Spring Byington

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Spring Byington bigraphy, stories - American actress

Spring Byington : biography

October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971

Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress.Obituary Variety, September 8, 1971. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.

Personal life

Byington spoke some Spanish, which she learned during the time spent with her husband in Buenos Aires, and she studied Brazilian Portuguese in her golden years. In July 1958 she confided to reporter Hazel Johnson that she had acquired a "small coffee plantation" in Brazil the month before and was learning Portuguese. "Miss Byington explained that she first listens to a ‘conditioning record’ before she goes to sleep. An hour later her Portuguese lessons automatically begin feeding into her pillow by means of a small speaker."

Byington was fascinated by metaphysics and science fiction novels, including George Orwell’s 1984. She surprised her co-stars in December Bride with her knowledge of the Earth’s satellites and constellations in the night sky.

In August 1955 she began taking flying lessons in Glendale, California, but the studio made her stop because of insurance problems.

In January, 1957, she testified in the trial of the Sica brothers as a character witness in behalf of the DaLonne Cooper, who was a friend and the Script Supervisor for December Bride.Fred Sica Says He Was Defending Self in Row. (January 31, 1957). Los Angeles Times, p. 4.

Marriage and engagement

Spring Byington married Roy Chandler in 1909; the manager of the theatre troupe she worked with in Buenos Aires. They remained in Buenos Aires until 1916, when Spring returned to the New York to give birth to her first daughter, Phyllis Irene. Her second daughter, Lois Helene, was born in 1917. The couple divorced in about 1920. Between then and the mid-1930s, she devoted her time to developing her career. Los Angeles Times, September 8, 1971. Retrieved: June 11, 2012.

In the late 1930s, she was once again engaged to be married; this time to an Argentine industrialist. Following an engagement of a couple of years and several months before they were to be married, he died unexpectedly. Following this, she chose to devote her life to her career and family.

Early life

Byington was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Professor Edwin Lee Byington (1852–1891), an educator and superintendent of schools in Colorado, and Helene Maud (née Cleghorn). Byington had one sibling, a younger sister, Helene Kimball Byington. After Edwin Lee’s death, Helene decided to send her younger daughter, Helene, to live with her parents, Arthur and Charlotte Cleghorn, in Port Hope, Ontario, while Spring remained with family in Denver. Her mother moved to Boston and became a student at the Boston University School of Medicine where she graduated in 1896. After graduation she moved back to Denver, Colorado, and began a practice with fellow graduate, Dr. Mary Ford.

Byington played in amateur shows in her school days and graduated from North High School in 1904, and shortly afterward, at age 14, became a professional actress with the Elitch Garden Stock Company.Stumpf, Charles. Classic Images, June 2000. Her mother had been a friend of Mary Elitch. When their mother died in 1907, Byington and Helene were legally adopted by their aunt Margaret Eddy. Byington, however, was already of legal majority age and took her inheritance to begin an acting career in New York.

Broadway credits

  • Beggar on Horseback (1924, 1925 revival) – Mrs. Cady
  • Weak Sisters (1925)
  • Puppy Love (1926)
  • The Great Adventure (1926–1927)
  • Skin Deep (1927)
  • The Merchant of Venice (1928)
  • To-Night at 12 (1928–1929)
  • Be Your Age (1929)
  • Jonesy (1929)
  • Ladies Don’t Lie (1929)
  • I Want My Wife (1930)
  • Once in a Lifetime (1930) – Helen Hobart
  • Ladies of Creation (1931)
  • We Are No Longer Children (1932)
  • When Ladies Meet (1932–1933)
  • The First Apple (1933–1934)
  • No Questions Asked (1934)
  • Jig Saw (1934)
  • Piper Paid (1934–1935)