Hilda Vaughn was a female actress of the stage, radio, and television.


Vaughn frequently played a “pleb”, or a commoner in the films she acted in. More often than not, she portrayed waitresses, maids, charwomen, governesses, saleswomen, and slaveys. Her characters were outgoing and spunky. A fixture at MGM in the sound era of the early 1930s, Vaughn acted in multiple films. In the 1930s and 40s a rising threat of communism in Eastern Europe and China frightened many Americans, thus creating the Cold War. Senator Joseph McCarthy “publically accused 200 ‘card carrying’ communists of infiltrating the American government.” This, along with the House Un-American Activities Act (HUAC) of 1938, resulted in the most repressive times in 20th century American Politics. The accusations made by these groups and people were taken very seriously although they were false and could not be supported. The “paranoid hunt for infiltrators” was especially hard on writers and entertainers like Hilda Vaughn. She and many other actors, directors, and screenwriters were pegged as communist sympathizers. The most famous of these, “The Hollywood Ten”. During the Witch Hunt, Hilda Vaughn was blacklisted by Joseph McCarthy. Although Vaughn made her return to film after a four year break in acting, her career never really took off again after her 1940 film, Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum.

Biography

C'est au théâtre que Hilda Vaughn commence sa carrière, avant de travailler au cinéma pour la MGM au début du cinéma parlant. Si les rôles qu'on lui confie sont souvent des femmes de ménage, des servantes ou des vendeuses, Vaughn ne manque pas de caractère à l'écran. Un de ses meilleurs rôles est sûrement celui de Tina, qui fait chanter Jean Harlow dans Les Invités de huit heures de George Cukor. Après 1940, Hilda Vaughn est retournée au théâtre. Elle fit partie de la liste noire des acteurs victimes du maccarthysme.