Hope Emerson (October 29, 1897April 24, 1960) was an American actress, vaudevillian, nightclub performer, and strongwoman. Emerson started acting when she was three years old during a production with her mother. Her career started when she advertised sheet music by playing the piano at a 10-cent store. Emerson made her Broadway debut in Lysistrata in 1930. She starred in other plays, radio programs, films, television shows, and commercials. She often played the role of a villain in comedies and dramas. Emerson's performance in Caged "became the standard model for women's prison films." Her roles included being a circus strongwoman, a nefarious masseuse-conspirator, a mail-order bride, and a prison warden.
Emerson died from a liver ailment on April 24, 1960, at the Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital.
Personal life
Hope Emerson was born in Hawarden, Iowa, on October 29, 1897, to John Alvin Emerson and Josephine "Josie" Washburn Emerson. Her father sold boots and shoes, and then became town marshal and city assessor. Emerson's mother not only attended church and was involved in social work, but she was also a vaudeville performer. Emerson had a brother and a sister, but both of them died soon after being born. While Emerson was a high school senior, she moved with her family to Des Moines, Iowa, where she finished her education at West High School in 1916. She never married.
When asked in a New York World-Telegram interview in 1936 about her size, Emerson said,