Happy Birthday Margaret Hamilton

The villain to top all villains (9th December 1902 - 16th May 1985)


[Margerat Hamilton on making personal appearances] “Almost always they want me to laugh like the Witch. And sometimes when I go to schools, if we’re in an auditorium, I’ll do it. And there’s always a funny reaction, like Oh geez, they wish they hadn’t asked. They’re scared. They’re really scared for a second. Even adolescents. 

I guess for a minute they get the feeling they got when they watched the picture. They like to hear it but they don’t like to hear it. And then they go, ‘Ohhhhhhhhhh.’…The picture made a terrible impression of some kind on them, sometimes a ghastly impression, but most of them got over it, I guess… Because when I talk like the Witch and when I laugh, there is a hesitation, and then they clap. They’re clapping at hearing the sound again.”

-via The Making of the Wizard of Oz by A. Harmetz (via Old Hollywood)