Aline De Walt Reynolds

I'd never heard or seen the name Aline De Walt Reynolds until tonight.

For the second time in several days, I caught a particular elderly woman in a movie featured in a movie on Turner Classic Movies.

The first was the 1944-released, William Saroyan-crafted The Human Comedy. In it, Reynolds played a kindly librarian. My second sighting of her was at the tail-end of a 1941, James Stewart-Heddy Lamarr film called Come Live with Me.

I wondered tonight who that elderly woman was and what sort of a long and venerable career in show business she might have had?

It turns out that Come Live with Me was Reynolds' first picture. One of my favorite web sites, imdb.com, says of her:

She survived the death of her husband in 1905, the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and raising four children and no money. In 1926, when she was 64 she became one of the most mature freshman ever to enter the University of California. She graduated 6 years later with her B.A. degree. In 1940 she went to Hollywood, where she began her acting career. Best known for her role in Shirley Temple's Storybook production of "Sleeping Beauty".

Reynolds lived until 1961, a month shy of her 99th. birthday. Her last acting gig happened in 1960, a live television performance.

I don't know about others, but that brief biographical sketch inspires me! Trite as it may be, Reynolds' life confirms for me that it's never too late to take on new challenges!

God gives us life. What a shame when we waste it or stop living it!