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| Mary Emery |
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born:
04 October 1894 Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico |
died:
09 February 1988 Los Angeles, California, United States of America (age 93) |
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Mexican-born actress and dancer of stage and screen, who also performed under the name of Amora Emery. Often a dress extra or bit player in films and later in television, she is probably best remembered for two roles she played later in her career: as the mother of Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) in two episodes (1954 and 1956) of "I Love Lucy," and as society woman "Lydia Morton" in the Three Stooges comedy "Listen, Judge" (1952). On later records, including the usually reliable Social Security records, Mary gave her year of birth as 1896, which consequently is the year given by most sources; however, birth and christening records confirm that she was actually born two years earlier. Her parents were Sanjuana Peña and Maximiano (or Maximilian) Cavazos. They had at least seven children, Mary included, and the family immigrated to the United States in 1905 (per the 1910 Census; in the 1920 Census, Mary states she immigrated to the U.S. in 1910, and in the 1930 Census, she says she immigrated in 1900). By 1910, Sanjuana -- now remarried to Pablo Villarreal -- and the kids were living in San Antonio, Texas. There, Mary was educated at Ursuline Academy, an all-girls Catholic school, and at Our Lady of the Lake University. As a student, she specialized in mathematics, drawing, reading, and drama. She also had stage training in dancing, later followed by stage experience at the Writers' Club in Los Angeles. On 30 May 1912, Mary married Rhode Island native Willis Francis Emery, Jr. (1883-1918) in San Antonio. They had a son, Chester Francis Emery (1913-1954). Willis died from tuberculosis on 12 January 1918, leaving Mary a widow. Mary's various bios in the Motion Picture Almanacs and Motion Picture News Blue Books note that she first entered motion pictures in 1919, though in early 1920 (Census), she's still living in San Antonio, widowed and profession-less. Mary's initial foray into the movies ended rather quickly when she married Naval officer Marion Edwyn Harrison (1885-1956) on 17 November 1921 in Los Angeles. Her husband's Naval career is presumably why Mary's 1930 Blue Book bio notes she had lived in New York; Washington, D.C.; Norfolk, Virginia; Annapolis, Maryland; and Philadelphia, in addition to San Antonio and Los Angeles. Lt. Cmdr. Harrison filed for "a limited divorce" from Mary on 8 June 1926, citing desertion. Mary resumed her film career in 1928, this time continuing as late as the 1950s (her Find a Grave bio says she retired in the 1970s), although in the 1950 Census, she gives her occupation as "selling" in a "dress business." Mary's Almanac and Blue Book bios give her "chief hobby" as art. The 1930 Blue Book adds the sporting activities of riding, swimming, and golf. All of her bios, as Mary and as Amora, give her physical statistics as standing 5'3", weighing 118 pounds, and possessing (dark) brown hair and eyes. Film historian and preservationist Alan K. Rode, whose family Mary was friends with, later remembered her as an "extremely sharp cookie." Having outlived both of her husbands and her son Chester (who died from coronary thrombosis in 1954, at the young age of 40), Mary Frances Emery passed away at Midway Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 93 (not 91, as most sources say). She is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Her last name has also been spelled "Emory." |
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Real name: Maria Francisca Cavazos y Peña Height: 5'3" |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography. |
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