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Adeline De Walt Reynolds (September 19, 1862 – August 13, 1961) was an American character actress who made her film debut at the age of 79 when she played the grandmother of James Stewart in ''Come Live with Me'' (1941). She continued to play in about 25 films and numerous television series until her death. == Early life and entrance into film == Adeline De Walt Reynolds was born as one of ten children during the Civil War. One of her earliest memories was of Union soldiers returned from the Civil War.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Adeline De Walt Reynolds at DeMonies )〕 She wanted to be an actress since she was five years old, but her father, a farmer named Jonathan DeWalt, opposed her dream. As a young woman, she taught in a rural school, where she had to lie about her age, saying she was 20 instead of her real age of 18, in order to get the job.〔 〕 It was a difficult teaching assignment, and had been refused by several other teachers, but De Walt Reynolds eventually gained the support of the children and their families. However, after three years she left this work after learning that her male colleagues earned more money than her, and the school board refused to pay her the same rate.〔 〕 She married Frank Reynolds, with whom she had four children, in 1885, shortly after leaving teaching. They initially lived in Vinton, Iowa, their hometown, but moved to Arcadia, Nebraska after a year, and the birth of their first child, Mary. Reynolds parents had moved to Arcadia a short time before, and they offered him the lumber business Reynolds' father had begun. They remained in Arcadia for five years, and had another child, William.〔 After 5 years, the family moved to Boston, and De Walt Reynolds attended and graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Speech. While in Boston, according to some accounts, in 1892 the famous Sir Henry Irving offered De Walt Reynolds a spot in his touring company. It is said that she turned Irving's offer down to raise her children.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=Internet Movie Database )〕 The family moved to Philadelphia, as well as several other cities, before eventually moving to San Francisco, where the couple had their final 2 children, Franklin and Lela.〔〔 After Reynolds untimely death at the beginning of the 1900s, she was forced to earn a living in order to raise her four children.〔〔 〕 She started a secretarial school which was destroyed in San Francisco's 1906 earthquake. De Walt Reynolds was a witness and survivor of this earthquake.〔 In spite of this loss, she continued to struggle to support her family. It was not until her youngest daughter, Lela, entered college at the University of California, that De Walt Reynolds thought that she could once again focus on her own desires.〔 Encouraged by her daughter, De Walt Reynolds also entered Berkeley at the age of 64. She majored in French and graduated with honors at 68.〔〔 〕 Upon graduation, De Walt Reynolds continued to take acting courses at the university, under the tutelage of Professor von Neumeyer. Having the ability to finally focus on her acting career, when she was cast as Hecuba in a school production of ''The Trojan Women'', she made contact with the celebrated stage actress Blanche Yurka, who had played the same role in a radio production of the play. The following year De Walt Reynolds traveled to Los Angeles and again contacted Yurka, to ask her advice on beginning a career in film. Impressed, Yurka found an agent willing to take on an older client, and De Walt Reynolds was cast in a role in an Assistance League production of ''Landslide''. Clarence Brown saw her in the production and cast her in his upcoming film.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Adeline De Walt Reynolds」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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