Agnes Moorehead Biography

Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 - April 30, 1974) was an American actress whose career of six decades included work in radio, stage, film, and television. She is chiefly known for her role as Endora on the television series Bewitched. She was also notable for her film roles in Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, All That Heaven Allows, Show Boat and Hush"? Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

While rarely playing lead roles, Moorehead's skill at character development and range earned her one Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe awards in addition to four Academy Award and six Emmy Award nominations. Moorehead's transition to television won acclaim for drama and comedy. She could play many different types, but often portrayed haughty, arrogant characters.

Early life

Moorehead was born in Clinton, Massachusetts, of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry, to a Presbyterian clergyman, John Henderson Moorehead, and his wife, the former Mildred McCauley, who had been a singer. Moorehead later shaved six years off her age by claiming to have been born in 1906. Moorehead recalled her first public performance was at the age of three, reciting "The Lord's Prayer" in her father's church. The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and Moorehead's ambition to become an actress grew "very strong". Her mother indulged her active imagination, often asking, "Who are you today, Agnes?", while Moorehead and her sister would often engage in mimicry, often coming to the dinner table and imitating parishioners. Moorehead noted and was encouraged by her father's amused reactions. She joined the chorus of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Company, known as "The Muny". In addition to her interest in acting, she developed a lifelong interest in religion; in later years, actors such as Dick Sargent would recall Moorehead's arriving on the set with "the Bible in one hand and the script in the other".

Moorehead always said she graduated from Central High School in St. Louis, in 1918. But, in fact, she appears in no Central High School yearbook while she does appear in the yearbook of Soldan High School. She lived near Soldan High School, on Union Boulevard; she did not live near Central High School on Grand Avenue and Bell. Although her father did not discourage her acting ambitions, he insisted that she obtain a formal education. In 1923, Moorehead earned a bachelor's degree, with a major in biology, from Muskingum College (now Muskingum University) in New Concord, Ohio; while there, she also appeared in college stage plays. She later received an honorary doctorate in literature from Muskingum and served for a year on its board of trustees. When her family moved to Reedsburg, Wisconsin, she taught public school for five years in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, while she also earned a master's degree in English and public speaking at the University of Wisconsin (now University of Wisconsin-Madison). She then pursued postgraduate studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which she graduated with honors in 1929. Moorehead received an honorary doctoral degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Career

Moorehead's early career was unsteady, and, although she was able to find stage work, she was often unemployed and forced to go hungry. She later recalled going four days without food, and said that it had taught her "the value of a dollar". She found work in radio and was soon in demand, often working on several programs in a single day. She believed that it offered her excellent training and allowed her to develop her voice to create a variety of characterizations. Moorehead met the actress Helen Hayes, who encouraged her to try to enter films, but her first attempts were met with failure. Rejected as not being "the right type", Moorehead returned to radio.

Mercury Theatre

Moorehead met Orson Welles, and by 1937 was one of his principal Mercury Players, along with Joseph Cotten. She performed in his The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptations, and had a regular role opposite Welles in the serial The Shadow as Margo Lane. In 1939, Welles moved the Mercury Theatre to Hollywood, where he started working for RKO Pictures. Several of his radio performers joined him, and Moorehead made her film debut as the mother of his own character, Charles Foster Kane, in Citizen Kane (1941), considered one of the best films ever made. Moorehead was featured in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Welles's second film, and received the New York Film Critics Award and an Academy Award nomination for her performance. She also appeared in the Mercury film production, Journey Into Fear (1943).

Moorehead received positive reviews for her performance in Mrs. Parkington, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination. Moorehead played another strong role in The Big Street (1942) with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, and then appeared in two films that failed to find an audience, Government Girl (1943) with Olivia de Havilland and The Youngest Profession (1944) with the adolescent Virginia Weidler.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

By the mid-1940s, Moorehead became a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player, negotiating a $6,000-a-week contract with the provision to perform also on radio, an unusual clause at the time. Moorehead explained that MGM usually refused to allow their actors to play on radio as "the actors didn't have the knowledge or the taste or the judgment to appear on the right sort of show." In 1943-1944, Moorehead portrayed "matronly housekeeper Mrs. Mullet", who was constantly offering her "candied opinion", in Mutual Radio's The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall; she inaugurated the role on CBS Radio.

Moorehead skillfully portrayed puritanical matrons, neurotic spinsters, possessive mothers, and comical secretaries throughout her career. She played Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy and mother of Magnolia, in MGM's hit 1951 remake of Show Boat. She was in many important films, including Dark Passage and Since You Went Away, either playing key small or large supporting parts. Moorehead was in Broadway productions of Don Juan in Hell in 1951-1952, and Lord Pengo in 1962-1963.

Radio

Moorehead's first radio role was a replacement of Dorothy Denvir's role as Min Gump in The Gumps. During the 1940s and 1950s, Moorehead was one of the most in-demand actresses for radio dramas, especially on the CBS show Suspense. During the 946-episode-run of Suspense, Moorehead was cast in more episodes than any other actor or actress. She was often introduced on the show as the "first lady of Suspense". Moorehead's most successful appearance on Suspense was in the legendary play Sorry, Wrong Number, written by Lucille Fletcher, broadcast on May 18, 1943. Moorehead played a selfish, neurotic woman who overhears a murder being plotted via crossed phone wires and eventually realizes she is the intended victim. She recreated the performance six times for Suspense and several times on other radio shows, always using her original, dog-eared script. In 1952, she recorded an album of the drama, and performed scenes from the story in her one-woman show in the 1950s. Barbara Stanwyck had played the role in the 1948 film version.

In 1941, Moorehead played Maggie in the short-lived Bringing Up Father program on the Blue Network. From 1942 to 1949, Moorehead played the role of the mayor's housekeeper in the radio version of Mayor of the Town. She also starred in The Amazing Mrs. Danberry, a situation comedy on CBS, in 1946. Moorehead's title character was described as "the lively widow of a department store owner who has a tongue as sharp as a hatpin and a heart as warm as summer."

Films of the 1950s-1960s

In the 1950s, Moorehead continued to work in films and to appear on stage across the country, including a national tour of Shaw's Don Juan in Hell, co-starring Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton, and Cedric Hardwicke. She appeared as the hypochondriac Mrs. Snow in Disney's hit film Pollyanna (1960). Alongside Bette Davis, Olivia De Havilland, Mary Astor, and Joseph Cotten, she starred in Hush"? Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), as the maid, Velma, a role for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.

Television

In 1959, Moorehead guest starred on The Rebel. Her role in the radio play Sorry, Wrong Number inspired writers of the CBS television series The Twilight Zone to script an episode with Moorehead in mind. In "The Invaders" (broadcast January 27, 1961) Moorehead played a woman whose isolated farm is plagued by mysterious intruders. In "Sorry, Wrong Number", Moorehead offered a famed, bravura performance using only her voice, and for "The Invaders", she was offered a script where she had no dialogue at all.

Moorehead also had guest roles on Channing, Custer, Rawhide, in "Incident at Poco Tiempo" as Sister Frances, and The Rifleman. On February 10, 1967, she portrayed Miss Emma Valentine in "The Night of the Vicious Valentine" on The Wild Wild West, a performance for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Bewitched

In 1964, Moorehead accepted the role of Endora, Samantha's (Elizabeth Montgomery) mortal-loathing, quick-witted witch mother, in the situation comedy Bewitched. She later commented that she had not expected it to succeed and that she ultimately felt trapped by its success. However, she had negotiated to appear in only eight of every 12 episodes made, therefore allowing her sufficient time to pursue other projects. She also felt that the television writing was often below standard and dismissed many of the Bewitched scripts as "hack" in a 1965 interview for TV Guide. The role brought her a level of recognition that she had not received before as Bewitched was in the top 10 programs for the first few years it aired.

Moorehead received six Emmy Award nominations, but was quick to remind interviewers that she had enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Despite her ambivalence, she remained with Bewitched until its run ended in 1972. She commented to the New York Times in 1974, "I've been in movies and played theater from coast to coast, so I was quite well known before Bewitched, and I don't particularly want to be identified as a witch." Later that year, she said she had enjoyed playing the role, but it was not challenging and the show itself was "not breathtaking", although her flamboyant and colorful character appealed to children. She expressed a fondness for the show's star, Elizabeth Montgomery, and said she had enjoyed working with her. Co-star Dick Sargent, who in 1969 replaced the ill Dick York as Samantha's husband, Darrin Stephens, had a more difficult relationship with Moorehead, caustically describing her as "a tough old bird."

In the fall of 1964, Moorehead participated in a five-minute commercial spot featuring casts of both Bonanza and Bewitched, announcing the new 1965 Chevrolet line. Moorehead was featured with Dan Blocker extolling the virtues of the new '65 Chevy II.

Later years

In 1970, Moorehead appeared as one of the sisters to a dying woman who haunts her own house in the early Night Gallery episode "Certain Shadows on the Wall". She also reprised her role in Don Juan in Hell on Broadway and on tour, in an all-star cast which also featured Edward Mulhare, Ricardo Montalban, and Paul Henreid.

Moorehead also memorably supplied the voice of the friendly Mother Goose in Hanna-Barbera's 1973 adaptation of the E. B. White children's book Charlotte's Web.

For the 1973 Broadway adaptation of Gigi, Moorehead portrayed Aunt Alicia and performed various songs, including "The Contract" for the original cast recording. She fell ill during the production, forcing Arlene Francis to replace her. Moorehead died shortly afterward.

In January 1974, three months before her death, Moorehead performed in two episodes (including the first) of CBS Radio Mystery Theater, the popular series produced by old-time radio master Himan Brown.

Personal life

Marriages

Moorehead married actor John Griffith Lee in 1930 and they divorced in 1952. Moorehead and Lee adopted an orphan named Sean in 1949, but whether the adoption was legal remains unclear. Moorehead raised Sean until he ran away from home. She married actor Robert Gist in 1954 and they divorced in 1958.

Sexuality

Agnes Moorehead's sexuality has been the subject of speculation. A number of articles have appeared in periodicals in the alternative press identifying her as a lesbian. Paul Lynde, Moorehead's occasional co-star on Bewitched, stated: "Well, the whole world knows Agnes was a lesbian--I mean classy as hell, but one of the all-time Hollywood dykes". Journalist Boze Hadleigh reported an incident, also sourced to Lynde, in which, when she caught one of her husbands cheating on her, "Agnes screamed at him that if he could have a mistress, so could she." Moorehead is reported in an interview to have acknowledged her same-sex orientation while identifying a number of other Hollywood actresses who "enjoyed lesbian or bi relationships."

Moorehead's close friend Debbie Reynolds states categorically that Moorehead was not lesbian. Reynolds' autobiography mentions the rumor and states it was begun by one of Moorehead's husbands during their divorce. Moorehead's longtime friend and producer, Paul Gregory, concurs in the assessment. Quint Benedetti, Moorehead's longtime employee and himself gay, also states that Moorehead was not lesbian and attributes the story to rumor-mongering by Lynde.

Politics

Moorehead was a staunch conservative Republican who believed in less government intervention and tax cuts. She rarely spoke publicly about her political beliefs, believing that actors should not express such opinions, but she supported her close friend Ronald Reagan for his 1966 run for governor of California.

Death

Moorehead died of uterine cancer on April 30, 1974, in Rochester, Minnesota; she is buried at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton, Ohio. In 1994, Moorehead was posthumously inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

The Touchdown Tavern in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, opened the Agnes Moorehead Lounge, exhibiting memorabilia.

Moorehead bequeathed $25,000 to Muskingum College with instructions to fund one or more "Agnes Moorehead Scholarships." She also left half of her manuscripts to Muskingum with the other half going to the University of Wisconsin. Her family's Ohio farm went to John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, along with her collection of Bibles and biblical scholarship materials. Her mother Mildred received all of Moorehead's clothing and jewelry and Moorehead made provisions to support Mildred for the rest of her life. Moorhead's home in Beverly Hills was left to her attorney, Franklin Rohner, along with the furnishings and personal property within. Small bequests were made for friends and domestic staff along with some charitable contributions. She made no provision in her will for Sean (the boy John Griffith Lee and she had allegedly adopted) and the will stated that she had "no children, natural or adopted, living or deceased."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1941	Citizen Kane	Mary Kane
1942	The Magnificent Ambersons	Fanny	New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
	The Big Street	Violette Shumberg
1943	Journey into Fear	Mrs. Mathews
	The Youngest Profession	Miss Featherstone
	Government Girl	Adele - Mrs. Delancey Wright
1944	Jane Eyre	Mrs. Reed
	Since You Went Away	Mrs. Emily Hawkins
	Dragon Seed	Third Cousin's Wife
	The Seventh Cross	Madame Marelli
	Mrs. Parkington	Baroness Aspasia Conti	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
	Tomorrow, the World	Aunt Jesse Frame
1945	Keep Your Powder Dry	Lieut. Colonel Spottiswoode
	Our Vines Have Tender Grapes	Bruna Jacobson
	Her Highness and the Bellboy	Countess Zoe
1947	Dark Passage	Madge Rapf
	The Lost Moment	Juliana Borderau
1948	Summer Holiday	Cousin Lily
	The Woman in White	Countess Fosco
	Station West	Mrs. Caslon
	Johnny Belinda	Aggie MacDonald	Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1949	The Stratton Story	Ma Stratton
	The Great Sinner	Emma Getzel
	Without Honor	Katherine Williams
1950	Caged	Ruth Benton
	Captain Blackjack	Mrs. Emily Birk
1951	Fourteen Hours	Christine HIll Cosick
	Adventures of Captain Fabian	Aunt Jezebel
	Show Boat	Parthy Hawks
	The Blue Veil	Mrs. Palfrey
1952	The Blazing Forest	Jessie Crain
1953	The Story of Three Loves	Aunt Lydia	segment: The Jealous Lover
	Scandal at Scourie	Sister Josephine
	Main Street to Broadway	Mildred Waterbury
	Those Redheads From Seattle	Mrs. Edmonds
1954	Magnificent Obsession	Nancy Ashford
1955	Untamed	Aggie
	All That Heaven Allows	Sara Warren
	The Left Hand of God	Beryl Sigman
1956	The Conqueror	Hunlun
	Meet Me in Las Vegas	Miss Hattie
	The Swan	Queen Maria Dominika
	The Revolt of Mamie Stover	Bertha Parchman
	Pardners	Mrs. Matilda Kingsley
	The Opposite Sex	Countess
1957	The True Story of Jesse James	Mrs. Samuel
	Jeanne Eagels	Nellie Neilson
	Raintree County	Ellen Shawnessy	Laurel Award for Top Supporting Performance, Female (2nd place)
	The Story of Mankind	Queen Elizabeth I
1958	The Tempest	Vassilissa Mironova
1959	Night of the Quarter Moon	Cornelia Nelson
	The Bat	Cornelia van Gorder
1960	Pollyanna	Mrs. Snow
1961	Twenty Plus Two	Mrs. Eleanor Delaney
	Bachelor in Paradise	Judge Peterson
1962	Jessica	Maria Lombardo
	Poor Mr. Campbell	Adrice Campbell	Television movie
	How the West Was Won	Rebecca Prescott
1963	Who's Minding the Store?	Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle
1964	Hush"? Hush, Sweet Charlotte	Velma	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture Laurel Award for Top Supporting Performance, Female (2nd place) Nominated "? Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1966	The Singing Nun	Sister Cluny	Laurel Award for Top Supporting Performance, Female (3rd place)
1969	The Ballad of Andy Crocker	Lisa's Mother
1971	What's the Matter with Helen?	Sister Alma
	Marriage: Year One	Grandma Duden	Television movie
	Suddenly Single	Marlene	Television movie
	The Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove	Mrs. Pringle	Television movie
1972	Drop Dead Delilah	Delilah Charles
	Rolling Man	Grandmother	Television movie
	Night of Terror	Bronsky	Television movie
1973	Charlotte's Web	The Goose	Voice role
	Frankenstein: The True Story	Mrs. Blair	Television movie
1974	Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love	Hercule's Wife	Television movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	The Revlon Mirror Theater	Martha Adams	Episode: Lullaby
1955	The Colgate Comedy Hour	Aunt Minnie	Episode: Roberta
1956	Matinee Theatre	Mrs. Barnes	Episode: Greybeards and Witches
	Studio 57	Mrs. Tolliver	Episode: Teacher
1957	Climax!	Irene	Episode: Locked in Fear
	Wagon Train	Mary Halstead	Episode: The Mary Halstead Story
1958	The DuPont Show of the Month	Madame Defarge	Episode: A Tale of Two Cities
	Playhouse 90	Rose Ganun	Episode: The Dungeon
	Suspicion	Katherine Searles	Episode: The Protege
1959	G.E. True Theatre	Ana Konrad Bethlen	Episode: Deed of Mercy
	Alcoa Theatre	Mrs. Adams	Episode: Man of His House
	The Rebel	Mrs. Martha Lassiter	Episode: In Memoriam
1960	Startime	Carmen Lynch	Episode: Closed Set
	The Millionaire	Katherine Boland	Episode: Millionaire Katherine Boland
	The Chevy Mystery Show	Elizabeth Marshall	Episode: Trial by Fury
	Adventures in Paradise	Jikiri	Episode: The Krismen
	Rawhide	Sister Frances	Episode: Incident at Poco Tiempo
	Shirley Temple's Storybook	Hepzibah Pyncheon Mombi the Witch Witch	3 episodes
	The Rifleman	Alberta 'Bertie' Hoakam	Episode: Miss Bertie
1961	The Twilight Zone	Woman	Episode: The Invaders
	My Sister Eileen	Aunt Harriet	2 episodes
1963-1965	Burke's Law	Pauline Moss Dona Ynez Ortega y Esteban Liz Haggerty	2 episodes
1964	Channing	Professor Amelia Webster	Episode: Freedom Is a Lovesome Thing God Wot
	The Greatest Show on Earth	Millie	Episode: This Train Don't Stop Till It Gets There
1964-1972	Bewitched	Endora	218 episodes Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1966, 1968-1971) Nominated "? Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1967)
1966	The Lone Ranger	Black Widow	Episode: The Trickster/Crack of Doom/The Human Dynamo
1967	The Wild Wild West	Emma Valentine	Episode: The Night of the Vicious Valentine Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
	Custer	Watoma	Episode: Spirit Woman
1969	Lancer	Mrs. Normile	Episode: A Person Unknown
	The Red Skelton Show	Bertha Bluenose	Episode: He Wanted to Be a Square Shooter But He Found That his Barrel was Round
1970	Barefoot in the Park	Mrs. Wilson	Episode: Pilot
	The Virginian	Emma Garvey	Episode: Gun Quest
1971	Rod Serling's Night Gallery	Head Witch Emma Brigham	2 episodes
	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Mrs. Pringle	Episode: Strange Monster of Strawberry Cove
	Love, American Style	Mrs. Cooper	Segment: Love and the Particular Girl
1972	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Mrs. Ramsey	Episode: He Could Sell Iceboxes to Eskimos

Radio credits

Moorehead appeared on hundreds of individual broadcasts across a radio career that spanned from 1926 to her final two appearances, on CBS Radio Mystery Theatre in 1974.

Year	Program	Role
1929-1930	Believe It or Not	Ensemble
1930-1933	Sherlock Holmes	Ensemble
1931	The Ben Bernie Show	Ensemble
1932-1933	Mysteries In Paris	Nana
1933-1934	Evenings In Paris	Anna
1933-1936	The Armour Hour	Ensemble
1934	The Gumps	Min
1934-1935	Heartthrobs of the Hills	Ensemble
1935-1937	Dot and Will	Rose
1935-1936	The New Penny
1936	Way Down East
1936-1938	The March of Time	Ensemble. Moorehead was noted for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt.
1937	Terry and the Pirates	The Dragon Lady
1937-1939	The Shadow	Margo Lane
1938	The Mercury Theatre on the Air	Ensemble
1938	The Campbell Playhouse	Ensemble
1938-1941	Cavalcade of America	Ensemble
1939-1940	Brenda Curtiss	Brenda's mother
1939-1940	The Aldrich Family	Mrs. Brown
1940	The Adventures of Superman	Lara
1941-1942	Bringing Up Father	Maggie
1941-1942	Bulldog Drummond	Ensemble
1942-1949	Mayor of the Town	Marilly
1942-1960	Suspense	Moorehead's appearances on Suspense were so numerous that she became known as "The First Lady of Suspense". Her most noted role was as Mrs. Elbert Stevenson in "Sorry, Wrong Number". She first performed the role on May 25, 1943 and reprised it on eight occasions through her last appearance on the program in 1960.

Theater

Moorehead began appearing on stage during her training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She appeared in seven productions as a student. She continued acting in the theater throughout her career until just a few months before her death.

Year	Play	Role
1928	Courage	Understudy
1929	Soldiers and Women	Understudy
1929	Scarlet Pages	Company
1929	Candle Light	Company
1934	All the King's Horses	Company
1951	Don Juan In Hell	Doa Ana. Moorehead originated the role in a national tour which culminated in a sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall. Moorehead engaed in six tours of the production between 1951 and 1954 and appeared in a 1973 revival at the Palace Theatre.
1954	An Evening With Agnes Moorehead	Moorehead toured nationally in this one-woman show on and off for over 20 years. It became best known under the name The Fabulous Redhead and in the mid-1960s as Come Closer, I'll Give You an Earful.
1957	The Rivalry	Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas. Moorehead toured with the play but dropped out before its New York debut.
1959	The Pink Jungle	Eleanor West
1962	Prescription: Murder	Claire Fleming
1962	Lord Prego	Miss Swanson
1963	High Spirits	Madame Acanti
1973	Gigi	Aunt Alicia