Suzi, I love the idea of looking at famous acting teachers in the studio era on Hollywood. Maybe it stems from my fondness for Harvey Lembeck in everything.

Bronxie, I think that one of the reasons we all remember Maria’s Gypsy in The Wolf Man movies is because she approached her role in such a matter of fact way, almost shrugging her shoulders over the dilemma of lycanthropy, as though it was to be expected in an unjust world. It also seemed as though she acted her part with the same amount of amusing gravitas that she might have brought to a part in anything she’d played by Chekov or Gogol at the Moscow Art Theater. She also seemed to be the exemplification of one of her lessons to all her students to create a “living” character, alive to some eternal, inexplicable understanding of the human heart.

She was a fascinating little powerhouse, even if she did not have a rough life and didn’t always have a chance to play the most nuanced of roles–she made them better by bringing that lifetime of experience to the parts.

It’s good to know that others share this interest in her.

This quality of being in a world of her own, even when reciting couplets over werewolves, made her fascinating.

She’s fascinating! Love the Eddie Albert anecdote.

Great article! She definitely left an impression far more lasting than her fairly short film resume would have suggested.

“Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers at night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the moon is full and bright”

Another outstanding piece of work from you.

Happy Halloween!