Clara Blandick

Clara Blanchard Dickey , credited professionally as Clara Blandick, was an American stage and screen actress best known for her role as Aunt Em, the wife of Uncle Henry, in MGMs The Wizard of Oz .

She was born Clara Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. and Hattie Dickey, aboard the Willard Mudgett an American ship captained by her father , and docked in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. She was delivered by Captain William H. Blanchard, whose ship, Wealthy Pendleton, was anchored nearby. His wife, Clara Pendleton Blanchard, was present, as well. To thank the Blanchards, Captain and Mrs. Dickey named their daughter Clara Blanchard Dickey. When she became successful as an actress, she took the first syllable of Blanchard and the first syllable of Dickey to create her stage name, Clara Blandick. While she often used 1880 as her year of birth for professional purposes, she was actually born in 1876. According to the newspaper Daily Alta California, both the Willard Mudgett and the Wealthy Pendleton were in Hong Kong Harbor in June of 1876. By 1880, Captain Dickey was in command of a different ship and, the rest of the family was in Quincy.

Source: Wikipedia