Rose Hobart (born Rose Kefer) was an American actress and Screen Actors Guild official. When Hobart was 15, she debuted professionally in Cappy Ricks, a Chautauqua production. She was accepted for the 18-week tour because she told officials that she was 18. At that same age, she was cast in Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, which opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hobart's Broadway stage debut was on September 17, 1923 at the Knickerbocker Theater, playing a young girl in Lullaby. In 1925, she played Charmian in Caesar and Cleopatra.
Hobart was an original member of Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theatre. In 1928, she made her London debut, playing Nona Rolf in The Comic Artist. During her career in theater, she toured with Noël Coward in The Vortex and was cast opposite Helen Hayes in What Every Woman Knows.
Her performance as Grazia in Death Takes a Holiday won her a Hollywood contract. Hobart appeared in more than 40 motion pictures over a 20-year period. Her first film role was the part of Julie in the first talking picture version of Liliom, made by Fox Film Corporation in 1930, starring Charles Farrell in the title role, and directed by Frank Borzage. Under contract to Universal, Hobart starred in A Lady Surrenders, East of Borneo, and Scandal for Sale. On loan to other studios, she appeared in Chances and Compromised. In 1931, she co-starred with Fredric March and Miriam Hopkins in Rouben Mamoulian's original film version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. She played the role of Muriel, Jekyll's fiancée. In 1936, Surrealist artist Joseph Cornell, who bought a print of East of Borneo to screen at home, became smitten with the actress, and cut out nearly all the parts that did not include her. He also showed the film at silent film speed and projected it through a blue-tinted lens. He named the resulting work Rose Hobart. Hobart often played the "other woman" in movies during the 1940s, with her last major film role in Bride of Vengeance.
The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Hobart in 1949, effectively ending her career. She believed that she first came to the attention of anti-Communist activists because of her commitment to improving working conditions for actors in Hollywood.
2007
as Herself
1998
as Self - Interviewee
1997
as Self
1997
as Self
1971
1970
as Mrs. Hugo (segment "The Dear Departed")
1967
as Housekeeper - Irma
1965
as Maid
1965
as Molly Ferguson
1955
as Melanie Karcher
1949
as Lady Eleanora
1948
as Lydia Matthews
1947
as Diantha Marl
1947
as Agnes Meeler
1947
as Virginia Thatcher
1946
as Marta Lestrade
1946
as Connie Palmer
1946
as Edith Dexter
1945
as Mary St. Aubyn (in long shot; uncredited)
1945
as Kathryn Mason
1945
as Dorothy Kent
1944
as Lilyan Gregg
1944
as Mrs. Powell
1943
as Mrs. Diana Burns
1943
as Della Elliott, reporter
1943
as Lead Woman (Uncredited)
1943
as Mrs. Carson
1943
as Trudy Muller, aka Fraulein von Teufel
1942
as Mrs. Black
1942
as Rosemary Walsh
1942
as Alma Pearce
1942
as Carol Brent
1942
as Claire Barrington
1941
as Mrs. Marion West
1941
as Mrs. Harriet Donnelly
1941
as Mrs. Carter Wardley
1941
as Dale Layden
1941
as Alice North
1941
as Mrs. Merton
1940
as Ramona Lisa
1940
as Irene
1940
as Peggy Nolan
1939
as Anne Neville
1936
as Woman (archive footage) (uncredited)
1935
as Cynthia 'Babe' LaVal
1933
as Ruth Hackett
1932
as Claire Strong
1931
as Muriel Carew
1931
as Ann Brock
1931
as Linda Rudolph
1931
as Molly Prescott
1930
as Isabel Beauvel
1930
as Julie