Last week, Niagara Discoveries examined Lillian Bronson’s life beginning with her birth and education in Lockport, her college years in Michigan, her struggles to be a Broadway actress and then her move to Hollywood, ending with her decision to buy a car in 1947. She did not have to look long, as her sister Dorothy gifted her with her old Ford Model A Roadster. It was probably about 20 years old at the time as that model was only made between 1927 and 1931. As Bronson described it, the car was “in need of paint, new upholstery, and a top” and her sister was sure she would not be seen driving it in Hollywood, but Lillian raved, “That car was a gifts of the Gods — an answer to a prayer.” She was exhilarated, writing that it “whoops down the hill, skimming over the road at a lively pace — close to 35 mph…The sun rising, a production number in purest Technicolor.” No more trolleys or buses for Lillian Bronson. There is a photo of Bronson in the Niagara History Center collection proudly standing in front of a 1950 Chevrolet Deluxe. There is nothing on the photo to indicate it is actually Bronson’s car but the look on her face implies that it is.
Bronson moved to Hollywood in 1943 and landed a minor role as Mattie Dryer in Happy Land starring Don Ameche. After that, other parts came steadily. Because she did not want to be the “star” in films, and was satisfied to portray older, frumpy or marginal characters that other actresses did not want, she was sought after by Fox Studio, her “home lot,” as well as other studios, for these supporting roles.
Another Hollywood milestone for Bronson came again in 1947 when she was cast as Viola Simmons in The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, starring Betty Grable, whom she had nothing but praise for. Although Bronson had appeared in several films in the preceding few years, she wore costumes that had been made for other women and were altered to fit her. For this character, however, she was excited to find that four gowns were to be made specifically for her. In a letter to her Aunt Mary in Lockport, she listed the actresses whose dresses she had previously worn and then wrote, “But now, at last, to wear gowns made specially for me — a great occasion!”
Over the next 20 years, Bronson appeared in dozens of films, remarking that she always had work because she was willing to take roles no other actress would. Some of her more memorable movies include The Hucksters (1947) with Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr, Family Honeymoon (1948) with Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray, The Next Voice You Hear (1950) with James Whitmore and Nancy Davis (later Mrs. Ronald Reagan) and Spencer’s Mountain (1962) with Henry Fonda. It is estimated Bronson was in at least 80 films from a walk-on part to more substantial roles such as Clark Gable’s secretary in the Hucksters and Henry Fonda’s mother in Spencer’s Mountain.
In the 1960s, the Hollywood studios, and the movies, were changing and TV was becoming the new medium for older actors looking to do “guest” roles on these shows. Bronson gradually moved from the big screen to the small screen, taking parts, some recurring, in shows such as Dragnet, Emergency, Medical Story, Hunter and many others. She appeared as Mrs. Murphy in the two Over the Hill Gang movie comedies in the late 1960s. Her last role was in 1975 when she played Fonzie’s motorcycling Grandma Nussbaum in an episode of the TV series Happy Days (in the 1980s the role was played by Frances Bey). Bronson’s TV credits were estimated to be close to 100, even more than her movie roles.
Ironically, Bronson, who did not want star billing in the movies, became the star of a billboard on the Hollywood Freeway in 1974. Muralist Kent Twitchell wanted to portray the “importance and dignity” of elderly women. He was looking for someone who reminded him of his grandmother back in Michigan. He found Bronson, who had played so many old ladies in so many films, and had begun her acting career in Ann Arbor. Twitchell chose the side of the Angles Prince Hotel facing the Freeway to paint his 30-by-22 foot mural depicting Bronson holding an afghan flowing over her left shoulder into the darkness with a full moon in the sky. The mural became known as “The Old Woman of the Freeway,” generating mostly positive comments from motorists who found comfort in seeing her every day on their daily commute; there were other people however who did not like it. The larger-than-life mural suffered a few indignities over the years. A parking ramp was built next to the hotel, rising high enough to cover the lower half of the mural. In 1986, when the hotel changed hands, the new owners had the mural entirely painted over without notifying Twitchell. After the artist won a lawsuit with the hotel, he began repainting it only to have it become a target for graffiti taggers. For the next 30 years, Twitchell tried to find another site for the “Old Woman” but was turned down by many venues. Finally, in 2016, Los Angeles Valley College offered Twitchell the chance to recreate his iconic mural on the Student Services Building on campus. A new afghan model was created by a local woman and a “kinder” Lillian Bronson was portrayed on the painting. The artist remarked, “I think she’s happy there.”
As for the real Lillian Bronson, she retired from acting after her brief role on Happy Days and moved to Treasure Island Mobile Home Park in Laguna Beach. Much like her aversion to being a “star,” Bronson did not wish to live in Hollywood but preferred to reside in a smaller community near the beach. In the late 1980s, at about the same time that “The Old Woman of the Freeway” disappeared, Bronson’s mobile home burned to the ground and she lost everything, but most tragically, all her photos, scrapbooks, costumes and other mementos from her days on the stage, screen and TV. Following this, she moved into a “board and care” home in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
On Aug. 3, 1995, Bronson died after suffering a stroke at the age of 92. She was cremated and her ashes were entrusted to family members. Although she never had children of her own, Bronson was close to her step daughters, Louise and Nancy Mygatt, as well as the James Whitmore family whom she had met while filming The Next Voice You Hear. Whitmore’s son, James, Jr., married Nancy Mygatt and Bronson considered both Nancy and Louise’s children her own grandchildren.
From Happy Land to Happy Days to “I think she’s happy there,” Bronson appears to have lived a happy, satisfied life without being the star of the production.
In 1977, Lockport superfan Patrick Mack wrote to Bronson and invited her to come to Lockport for a “Lillian Bronson” Day in her honor. She agreed and came on August 28/29, 1977 to spend the day being escorted around Lockport, her first visit in 50 years. She toured her old home, had dinner next door at DeFlippo’s Restaurant and saw how much the city had been transformed in the last half century but she said that “the quality of life and hometown atmosphere of Lockport has not changed.”
This author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the Lillian Bronson materials to the Niagara History Center by the late Patrick Mack. Much of the information in this article came from Pat’s collection.
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Ann Marie Linnabery is the assistant director of the History Center of Niagara.
