Martha Wentworth: Movies & Box Office

Martha Wentworth, born Verna Martha Wentworth on June 2, 1889 in New York City, was an American actress celebrated for her astonishing vocal versatility, which earned her the nickname “Actress of 100 Voices.” After completing public school, she enrolled in the National School of Expression, where she honed her elocution skills before becoming a protégé of the famed stage pioneer Minnie Maddern Fiske and beginning her professional theatre career at the age of seventeen. Her early stage work laid a foundation for a prolific radio career that launched in the early 1920s, where she inhabited a wide array of characters such as the Wintergreen Witch on The Cinnamon Bear and the mischievous Annie Wood on Crime Classics. Wentworth also became a familiar voice on popular programs like The Abbott and Costello Show, The Baby Snooks Show, and The Witch’s Tale, demonstrating an ability to shift seamlessly between comedic and sinister tones. Transitioning to the screen in the 1940s, she appeared in a series of Red Ryder Westerns and later provided memorable supporting roles in mainstream films, most notably the neighbor Bertha in the television series Lassie (1959) and a series of voice‑over parts for Walt Disney Studios. In Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) she voiced the trio of Nanny, Queenie the Cow, and Lucy the Goose, while her performance as the wicked sorceress Madam Mim in The Sword in the Stone (1963) stands as a highlight of her animated legacy. Throughout her career, Wentworth’s distinctive timbre and character work made her a sought‑after talent for both live‑action and animated productions, culminating in a final uncredited voice role in Mary Poppins (1964). She remained active in entertainment until 1966, after which she retired from public performance. Wentworth passed away on March 8, 1974 in Sherman Oaks, California, leaving behind a rich portfolio that continues to influence voice actors and character actors alike.