Helen Broderick

Helen Broderick

Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 - September 25, 1959) was a wonderfully funny character comedienne with vaudeville and stage experience, a close friend of Jeanne Eagels. The story goes, that at the age of 14 she ran away from home, because her mother, who appeared in operatic comedy, was totally obsessed by the theatre. Paradoxically, all the people she met turned out to be performers, and Helen (who needed to make a living, after all) ended up where she hadn't wanted to end up - on the stage. She started out as a chorus girl in the first Ziegfeld Follies in 1907. Her talent for comedy was discovered quite by accident. In 1911, she was understudy to the actress Ina Claire in the Broadway play 'Jumping Jupiter'. One night, Claire was unable to perform and Helen Broderick stood in as the romantic lead. She soon had the audience in stitches, trampling about the stage like an elephant, rolling her big saucer eyes and attempting to croon 'Cuddle Near Me All Day Long' in her rather unique voice. The romance was no more and instead turned into a popular farce with Helen now permanently installed in the lead role. For a while, Helen partnered her husband, Lester Crawford, in vaudeville. In the 1920's, she enjoyed success on Broadway, most notably in 'Fifty Million Frenchmen' ( a role she took to Hollywood in 1931). Her best parts in the movies were as the perennial friend or chaperone of the heroine (an earlier Eve Arden), delivering acidic wisecracks in her inimitable dead-pan manner. She was particularly amusing in Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936) with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; and in The Rage of Paris (1938) with Danielle Darrieux.

  • Title: Helen Broderick
  • Popularity: 1.309
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1891-08-11
  • Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As:
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Helen Broderick Movies

  • 1935
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    Top Hat

    Top Hat

    7.289 1935 HD

    Showman Jerry Travers is working for producer Horace Hardwick in London. Jerry demonstrates his new dance steps late one night in Horace's hotel...

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  • 1936
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    Swing Time

    Swing Time

    6.8 1936 HD

    Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding again and has to make $25,000 so her father allows him to marry Margaret. He and business partner Pop...

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  • 1941
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    Nice Girl?

    Nice Girl?

    5.3 1941 HD

    Jane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice...

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  • 1938
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    The Rage of Paris

    The Rage of Paris

    6.1 1938 HD

    Nicole has no job and is several weeks behind with her rent. Her solution to her problems is to try and snare a rich husband. Enlisting the help of...

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  • 1936
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    Murder on a Bridle Path

    Murder on a Bridle Path

    5 1936 HD

    When the body of Violet Feverel is discovered on the Central Park bridle path, Inspector Oscar Piper is about to declare her death accidental from a...

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  • 1941
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    Father Takes a Wife

    Father Takes a Wife

    6.1 1941 HD

    A famous actress has to win over her ready-made family when she weds a shipping magnate.

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  • 1939
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    Honeymoon in Bali

    Honeymoon in Bali

    6.2 1939 HD

    Bill Burnett, a resident of Bali, visits New York City, meets and falls in love with Gail Allen, the successful manager of a Fifth Avenue shop, who...

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  • 1936
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    The Bride Walks Out

    The Bride Walks Out

    5.3 1936 HD

    Carolyn Martin is a fashion model who hastily marries her boyfriend, engineer Michael Martin. But part of the marriage arrangement requires that...

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  • 1939
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    Stand Up and Fight

    Stand Up and Fight

    5.8 1939 HD

    A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.

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  • 1936
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    Love on a Bet

    Love on a Bet

    7 1936 HD

    Aspiring Producer Michael McCreigh convinces Uncle Carlton to finance a play on the condition that he lives the play's ridiculous plot. If Michael...

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  • 1937
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    She's Got Everything

    She's Got Everything

    5.3 1937 HD

    The day after Carol returns from a European trip, she wakes up to find her dead father's creditors hauling everything away. Her aunt wants her to...

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  • 1937
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    The Life of the Party

    The Life of the Party

    5.2 1937 HD

    A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found.

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  • 1944
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    3 Is a Family

    3 Is a Family

    1 1944 HD

    Based on a play by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, "3 Is a Family" is a 1940s farce. Charlie Ruggles plays a hubby whose bungled business schemes force his...

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  • 1938
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    Service de Luxe

    Service de Luxe

    6.5 1938 HD

    Glamorous and efficient Helen Murphy runs a service that will provide any type of assistance to wealthy customers, but what she's really looking for...

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  • 1936
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    Smartest Girl in Town

    Smartest Girl in Town

    5.5 1936 HD

    A girl in search of a rich husband mistakes a millionaire for a male model.

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  • 1937
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    We're on the Jury

    We're on the Jury

    5.8 1937 HD

    A juror at a murder trial is convinced the defendant is innocent.

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  • 1938
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    Radio City Revels

    Radio City Revels

    8 1938 HD

    A down-on-his-luck songwriter attempts to peddle musical compositions of a naive Arkansas hillbilly under his own name. Comedy.

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  • 1941
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    Virginia

    Virginia

    1 1941 HD

    Post-Civil War romantic drama about defeated Southerners, starring Madeleine Carroll and Fred MacMurray.

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  • 1937
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    Meet the Missus

    Meet the Missus

    4 1937 HD

    A small town Ohio barber accompanies his ditzy wife to Atlantic City, where she competes in the Happy Noodle Company's Mrs. America Contest.

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  • 1944
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    Chip Off the Old Block

    Chip Off the Old Block

    4 1944 HD

    The son of a strict Navy officer falls for the daughter of a musical-comedy star.

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  • 1935
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    To Beat the Band

    To Beat the Band

    1 1935 HD

    An eccentric heir must marry a widow in order to collect the millions left to him in his aunt's will, so a suicidal neighbor agrees to marry the...

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  • 1939
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    Naughty But Nice

    Naughty But Nice

    6.2 1939 HD

    Donald Hardwick (Dick Powell) is a stuffed-shirt, classical music professor. His family and small-town music college that he works are of equal...

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  • 1944
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    Her Primitive Man

    Her Primitive Man

    6 1944 HD

    An anthropologist unwittingly takes a man disguised as a "primitive man" back to New York as a specimen.

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  • 1945
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    Love, Honor and Goodbye

    Love, Honor and Goodbye

    4.5 1945 HD

    A lawyer's wife walks out on him, then poses as a French nurse to spy on him.

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  • 1943
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    Stage Door Canteen

    Stage Door Canteen

    6.1 1943 HD

    A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of the theater and films appear and host a...

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  • 1946
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    Because of Him

    Because of Him

    6.2 1946 HD

    A young woman who wants to break into the theater schemes to become the protege of a famous Broadway star.

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  • 1931
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    50 Million Frenchmen

    50 Million Frenchmen

    6.3 1931 HD

    In this comedy, two men make an extravagant $50,000 dollar bet that one of them will be able to successfully court a lovely woman without spending...

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  • 1940
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    The Captain Is a Lady

    The Captain Is a Lady

    6 1940 HD

    Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only...

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  • 1940
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    No, No, Nanette

    No, No, Nanette

    6 1940 HD

    Perky young Nanette attempts to save the marriage of her uncle and aunt by untangling Uncle Jimmy from several innocent but ensnaring flirtations....

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  • 1938
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    The Road to Reno

    The Road to Reno

    2 1938 HD

    An opera singer travels to Reno to divorce her rancher husband.

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