--- name: "Miriam Hopkins" canonical: "https://film.one/person/miriam-hopkins" roles: ["Actor"] born: "18 October 1902" died: "9 October 1972" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 84 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T01:48:45.071267+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Miriam Hopkins Actor. Born 18 October 1902 in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Died 9 October 1972. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 18 October 1902, Savannah, Georgia, USA - **Died:** 9 October 1972 - **Active:** 1931–1949 - **Also known as:** Ellen Miriam Hopkins, ミリアム・ホプキンス - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 78 (1), 1940s 90 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Hopkins, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q242477, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0394244/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2433 ## Fi1m on Miriam Hopkins > Miriam Hopkins played women who were meant to be the joke as though nobody had told them: husky voice, restless hands, disdain that passes for charm. In the early 1930s it was the sharpest thing in Ernst Lubitsch's comedies; later the manner sometimes outlasted the parts. In *The Smiling Lieutenant* (1931) Miriam Hopkins arrives under a hat that could shelter a family, in a dress her grandmother would have called dowdy, sulking through games of draughts with her father. For a minute she looks like the film's joke. Then a lieutenant's wink meant for another woman lands on her, she decides she has been looked at, and her certainty is alarming. We laughed at the hat, and we had stopped laughing by the time she raised her eyes. She did that for a decade: took the woman the script had marked down as ridiculous and played her as if she had not been told. The reputation rests on about three years. She came to Paramount in 1930 from Broadway, where she had started in the chorus, and by 1933 she had made three films with Ernst Lubitsch: this one, *Trouble in Paradise* (1932), in which she is the pickpocket Lily, and *Design for Living* (1933), which puts her in a flat with two men and declines to apologise. In between, for Rouben Mamoulian, she was Ivy Pearson in *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1931), and then the title part in the Faulkner adaptation *The Story of Temple Drake* (1933). These were the last years before the Production Code was enforced in earnest, and she spent them playing women who wanted things, said so, and were not made dull for it. The husky voice, the hands that never stop, the Georgia that never quite left the vowels: all of it was in place by then. What she does best is disdain played as charm, and she leaves it to us to decide which it is. Critics have called it ladylike bitchiness for decades, and it is not unfair. It works when the director is quicker than she is. With Lubitsch the scenes move fast enough that the hands read as punctuation; William Wyler, who made four films with her beginning with *These Three* (1936), held her stiller and got something harder. Left to herself the brittleness stiffens into mannerism, and the usual exhibit is *Old Acquaintance* (1943), where the complaint was one note held for the length of a feature. She also had a name for taking scenes off her co-stars, and the evidence is on screen: watch what she does to Maurice Chevalier's grin. She once said, "I have never hesitated about playing unsympathetic roles — as long as they were good roles," and that is the sentence to keep in mind. It explains Ivy and Temple and Princess Anna, and it explains why, when the leads gave way to supporting parts, she was still worth casting: her Lavinia Penniman in *The Heiress* (1949), back with Wyler, is a part in somebody else's film, and she takes exactly what is hers. Start with the three Lubitsch films, in order, and do not let the hat put you off. ## Biography Miriam Hopkins was an American actress. Born in Savannah, Georgia, she began her career on stage as a chorus girl in New York and appeared on Broadway in the 1920s before making her feature film debut in *Fast and Loose* (1930). She signed with Paramount Pictures and gained prominence in early 1930s pre-Code films, including *The Smiling Lieutenant* (1931) as Princess Anna, *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1931) and Ernst Lubitsch's *Trouble in Paradise* (1932). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for *Becky Sharp* (1935). Hopkins later appeared in supporting roles in films such as *The Heiress* (1949), *The Children's Hour* (1961) and *The Chase* (1966), and worked in television. She died in New York City in 1972. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Heiress* (1949), Fi1m 90, as Lavinia Penniman — [page](https://film.one/film/the-heiress.md) - *The Smiling Lieutenant* (1931), Fi1m 78, as Princess Anna — [page](https://film.one/film/the-smiling-lieutenant.md) ## Complete filmography (49) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood* (2008), as Ivy Pearson (archive footage) - *Savage Intruder* (1970), as Katherine Parker - *The Chase* (1966), as Mrs. Reeves - *Fanny Hill* (1964), as Maude Brown - *The Outer Limits* (1963), series, as Mary Kry - *The Children's Hour* (1961), as Lily Mortar - *The Investigators* (1961), series, as Minna Carter - *Route 66* (1960), series, Actor - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *Summer Pavilion* (1955), as Theresa Durand - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Amanda Hale - *The Whistler* (1954), series, Actor - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Mrs. Cynthia Lockman - *The Outcasts of Poker Flat* (1952), as Mrs. Shipton aka 'The Duchess' - *Carrie* (1952), as Julie Hurstwood - *The Mating Season* (1951), as Fran Carleton - *Lux Video Theatre* (1950), series, as Bertha Jacks, Julie Arden, Margaret, Norma Desmond - *The Heiress* (1949), as Lavinia Penniman — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/the-heiress.md) - *Studio One* (1948), series, as Theresa Durand - *Old Acquaintance* (1943), as Millie Drake - *A Gentleman After Dark* (1942), as Flo Melton - *Lady with Red Hair* (1940), as Mrs. Leslie Carter - *Virginia City* (1940), as Julia Hayne - *The Old Maid* (1939), as Delia Lovell Ralston - *Wise Girl* (1937), as Susan Fletcher - *Woman Chases Man* (1937), as Virginia Travis - *The Woman I Love* (1937), as Mme. Helene Maury - *Men Are Not Gods* (1936), as Ann Williams - *These Three* (1936), as Martha Dobie - *Splendor* (1935), as Phyllis Manning Lorrimore - *Barbary Coast* (1935), as Mary 'Swan' Rutledge - *Becky Sharp* (1935), as Becky Sharp - *The Richest Girl in the World* (1934), as Dorothy Hunter - *She Loves Me Not* (1934), as Curly Flagg - *Hollywood on Parade No. B-1* (1934), Actor - *All of Me* (1934), as Lydia Darrow - *Design for Living* (1933), as Gilda Farrell - *The Stranger's Return* (1933), as Louise - *The Story of Temple Drake* (1933), as Temple Drake - *Trouble in Paradise* (1932), as Lily - *The World and the Flesh* (1932), as Maria Yaskaya - *Dancers in the Dark* (1932), as Gloria Bishop - *Two Kinds of Women* (1932), as Emma Krull - *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* (1931), as Ivy Pearson - *24 Hours* (1931), as Rosie Dugan - *The Smiling Lieutenant* (1931), as Princess Anna — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-smiling-lieutenant.md) - *The House That Shadows Built* (1931), as (archive footage) - *Fast and Loose* (1930), as Marion Lenox - *The Home Girl* (1928), Actor ## Gallery - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-f58e5f2facf5.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Miriam_Hopkins_Argentinean_Magazine_AD_2.jpg: CINEGRAF magazine derivative work: Wildhartlivie (talk), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Miriam_Hopkins.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Publicity photo of Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-db1f42e5d13a.jpg) Publicity photo of Miriam Hopkins — Studio Publicity, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/MiriamHopkins.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Miriam Hpokins - foto di scena di Barbary Coast - 1936 - immagine pubblicata in Italia - dicembre 1936 - prod Un Art (2017)](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-56b436479cc2.jpg) Miriam Hpokins - foto di scena di Barbary Coast - 1936 - immagine pubblicata in Italia - dicembre 1936 - prod Un Art (2017) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Hopkins-m-barbarycoast_1936.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photograph of Miriam Hopkins in the Broadway production of Jezebel Caption reads as follows: Miriam Hopkins is the devastating Jezebel of Owen Davis's play of t (1934)](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-cc89b45f20e3.jpg) Photograph of Miriam Hopkins in the Broadway production of Jezebel Caption reads as follows: Miriam Hopkins is the devastating Jezebel of Owen Davis's play of t (1934) — Ben Pinchot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Hopkins-Jezebel-1934.jpg/1280px-Hopkins-Jezebel-1934.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-7a019cdae0af.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-8335f9af24bd.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-a4ddc4b3587c.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB - ![Screenshot of Miriam Hopkins from the film Becky Sharp. (1935)](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-17189bf3aee8.jpg) Screenshot of Miriam Hopkins from the film Becky Sharp. (1935) — Film screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/MiriamHopkinsinBeckySharp.jpg/1280px-MiriamHopkinsinBeckySharp.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Cigarette card of Miriam Hopkins, 1937.](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-65bb9b9db266.jpg) Cigarette card of Miriam Hopkins, 1937. — Godfrey Phillips, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Miriam_Hopkins_cigarette_card.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-6e76eb8eea1b.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-10b1c75c0010.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB - ![Miriam Hopkins](https://film.one/media/person/1225794/gallery-f2ad0ee2a045.jpg) Miriam Hopkins — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1936: Best Actress (nominated), for *Becky Sharp* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/miriam-hopkins