As a serious actress, I've played some mean women in my time but the truth is I loved and more than ever loved to BE loved. I was kind to everyone and anyone especially children and animals. The Wizard of Oz may have given me a bad rep...but I have no regrets!! :-)My name is Margaret Hamilton but everyone calls me Maggie. I was born on December 9, 1902 in Cleveland Ohio. I was the youngest of four children. My father was a lawyer and my mom was a housewife. Growing up I performed in many school plays and loved acting. When I was very young, I was eating breakfast with my mother and told her that when I grew up, I wanted to move to New York and become an actress. My mother told me to first get an education and become a teacher before I thought about acting. Sure enough at the age of 21, I got my teaching certificate from the Wheelock Kindergarten Training School. I opened my own nursery school and joined the Cleveland Playhouse and finally got to move to New York. There I starred in my first major role in the play 'Another Language'. A few years later, MGM brought me to Hollywood. They were doing a movie on the play. I then met my husband Paul Meserve who was an architect. We got married and I had a son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve. In 1938 after being in 25 films and plays, I was sent to see a man named Mervin LeRoy. He spoke about MGM being in talks of turning a classic well known book into a movie. The Wizard of Oz. It was through him that I'd get the part almost everyone knows me by. The Wicked Witch of the West. By then I was newly divorced and raising my three year old son by myself. Filming the Wizard of Oz was tough and it almost took my life. I was severly burned while shooting the scene in where I exit Munchkin Land. I stayed home to
recuperate for six weeks before I came back to the studio to finish filming. The Wizard of Oz would soon be one of the most famous movies of all time. Working with all of the actors was a joy especially Judy Garland. I proceeded to act in more movies after Wizard of Oz but everyone would recognize me as none other then the wicked witch. Through it all I loved my role and am still flatterd at the compliments I get from many fans. In the 70's I gained fame in the Mawell House Coffee comercial known only as "Cora", a shopkeeper who only sold that brand of coffee. Even after many years, I always had young children come up to me and ask me why I was so mean to "Dorothy" and her dog. In 1985, I suffered a heart attack which took my life at the age of 83. But I do hope my great work and legacy lives on and on in my fans. Thank you all!!
