, "May I was never the actress I wanted to be."[1] Her film career ended with Northwest Passage (1940).[1]

McPhail's first husband was Lindsay McPhail, a pianist and songwriter with whom she had a daughter.[1] She was the third and last wife of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. After she retired from acting, she served for 17 years as a volunteer nurse at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.[3]

McPhail died of undisclosed causes in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, on April 14, 2003.[1]

• Addie McPhail at IMDb