Mary Field: Movies & Box Office

Mary Field (born Olivia Rockefeller on June 10, 1909) was an American film actress whose career spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood, most notably as a prolific supporting player in over one hundred feature films. Raised in New York City after being abandoned as an infant and left on a church doorstep with a note identifying her as Olivia Rockefeller, she was soon adopted and educated at Brentwood Hall School in Westchester County, where her early interest in performance began to emerge. In 1937 she secured a contract with Warner Bros. and made her screen debut in The Prince and the Pauper, launching a decade‑long run of steady work that included memorable appearances in classics such as Jezebel (1938), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Out of the Past (1947). Though many of her roles were uncredited, her reliability and versatility made her a valued member of studio ensembles, often portraying secretaries, maids, nurses, and other working‑class characters with authenticity. Transitioning to television in the 1950s, Field appeared in popular series like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Loretta Young Show and Topper, with her final acting credit in the 1963 episode of Going My Way as a Roman Catholic nun. Off‑screen, Field’s personal life was marked by two marriages: first to Allan Douglas of the Army Medical Corps during the 1940s, and later to James Madison Walters II, with whom she settled in Laguna Niguel, California after retirement. She devoted herself to family, religious study with the Hollywood Church of Religious Science, and community activities. Field died on June 12, 1996, in Fairfax, Virginia, two days after her 87th birthday, leaving behind two children, grandchildren, and a legacy of diligent craftsmanship that continues to be appreciated by classic film enthusiasts.