A Cleveland native played one of the scariest villains in movie history. "Margaret Hamilton: From Cleveland, Ohio to the Land of Oz," tells the life story of an actress whose most famous role is once again in the spotlight.
"I'm always amazed how many people don't realize Margaret Hamilton is from Cleveland," said author Don Billie of Cleveland. "And even more so that she was actually a kindergarten teacher."
Hamilton was only 36, with numerous stage and screen credits, when movie audiences saw her as the Wicked Witch of the West in 1939’s "The Wizard of Oz." The character is enjoying a resurgence with the upcoming film version of the musical “Wicked.”
Hamilton was born into a family of prominent attorneys and lived in a house near what is today the Cleveland Clinic. She studied at Bolton Elementary School, Hathaway Brown School and then Wheelock College in Boston.
"She was still very passionate about acting," Billie said. "She tried to convince her parents to get her to do an acting career versus being a kindergarten teacher, but her parents’ wishes won out initially."
Billie's book traces her professional acting start at the Cleveland Play House and as a member of the Junior League of Cleveland. Eventually, she broke through in summer stock, on Broadway and then in Hollywood. Those parts of her career are most familiar to audiences, but the book also details spookily fitting connections to her hometown.
“She had gotten married here in Cleveland in 1931 at what … today is called the New Life at Calvary Church at E. 79th and Euclid,” he said. “It's one of the few places that's actually still here in Cleveland that's associated with Margaret. A year ago, it was hit by a tornado … part of the roof got torn off. And the irony there is Margaret's character, as the Wicked Witch, has this association with tornadoes.”
Billie began writing about Hamilton in 2007, but he stopped for several years out of respect for her family since they were planning their own book. When that project didn’t materialize, his work resumed. In the interim, he researched and wrote about horror master Wes Craven – which led to another Margaret Hamilton connection.
“When she was teaching at Hough Elementary, it was down the street from Hough Baptist Church, where a very young Wes Craven, a few years later, attended church,” he said. “Within a few blocks of each other, you had the Wicked Witch and Freddy Krueger's creator. And ultimately, both places burned down.”
Hamilton had “a bad association with fire” according to Billie, partly stemming from an incident on the “Wizard of Oz” set. The book abounds with trivia on the classic 1939 film and the actress’ many other roles alongside everyone from W.C. Fields to Katherine Hepburn to Christopher Walken.
“She was able to get a steady gig … usually the town busybody or gossip,” he said. “She played maids and housekeepers most often, and so she realized that was a niche that would always be available for her.”
Billie said that Hamilton’s most lucrative role was actually in commercials as Cora, the Maxwell House coffee lady, in the 1970s. In those years, she twice reprised her famous “Oz” role on public television. A visit to “Sesame Street” as the witch in 1976 was reportedly too scary for young viewers. A stop in “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” proved more successful.
“She just loved children,” he said. “In more than one interview, she commented that it was quite the paradox that, as the Wicked Witch, she was responsible for probably scaring more children than anybody else.”
According to Billie’s research, Hamilton’s last appearance in Cleveland was for a 1978 Play House production of “Night Must Fall.” Posters and news coverage of that event and many others are displayed throughout "Margaret Hamilton: From Cleveland, Ohio to the Land of Oz.”
