Agnes Moorehead
(1900 - 1974)She was a classy actress throughout her long career, extremely versatile and always watchable. Kind of plain-looking and lean with red hair and catty eyes she could play anything from a timid woman to a strong, domineering type. She was prone, however, to 'hamminess' and had been known to overplay a role. She was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. She was bitten by the acting bug early and appeared on stage at the age of 3. She learned ballet and debuted professionally at age 11 in the St. Louis Opera. She attended the University of Wisconsin and after graduating taught speech and drama in high schools and in the off-season appeared in stock theatre. She went to New York where she attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts graduating with honors. She made her Broadway debut in the 1920s appearing in many productions and during the Depression worked in radio. It was there where she met Orson Welles and became a charter member of his Mercury Theater. She was married and divorced twice to actors John Griffith and Robert Gist and had an adopted son, Sean. Among her film credits are: "Citizen Kane" (1941) as Mrs. Kane, her film debut; "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942) as Fanny Minafer; "The Big Street" (1942) as Violette; "Journey Into Fear" (1942) as Mrs. Mathews; The Youngest Profession" (1943) as Miss Featherstone; "Government Girl" (1943) as Mrs. Wright; "Since You Went Away" (1944) one of my favorites, as Emily Hawkins; "The Seventh Cross" (1944) as Madame Marelli; "Mrs. Parkington" (1944) as 'Baroness' Aspasia Conti; "Tomorrow the World!" (1944) as Jessie; "Jane Eyre" (1944) with Welles, as Mrs. Reed; "Dragon Seed" (1944) as Third Cousin's Wife, a bizarre bit of casting as a Chinese woman; "Her Highness and the Bellboy" (1945) as Countess Zoe; "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (1945) as Bruna Jacobson; "Keep Your Powder Dry" (1945) as Lt. Col. Spottiswoode; "The Lost Moment" (1947) as Juliana Borderau; "Dark Passage" (1947) as Madge Rapf, another of my favorites; "The Lost Moment" (1947) as Juliana Borderau; "Summer Holiday" (1948) as Cousin Lily; "The Woman in White" (1948) as Countess Fosco; "Johnny Belinda" (1948) as Aggie McDonald; "Station West" (1948) as Mrs. Caslon, Goldmine Owner; "The Stratton Story" (1949) as Ma Stratton; "The Great Sinner" (1949) as Emma Getzel; "Without Honor" (1950) as Katherine Williams; "Caged" (1950) with Eleanor Parker, as Ruth Benton, another favorite of mine; "Black Jack" (1950) as Mrs. Birk; "The Adventures of Captain Fabian" (1951) as Aunt Jezebel; "Fourteen Hours" (1951) as Christine Hill Cosick; "The Blue Veil" (1951) as Mrs. Palfrey; "The Blue Veil" (1951) as Mrs. Palfrey; "Show Boat" (1951) as Parthy Hawks; "The Blazing Forest" (1952) as Jessie Crain; "Scandal at Scourie" (1953) as Sister Josephine; "Main Street to Broadway" (1953) as Mildred Waterbury; "Those Redheads from Seattle" (1953) as Mrs. Edmonds; "The Story of Three Loves" (1953) as Aunt Lydia; "Magnificent Obsession" (1954) with Rock Hudson, as Nancy Ashford; "The Left Hand of God" (1955) as Beryl Sigman; "Untamed" (1955) as Aggie; "All That Heaven Allows" (1955) again with Rock Hudson, as Sara Warren; "The Conqueror" (1956) with John Wayne, as Hunlun, a film which some believe may have caused hers and her fellow castmembers' deaths; "The Swan" (1956) as Queen Maria Dominika; "The Revolt of Mamie Stover" (1956) as Bertha Parchman; "The Opposite Sex" (1956) as Countess; "Meet Me in Las Vegas" (1956) as Miss Hattie; "Jeanne Eagels" (1957) as Mme. Neilson; "Raintree County" (1957) as Ellen Shawnessy; "The Story of Mankind" (1957) as Queen Elizabeth I; "The True Story of Jesse James" (1957) as Mrs. Samuel; "The Tempest" (1958) as Vassilissa; "The Bat" (1959) as Cornelia van Gorder; "The NIght of the Quarter Moon" (1959) as Cornelia Nelson; "Pollyanna" (1960) with Hayley Mills, as Mrs. Snow; "Twenty Plus Two" (1961) as Mrs. Delaney; "Bachelor in Paradise" (1961) as Judge Peterson; "Jessica" (1962) as Maria Lombardo; "How the West Was Won" (1962) as Rebecca Prescott; "Who's Minding the Store" (1963) as Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle; "Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte" (1964) as Velma Cruther; "The Singing Nun" (1966) with Debbie Reynolds, as Sister Cluny; "What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971) as Sister Alma; "Dear Dead Delilah" (1972) as Delilah Charles and "Charlotte's Web" (1973) as voice of The Goose, her last film performance. She is best known to millions for her regular role as the witch Endora on "Bewitched" (1964-72). She appeared as a guest on many TV series including: "Wagon Train"; "Playhouse 90"; "The Rebel"; "Rawhide"; "The Rifleman"; "Twilight Zone" in an excellent 1958 episode entitled "The Invaders"; "Burke's Law"; "The Wild, Wild West"; "The Virginian"; "Night Gallery"; "Love, American Style" and "Marcus Welby, M.D." She won an Emmy Award for a guest appearance on "The Wild, Wild West" in 1967. She appeared in many made for TV films including: "Alice Through the Looking Glass" (1966); "What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971); "Night of Terror" (1972) and "Frankenstein: the True Story" (1972). She died of cancer on April 30, 1974 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota at age 73.
From Great Character Actors, Page 4.
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