Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7 1884 – May 14 1970) was an Oscar-nominated American actress primarily known to modern audiences for her role as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz.

Billie Burke was born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1885, in Washington, DC. As a child she toured the US and Europe with the circus because her father was employed with them as a clown (before motion pictures and after the stage, circuses were the biggest form of entertainment in the world). One could say that Billie was bred for show business. Her family ultimately settled in London, where she was fortunate to see plays in the city's historic West End, and decided she wanted to be a stage actress. At the age of 18 she made her stage debut and her career was off and running. Her performances were very well received and she became one of the most popular actresses to grace the stage. Broadway beckoned, and since New York City was now recognized as the stage capital of the world, it was there she would try her luck. Billie came to New York when she was 22 and her momentum didn't stop. She appeared in numerous plays and it was only a matter of time before she caught the eye of movie executives, which is exactly what happened. She made her film debut in the lead role in Peggy (1916). The film was a hit, but then again most films were, as the novelty of motion pictures hadn't worn off since Great Train Robbery, The (1903) at the turn of the century. Later that year she appeared in Gloria's Romance (1916). In between cinema work she would take her place on the stage because not only was it her first love, but at least she had speaking parts. Billie considered herself more than an actress--she felt she was an artist, too. She believed that the stage was a way to personally reach out to an audience, something that couldn't be done in pictures. In 1921 she appeared as Elizabeth Banks in Education of Elizabeth, The (1921), then she retired. She had wed impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. of the famed Ziegfeld Follies and, with investments in the stock market, there was no need to work. What they didn't plan on was "Black October" in 1929. Their stock investments were wiped out in the crash which precipitated the Great Depression, and Billie had no choice but to return to the screen. Movies had become even bigger than ten years earlier, especially since the introduction of sound. Her first role of substance was as Margaret Fairlfield in Bill of Divorcement, A (1932). As an artist she loved the fact that she had dialog, but she had to work even harder because her husband had died the same year as her speaking debut - and work she did. One of her career highlights came as Mrs. Millicent Jordan in David O. Selznick's Dinner at Eight (1933), co-starring Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore (I) and Jean Harlow - heady company to be sure, but Billie turned in an outstanding performance as Mrs. Jordan, the scatterbrained wife of a man whose shipping company is in financial trouble and who was trying to get someone to loan his company money to help stave off financial disaster. Her character loved to give dinner parties because a dinner affair at the Jordans had a reputation among New York blueblood society as the highlight of the season. With all the drama and intrigue going on around her, her main concern is that she is one man short of having a full seating arrangement. The film was a hit and once again Billie was back on top. In 1937 she had one of her most fondly remembered roles in Topper (1937), a film that would ultimately spin off two sequels, and all three were box-office hits. In 1938 Billie received her first and only Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live (1938). This was probably the best performance of her screen career, but she was destined to be immortalized forever in the classic Wizard of Oz, The (1939). At 54 years of age - and not looking anywhere near that old - she played Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. The 1940s saw Billie busier than ever; she made 25 films between 1940 and 1949. She made only six in the 1950s, as her aging became noticeable. She was 75 when she made her final screen appearance as Cordelia Fosgate in Sergeant Rutledge (1960). Billie retired for good and lived in Los Angeles, where she died of natural causes on May 14, 1970, at the age of 84.

Her father was the internationally famous clown, Billy Burke, and she would spend most of her early years touring Europe before the family settled in London. In 1903, she appeared on the stage as an actress and came to America in 1907 to star opposite John Drew in "My Wife". A red-haired beauty, she became the toast of Broadway and married promoter Florenz Ziefeld in April 1914. Billie was signed in 1915 to make the film Peggy (1916). Of the next 15 films that she made, she would make 14 in New York. In between films, she would return to the stage which was her first love. Her last films were released in 1921 and she went into semi retirement until their fortune was wiped out in 1929. Billie would return to films to support herself and her husband. Florenz would die, a broken man, in 1932. It was in the 1932 comedy 'Dinner at Eight' that Billie would find the character that she would play the rest of her career. It is the hapless, feather-brained lady with the unmistakably high voice who would be more interested in little details than what was at hand. In some films, like Piccadilly Jim (1936), she was obviously too old for the part, but played it to the hilt. In 1937, she started the Topper series of films for producer Hal Roach in which she played Mrs. Topper with her usual fluffy performance. But for most of the people who were raised on television, she will always be remembered as Glinda, the Good Witch, in Wizard of Oz, The (1939). She continued to make films though out the forties and started another series with Father of the Bride (1950) and the follow-up Father's Little Dividend (1951). A real trouper, she next went to television with the TV series "Doc Corkle" in 1952. The series was canceled after 3 weeks due to poor writing. By 1953, her career was slowing down and she would only make 3 more movies in 1959 and 1960. The best remembered one would be John Ford (I)'s Sergeant Rutledge (1960).