Zolya Talma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American actress
Born
(1895-02-14)February 14, 1895
Emma Valentina Cranz
(1895-02-14)February 14, 1895
Pasadena, California, U.S.
DiedNovember 26, 1983(1983-11-26) (aged 88)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OthernamesZola Talma
OccupationActress
Zolya Talma | |
|---|---|
 Zolya Talma, from a 1929 newspaper | |
| Born | Emma Valentina Cranz (1895-02-14)February 14, 1895 Pasadena, California, U.S. |
| Died | November 26, 1983(1983-11-26) (aged 88) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Zola Talma |
| Occupation | Actress |
Zolya Valentina Talma (February 14, 1895 – November 26, 1983), born Emma Valentina Cranz,[1] sometimes credited as Zola Talma,[2] was an American actress who began her career in silent films, performed in dozens of Broadway productions, and was a character actress on television programs from 1949 to 1974.
Films
Talma was born in Pasadena, California,[3] the daughter of William S. Cranz and Dolores (Lola) Cranz,[4] though she sometimes claimed she was from Barcelona.[5][6] Her mother was a German-speaking nurse born in Mexico.[7][8] Her father was involved in silver mining,[9] and died in 1912.[10][11] As a girl she was a student at the Egan School of Music and Drama.[12] Talma lived in New York City with an uncle in 1915,[4] and with Australian actress Margaret Linden and her sons in 1920.[13] Playwright Augustus Thomas suggested her stage name.[14]
Talma had a career in films, on stage in comedies and dramas,[15][16] and on television, from the 1910s into the 1970s.[17] She died in 1983, at the age of 88, in Los Angeles.[1]
Her uncle Franklin F. Cranz was mayor of Nogales, Arizona, from 1904 to 1906. The Frank F. Cranz House is on the National Register of Historic Places.[18]
- Outcast (1917, silent film)
- On with the Dance (1920 silent film)[19][20]
- The Rose Tattoo (1955)[21]
Broadway
- Her Honor, the Mayor (1918)[22]
- Mis' Nelly of N'Orleans (1919)[23][24]
- The Checkerboard (1920)[25]
- Near Santa Barbara (1921)[25]
- The Morning After (1925)[26]
- The Love Song (1925)[27]
- Stronger than Love (1925)[26]
- Mama Loves Papa (1926)[26]
- Kept (1926)
- Where's Your Husband? (1927)[28]
- Lally (1927)[3]
- Interference (1928)[2]
- The Great Necker (1928)[29][30]
- Zeppelin (1929)[31][32]
- Evensong (1933)[3]
- Prisoners of War (1935)[33]
- The World We Make (1939)
- Romantic Mr. Dickens (1940)[34]
- For Keeps (1944)
- Sadie Thompson (1944)[35]
- Bravo! (1948)[36]
- Diamond Lil (1951)
Other stage work
- Spanish Love (1921, Washington, D.C.}[6]
- Ink (1927, Werba's Brooklyn Theater)[37]
- Revelry (1927, Garrick Theatre, Philadelphia)[38]
- Gutter Cousins (1929, Greenwich Theatre)[39]
- Blaze of Glory (1934, Court Square Theater, Massachusetts)[3]
- Ladies in Retirement (1941, Ogunquit Playhouse, Maine)[40]
- The Late Christopher Bean (1947, the Cape Playhouse)[41]
- The Skin of Our Teeth (1948, Berkshire Playhouse, Massachusetts)[42]
- Gigi (1954, Town and Country Playhouse, Indianapolis)[43]
- Thieves' Paradise (1956, Shubert, Washington, D.C.)[44]
- The Matchmaker (1957, Alley Theater, Houston)[17]
- And When It Rains (1961, Santa Barbara)[45]
Television
- The Clock (1949, one episode)
- The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (1949, one episode)
- Lights Out (1949, one episode, Pengallen's Bell)
- The Ford Theatre Hour (1949, one episode)
- The Web (1951, one episode)
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1952, one episode)
- Guiding Light (1952, soap opera)
- Omnibus: Henry V, Act 5, Scene 2 (1953, one episode)
- Crown of Audubon (1953, TV movie)
- Proudly I Love (1953, TV movie)
- Rocky King Detective (1954, one episode)
- Martin Kane, Private Eye (1953, 1954, 2 episodes)
- Robert Montgomery Presents (1952, 1955, two episodes)
- Kraft Television Theatre (1955, one episode)
- Studio One (1953, 1956, two episodes)
- The Asphalt Jungle (1961, one episode)
- Cain's Hundred (1962, one episode)
- The Eleventh Hour (1963, one episode)
- Breaking Point (1963, one episode)
- The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963, 1965, two episodes)
- The Big Valley (1965, one episode)
- Jericho (1966, one episode)
- The Felony Squad (1968, one episode)
- Adam-12 (1968, one episode)
- Ironside (1969, one episode)
- The Other Man (1970, TV movie)
- Houston, We've Got a Problem (1974, TV movie)
References
- 1 2 Emma Valentina Cranz, in the California Death Index, via Ancestry.
- 1 2 "Zola Talma Sails for Europe". The Duluth News Tribune. 1928-06-10. p. 42. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 "Zolya Talma Well Known Leading Woman". The Springfield Daily Republican. 1934-09-25. p. 10. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Untitled social item". The Border Vidette. 1915-06-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Zolya Talma is Spanish Beauty". Evening Courier. 1928-02-25. p. 13. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Zola Talma Well Fitted for Role". Times Herald. 1921-11-06. p. 41. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Obituary for Dolores L Cranz (Aged 73)". The Los Angeles Times. 1944-10-18. p. 28. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 1930 United States census, via Ancestry.
- ↑ "Lucky Californians". The San Francisco Call Bulletin. 1891-09-28. p. 7. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Death of Mr. William S. Cranz". The Oasis. 1912-10-19. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Deaths". The San Diego Sun. 1912-10-08. p. 14. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Drama Pupils Stage Acts of Three Plays". Los Angeles Herald. January 17, 1913. p. 6 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ 1920 United States census, via Ancestry.
- ↑ "Projects and People". Evening star. 1956-05-16. p. 66. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Zolya Talma Proves She's a Real Actress". The Brooklyn Daily Times. 1929-03-17. p. 100. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Zep Mystery; New Thriller Has Scenes Aboard Zeppelin". Daily News. 1929-01-13. p. 417. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 "Veteran Actors Cast in Alley Production". The Houston Chronicle. 1957-12-15. p. 167. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "San Juan Mines Resuming Their Operation". The Daily Morning Oasis. 1920-02-15. p. 6. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Mae Murray in 'On With the Dance' Offering at the Auditorium". Modesto Bee. June 7, 1922. p. 4 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ "New Dance Costume Ideas Shown in Film". San Diego Union and Daily Bee. March 21, 1920. p. 4 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ↑ Crowther, Bosley (1955-12-13). "Anna Magnani Triumphs in 'Rose Tattoo'; Film Version of Play by Williams Opens Italian Star and Burt Lancaster Superb". The New York Times. p. 55. Archived from the original on 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
- ↑ "Stage Productions Passed in Review". Dramatic Mirror. 78 (2059): 802. June 8, 1918.
- ↑ Eyre, Laurence (1930). Mis' Nelly of N' Orleans: A Comedy of Moonshine, Madness and Make-believe. S. French.
- ↑ White, Matthew Jr. "The Stage" Munsey's Weekly 66(4)(May 1919): 755.
- 1 2 Mantle, Burns; Sherwood, Garrison P. (1922). The Best Plays and the Year Book of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead. pp. 369–370, 424–425.
- 1 2 3 Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John; Sherwood, Garrison P. (1926). Burns Mantle Best Plays and the Year Book of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead. pp. 421–422, 524–525, 557–558.
- ↑ Mantle, Burns; Chapman, John; Sherwood, Garrison P. (1925). The Best Plays. Dodd, Mead. pp. 524–525.
- ↑ "Theatre Notes". Daily News. 1926-11-06. p. 55. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "The New Plays on Broadway". The Billboard: 10. March 17, 1928.
- ↑ Mantle, Burns (1928-03-08). "'The Great Necker' is Flippant Farce". Daily News. p. 51. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Burns Mantle Best Plays and the Year Book of the Drama in America. Dodd, Mead. 1929. p. 456.
- ↑ ""Zeppelin" Coming to the National". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-01-21.
- ↑ Mantle, Burns (1935-01-30). "'Prisoners of War' Aimless Drama". Daily News. p. 280. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Price, Edgar (1940-12-03). "The Premiere". The Brooklyn Citizen. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Lucas-Pritchard, "Zolya Talma as Mrs. Alfred Davidson and Lansing Hatfield as Rev. Alfred Davidson in 'Sadie Thompson'" (1944 photograph), Museum of the City of New York.
- ↑ Morehouse, Ward (November 15, 1948). "Bravo! A Disappointment". New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. 9 (23): 165 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ "Three Promising New Plays Come to Brooklyn and Jamaica". Brooklyn Eagle. 1927-10-16. p. 66. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "'Revelry' Here Aug. 29". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1927-08-21. p. 77. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Zolya Talma in Next Play at Greenwich; Star in 'Gutter Cousins'". The Daily Item. 1929-10-26. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Distinguished Guest Artists at Ogunquit". Sun-Journal. 1941-07-30. p. 11. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Howard, Sidney (1947). Playbill for The Late Christopher Bean. Wilkens Library W. B. Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives. The Cape Playhouse. pp. 5–6.
- ↑ "At Playhouse". The Republican. 1948-06-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "In Indianapolis Today". The Indianapolis News. 1954-09-11. p. 22. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Carmody, Jay (1956-05-21). "Play Dares to Ask How Stupid Are We". Evening star. p. 14. Retrieved 2026-01-22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Scofield, Ronald D. (July 14, 1961). "Impressive Scenes in Play Premiere". Santa Barbara News-Press. p. 13 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.