Helen Broderick

Helen Broderick (August 11, 1891 – September 25, 1959) was an American actress celebrated for her quick‑witted, wise‑cracking sidekick characters in both stage revues and classic Hollywood musicals. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she entered the entertainment world as a chorus girl in Florenz Ziegfeld’s Follies of 1907, the inaugural edition of what would become a legendary annual revue. After honing her dance and comedic timing on the vaudeville circuit, she formed the duo “Broderick & Crawford” with her husband, Lester Crawford, a partnership that lasted until the decline of vaudeville in the early 1930s. Their collaboration produced several short comedy films such as Nile Green (1930) and Court Plastered (1931), showcasing her talent for delivering sharp one‑liners. During the late 1920s she transitioned to leading and featured Broadway roles, appearing in productions like Fifty Million Frenchmen, The Band Wagon, and As Thousands Cheer, where her stage presence earned the admiration of critics and audiences alike. Her success on the Great White Way paved the way for a Hollywood career, and she became a favorite supporting actress in the Astaire‑Rogers pictures Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936), where she played the witty friend Madge Hardwick and Mabel Anderson respectively. In addition to these high‑profile musical comedies, she headlined B‑movies such as Murder on a Bridle Path (1936), portraying the amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers, and continued to act in a steady stream of films through the mid‑1940s. She was married to actor Lester Crawford in 1910, and their union produced one son, future Academy Award‑winning actor Broderick Crawford (1911–1986). Helen Broderick’s final screen appearance came opposite Deanna Durbin in Because of Him (1946). After a stroke, she passed away on September 25, 1959, in Beverly Hills, California, leaving behind a legacy of sparkling comic performances that helped define the golden era of American musical comedy.