Just because the Wicked Witch of the West melted at the end of The Wizard of Oz doesn’t mean character actress Margaret Hamilton did. In fact, she went on to have an illustrious film career before her death at age 82 on May 16, 1985. Keep reading to learn more.
Her early life
Born on December 6, 1902, in Cleveland, Ohio, Hamilton attended Hathaway Brown School — an all-girls private school — in Shaker Heights, Ohio during her adolescent years. She began to hone her dramatic chops performing in plays with the Junior League of Cleveland.
Hamilton earned her big break when she became a featured performer at the Cleveland Play House in December 1929 at the age of 17. Despite that, the actress’ parents still didn’t believe she could make it in the film industry, so they insisted that she attend Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts. Hamilton studied elementary education and would go on to work as a kindergarten teacher for several years.
The start of her career
In 1933 she made her on screen debut, starring in Another Language, alongside Louise Closser Hale, John Beal and Henry Travers.
Over the next six years, she would star in 23 different projects, including Broadway Bill (1934), The Farmer Takes a Wife (1935), These Three (1936), When’s Your Birthday? (1937), Nothing Sacred (1937) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938).
Then, she booked the role that would make her an icon forever: Miss Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
The role of a lifetime in ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Hamilton’s line “I’ll get you my pretty — and your little dog, too,” in the 1939 classic (based on L. Frank Baum’s book) has been in the pop culture pantheon for almost a century.
Playing a vengeful witch seeking a pair of ruby slippers, actress starred alongside Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolder, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley and Billie Burke.
Filming it wasn’t a walk down the Yellow Brick Road, though. Infamously, Hamilton suffered second-degree burns from the scene where The Wicked Witch of the West escapes Munchkinland after her sister — The Wicked Witch of The East — gets a house dropped on her.
Despite this, after a few weeks of recovery, Hamilton resumed filming and even said, “I won’t sue because I know how this business works, and I would never work again. I will return to work on one condition – no more fireworks.”
The Wizard of Oz would go on to be nominated for an Oscar, and Hamilton’s performance is one of the most indelible in film history.
Her life after Oz
After she melted away, Hamilton continued acting in films like State of the Union (1948), A String of Blue Beads (1953), 13 Ghosts (1960), Brewster McCloud (1970), Journey Back to Oz (1972) and Pardon Me for Living (1982), her final work.
In 1975, she appeared on Mister Rogers Neighborhood and wearing her iconic witch’s hat and black cloak.She guest-starred on an episode that featured the impact of scary images, which stemmed from the idea that children were still horrified by her performance in The Wizard of OZ.
Additionally, she had a long-standing career as Cora The Coffee Lady in several Maxwell House Coffee commercials.
Her personal life
The actress married Paul Boynton Meserve on June 13, 1931, but the couple divorced in 1938.
The couple welcomed son Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve in 1936.
When she wasn’t acting or spending time with her son, Hamilton served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951 and taught Sunday school.
Hamilton died on May 16, 1985, in Salisbury, Connecticut, from a heart attack. She was 82 years old and had 129 acting credits to her name.
