Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka; June 18/June 19, 1887 – died June 6, 1974) was a celebrated American stage and film actress and director.Yurka was an opera singer, with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, before she became a stage actress. She made her Broadway debut in 1906 and established herself as a character actor of the classical stage, also appearing in several films of the 1930s and 1940s.