- Perhaps best remembered as Aunt Pittypat in Gone with the Wind (1939).
- After the advent of the talkies, she was one of the many Broadway stars who became voice coaches for silent film stars. She was hired first by Norma Talmadge, followed by Constance Bennett, Ann Harding, Gloria Swanson and Helen Twelvetrees.
- Despite her film resumé, she considered herself a theatrical actress, appearing on Broadway from 1903 in over 40 major productions, literally until the day she died. She was cast in the smash hit Arsenic and Old Lace at the Fulton Theatre in the role of Abby Brewster in June, 1942. After her death on November 13th of that year, she was replaced by Patricia Collinge.
- Her busiest year in film was 1939, with seven films to her credit, including Idiot's Delight (1939), The Rains Came (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) and most memorably of all, Gone with the Wind (1939).
- She was given the role of Aunt Pittypat in "Gone With The Wind" after fellow character actress Billie Burke decline the part so that she could instead portray Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz".
- Unmarried. Survived by a sister, Mrs. Gene Hughes, and two brothers, William L. and Sherold D. Crews, all of San Rafael, California.
- Portrayed by Audra Lindley in The Silent Lovers (1980).
- Her father, a carpenter, was also a member of the California Stock Company. She appeared on stage between the ages of four and seven, then took time out for schooling, before returning to play ingenue roles from the age of 19. She was a leading lady in New York in the early 1900s, then gradually drifted into playing eccentric character parts on the big screen.
- Interred at Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Colma, California, USA.
- On Broadway from 1903. She often acted in plays by A.A. Milne, who was particularly impressed by her work in his 'Mr. Pim Passes By'.
- Biography in "Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties" by Axel Nissen.
- Made her first appearance on the London Stage in the play The Great Divide in 1909.
- Aunt of actor Earle Larrimore.
- Her mother was a stage actress, Angelena Lockwood and her father, John Thomas Crews, was a backstage carpenter with the California Theater Company.
- Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- Appeared twice in Clark Gable films (both in 1939): "Idiot's delight," as the alcoholic clairvoyant, Madame Zuleika; and "Gone with the wind," as Aunt Pittypat (her most famous screen role).
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