Kathleen Freeman made disapproval funny, with a forceful voice and timing that gave even a small part its own importance. We rate her precision, though the casting too often settled for another woman telling people off.
Fi1m perspective
Kathleen Freeman's diction coach in Singin' in the Rain (1952) treats Jean Hagen's character as someone who can, and must, be corrected. As Phoebe Dinsmore, she gives the lesson a seriousness that makes the teacher funny in her own right. We laughed at her severity because she makes teaching proper speech feel so much more urgent than it ought to be. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's musical has plenty of comic pleasure to spare, but her uncredited appearance earns its place among the larger performances.
The small and often uncredited parts of her early-1950s MGM years required her to make an impression quickly. Her expressive face and forceful delivery let her establish authority without a lengthy introduction. The recurring work with Jerry Lewis began in 1954, with Millie Lemmon in The Nutty Professor (1963) among the results. Lewis gave her repeated opportunities to be the firm presence facing slapstick disorder, a useful arrangement for an actor who could make disapproval entertaining.
The Blues Brothers (1980) uses her as Sister Mary Stigmata, a strict nun who disciplines the protagonists. It is a familiar job for Freeman, and it points to the reservation about her screen career. Maids, teachers, secretaries and formidable relatives gave her plenty of opportunities to tell people off. She made those parts count, but we would have liked the casting to ask more often for something beyond another display of displeasure.
In Shrek (2001), her final film role, she voices the Old Woman, Donkey's original owner. Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson's comedy has its share of familiar storytelling, but its characters outlast the pop-culture jokes. Freeman belongs to that character comedy, with a voice that needs little time to suggest someone accustomed to being obeyed. It is a small contribution, and we would not pretend that the film rests on it. Start with Singin' in the Rain, and pay attention when the diction coach arrives.
Biography
Kathleen Freeman was an American character actress whose career in film, television and stage spanned more than fifty years. She appeared in numerous small but memorable comic roles, often as maids, secretaries, teachers or battle-axe neighbours and relatives.
Freeman began performing as a child in her parents' vaudeville act and later studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles. She made her film debut in 1948 and gained an early screen credit as the diction coach Phoebe Dinsmore in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain. She appeared in eleven films with Jerry Lewis and played Sister Mary Stigmata in The Blues Brothers (1980). Her final screen role was as the voice of the Old Woman in Shrek (2001). On stage she performed in the Broadway production of The Full Monty until shortly before her death.
