American actress Alice Brady first came to prominence in the silent films produced by World Studios, which was owned and operated by Brady's father, the influential theatrical producer William H. Brady. A star from her first film, As Ye Sow (1914), onward, she was applauded for her acting skills, though critics at the time noted that her somewhat offbeat facial features would be better suited to character roles than to ingenues.
Brady devoted the 1920s to motherly and matronly portrayals on stage - which, as it turned out, were far more rewarding professionally than the heroines she'd played at World. Making her talking-picture debut in 1933's When Ladies Meet, Brady rapidly became one of Hollywood's most prolific portrayers of addlebrained society matrons and world-weary matriarchs. Her comic skills won her roles in such classics as My Man Godfrey (1936) and Three Smart Girls, but it was for her dramatic portrayal of the resilient, much-maligned Mrs. O'Leary in In Old Chicago (1938) that she won an Academy Award. Shortly after completing her work on John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), Brady passed away at the age of 46. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide. 