Constance Cummings

Constance Cummings (previous post's Mystery Guest #5) was born Constance Halverstadt on May 15, 1910, in Seattle, Washington. As young girl she wanted to be a classical dancer, but in her mid-teens, after a walk-on bit as a prostitute in a summer stock production of Seventh Heaven, she left her ballet shoes behind and began acting and dancing in stage musicals. In only two years, accompanied by her mother, she was on Broadway. As was common at the time, movie moguls, in this case Samuel Goldwyn, scoured Broadway for those with potential for film, and Constance found herself in Hollywood.

Her first film was to be The Devil to Pay, with Ronald Colman. However, after a director change she was replaced by Loretta Young. That event allowed Columbia to offer her a contract and cast her as prison warden Walter Huston's naive daughter in Howard Hawks's 1931 The Criminal Code. Constance made five films that year, including The Last Parade and Traveling Husbands. 1932 found her in demand and another eight films were released including the very successful Movie Crazy with Harold Lloyd, American Madness, again with Walter Huston, and Attorney for the Defense with Edmund Lowe.

Big changes were ahead for Constance in 1933. While there were another five films made that year, including one of my favorites, The Mind Reader, with Warren William, and Billion Dollar Scandal, the big event was her marriage. She had met the British playwright and director Benn W. Levy, who was there to do a script. They were married that year and settled in London a year later. She had to win a court fight with Columbia to make movies in Britain. Her final Hollywood film before leaving permanently for England was the comedy-whodunit Remember Last Night? (1935), with Robert Young.

Though a good number of films appeared in the ensuing years, including Blithe Spirit (1945) with Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford, Constance was spending more of her time on the stage. Among her few films in the 1950's was The Intimate Stranger, AKA Finger of Guilt(1956), directed by blacklisted Joseph Losey (under the pseudonym Joseph Walton).

In 1974, Constance was made a Commander of the British Empire for her contributions to the British entertainment industry. In 1979, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the role in the play Wings. Constance has a star at 6211 Hollywood Blvd.

Constance died on November 23, 2005 at the age of 95.

Double-click on the images for a larger view.

The Criminal Code (1931)

Traveling Husbands (1931)

Attorney for the Defense (1932)


American Madness (1932)


Movie Crazy (1932)


Night after Night (1932)

Publicity still from Billion Dollar Scandal (1933)


Publicity still from The Mind Reader 1933

Seven Sinners (1936) - a Gaumont (British) production

Finger of Guilt (1956)

Undated publicity still.

Constance Cummings - What do you think - Allure?