Gone With or Without fanfare

[Lzcutter]

Well, Death may not be interested in taking a holiday but I sure am.

Superman's adopted mom has died. Actress Phyllis Thaxter has died. She was 90.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Phyllis Thaxter, the wholesome actress who played Ma Kent in 1978’s Superman and the faithful girlfriend to vengeful POW Robert Ryan in the 1948 film noir classic Act of Violence, has died. She was 90.

Thaxter died Tuesday at her home in Florida after a long bout with Alzheimer's, according to her daughter, actress Skye Aubrey.

A contract player at MGM and Warner Bros. in the 1940s and ’50s before her career was derailed by illness, Thaxter also starred in the psychological thriller Bewitched (1945), playing opposite Edmund Gwenn as a woman fighting to hold off a conniving, murderous alter ego.

“She was one of the most beautiful and patrician icons of the golden age of movies, TV and theater,” veteran movie critic Rex Reed told The Hollywood Reporter.

Born Nov. 20, 1921, in Portland, Maine, her mother was a former Shakespearean actress and her father a state Supreme Court justice. She joined the Montreal Repertory Theatre troupe as a teenager before graduating to Broadway. Appearing in such productions as Claudia and the 1940 drama There Shall Be No Night -- whose cast included Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Sydney Greenstreet and Montgomery Clift -- Thaxter attracted the attention of Hollywood and signed with MGM in the early '40s.

Her film debut came in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) as the wife of Van Johnson. A year later, she starred in Bewitched and then appeared in Week-End at the Waldorf, a remake of the Greta Garbo classic Grand Hotel.

The hazel-eyed brunette followed with The Sea of Grass (1947), opposite Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn; Tenth Avenue Angel (1948) with Margaret O’Brien; Blood on the Moon, a Western with Robert Mitchum; and Fred Zinneman’s taut Act of Violence (1948), as the woman who stands by Ryan, an embittered POW out for revenge against his former war buddy Van Heflin.

Thaxter then joined Warner Bros. and appeared in such films as Michael Curtiz'sThe Breaking Point (1950) with John Garfield and Patricia Neal; Come Fill the Cup (1951) with Gig Young; Springfield Rifle (1952) with Gary Cooper; another Curtiz film, Jim Thorpe — All-American (1951), with Burt Lancaster; and She’s Working Her Way Through College (1952) with Ronald Reagan. However, she contracted a form of infantile paralysis while visiting her family in Portland, Maine, and her contract was terminated.

That led Thaxter to television, where she appeared in guest-starring roles in Lux Video Theatre, Climax!, Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Defenders, Medical Center, Marcus Welby, M.D. and many other series.

In 1978, Thaxter made one final movie splash when she was cast along with Glenn Ford as Clark Kent’s adoptive parents on Earth in Richard Donner’s Superman, starring Christopher Reeve. Her daughter Skye was married to Superman executive producer Iiya Salkind.

“I worked harder on that film than anything I’d done — I couldn’t be bad,” Thaxter once said.

The actress, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, spent the 1980s on the stage in such productions as The Little Foxes with Anne Baxter and The Gin Game with Larry Gates.

In 1944, Thaxter married James Aubrey Jr., who was president of CBS in the early 1960s and then was hired by Kirk Kerkorian to preside over MGM during a brutal budget-slashing period in the '70s. They divorced in 1962 (he died in 1994). Thaxter then wed former Princeton football star Gilbert Lea, a marriage that lasted for 46 years until his death in May 2008.

[MissGoddess]

I really liked Phyllis in the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episodes, he (or perhaps Joan Harrison) seemed to like her, too, since she was in a few of them. I tend to associate her with her TV work mostly, though Bewitched is a favorite of mine. Its blend of suspense and psycho-hoakum is entertaining.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I found her appearance in 1978's Superman especially touching. A very sweet lady with much onscreen and stage experience. Adieu.

[Rita Hayworth]

I found her appearance in 1978's Superman especially touching. A very sweet lady with much onscreen and stage experience. Adieu.

She is so good with her fans ... I met her once and she adored by fans everywhere. She is a super classy lady with a heart of gold. I find her easy to talk to and she admired her fans as being a Ma to an iconic Character like Superman The Movie back in 1978. I met her in the mid-1980 ... she is quite a lady and I loved talking to her.

[CineMaven]

PHYLLIS THAXTER

This IS sad news for fans. I’ve always liked her...her eyes. There’s this slew of actresses...a certain ilk, that Phyllis Thaxter fell into, for me. Oh I don’t mean the volcanic legends like Bette, Barbara, Kate; but the ones that were kind of in the middle: Teresa Wright, Celeste Holm, the mighty Roman, Shirley Knight, Nina Foch, Priscilla Lane, Kim Hunter, Dorothy McGuire, Ruth Hussey ( how could I forget her! ) and others. You might quibble about my list and that's okay. It’s mine own. Let me add Laraine Day ( thanx Wendy & "Mr. Lucky" ) to my mental list of very talented gals who fell between the heights of blinding fame. These actresses were so good, clean, solid, no frills, no strings, no Method showing. Sincere. They showed the core of the human being they portrayed. Yes, I remember Thaxter in “SUPERMAN” back in '78 and thinking this old lady seemed so kind. A little later I then discovered her as a younger woman, in those “old movies.” Aaaah! I know...ninety-two is a long time; Alzheimer’s...... rough. Yet I still feel sad. She won’t get a big mention on the news. Nobody will seemingly remember her if you go by today’s entertainment media. But thanxxx to TCM and here at the SSO, many folks will hear the news, stop a moment, smile warmly and sadly and say...“Oh yeah, I remember her. I’ve always liked her.”

YouTube amazes me. I’ll see a video of an angry father shooting his daughter’s laptop to smithereens and the clip will have about a million hits. But then I’ll see that someone has created a short video to one of our unsung actresses. Click on the first photo to see that lovely little tribute. April mentions Phyllis Thaxter appearing on Alfred Hitchcock. You can click the second picture to see Thaxter in an episode. Funny, It’s eight in the morning and just hearing Hitchcock’s theme song and the music bed that actually introduces the episode thrills me with dread. Ha! There really is no good time to watch Hitch, is there?



I remember Thaxter’s daughter, actress Skye Aubrey. Saw her in a slew of tv-movies in the 70’s.


SKYE AUBREY

Guys, this will be a very very sad decade for classic film fans I'm afraid.

[JackFavell]

Maven, I totally agree, your list includes some of my very favorite unsung actresses. Add Ruth Hussey and I'll be happy. You really capture Thaxter's warm appeal.

Thaxter was one of the few actresses who could play 'patrician' as they said in the article, but also could play a normal everyday woman or housewife and give her warmth, depth and character, with just a few scenes.

She's really memorable playing thankless roles in Act of Violence and No Man of her Own, or for me, the highlights of her movie career, in The Breaking Point and Jim Thorpe All American. She could break your heart with only a few lines, show you an overworked, under-appreciated wife just by her tired movements. She adds something delicate and sensitive (in the best way possible) and modern to the movies she was in, seeming very willing to play off of her fellow actors, sensing their mood shifts and emotions subtly while altering her performances to match. A real actress, not a starlet nor a star, but someone I appreciate greatly every time I see her. She was much finer I think than her movie roles gave her a chance to be, how lucky it was that TV came along! I never knew about her illness, I hope that she knows now, wherever she is, that she is appreciated for her sterling work. R.I.P.

[moira finnie]

I wish that TCM would show one of Phyllis Thaxter's few starring roles in Arch Oboler's BEWITCHED (1945)--which has no connection to the television series, but was a crude if engaging story of "modern" psychiatry...as represented by my favorite alienist, Kris Kringle--I mean Edmund Gwenn!

In this programmer Thaxter, who usually was trapped in some likable but namby-pamby roles during her MGM years, had a chance to really chew the scenery as a schizophrenic driven to madness by the voice of Audrey Totter that she keeps hearing in her head (I hate when that happens, don't you?).

If you've never seen this one, you can get the gist of BEWITCHED (1945) in the clip below. This film is also out on a Warner Archive MOD
[youtube][/youtube]

[CineMaven]

Consider the gorgeous Hussey added JaxxxXxxon. She and the others probably made their co-stars look very good indeed. A very lovely tribute by you, as well. Please, check out the YouTube tribute to Thaxter. It's a bunch of photographs...but very sweetly done. I'm telling you, music will make you or break you.

Funny, on my way home last nite, I willy nilly pressed a button on my iPOD Touch and blaring in my ear was the music from "GWTW." That opening underneath Selznick's studios and then the music announcement for the opening strains of "GWTW" shocked me and gave me goosebumps while I stood on a very hot train platform. His music is big. My train came, I got a seat ( yay! ) in an air-conditioned car, closed my eyes and just listened. Even with Gable and Leigh, and set designs and costumes...Max Steiner in no way gets lost in the proceedings. His music helps carry the film into immortality. I became lost in it.

[CineMaven]

Moira, I'm still likin' your psychiatry idea as a theme for a night of films on TCM. This YouTube clip is a tease. Maybe Phyllis'd come out of this okay if she heard the dulcet tones of Celeste Holm as Addie Ross?

[MissGoddess]

Everyone should take a look at Bewitched, thanks for the link, Moira.
Wonderful tributes, T and I agree with your spot-on descriptions of Thaxter's quiet contributions. She could suggest a wealth of uncertainty, fears and suspicions behind a poised, even placid demeanor. Perfect for those Hitchcockian forays!

[Western Guy]

Just received word that Biff Elliot, the original Mike Hammer ("I, the Jury") has passed away at age 89. This year might not spell the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan Calendar but it sure has taken from our sphere so many great and legendary talents.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

So true.

[knitwit45]

Just received word that Biff Elliot, the original Mike Hammer ("I, the Jury") has passed away at age 89. This year might not spell the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan Calendar but it sure has taken from our sphere so many great and legendary talents.

[Robert Regan]

And Al Freeman Jr. died at 78.

[moira finnie]

Willaim Windom, a fixture in television, movies and the stage for over half a century, has died at age 88. Perhaps best remembered for his work as the Southern prosecutor in To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Windom recalls his experiences working with Brock Peters and James Anderson in this featurette from TCM:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/6435 ... ndom-.html

Windom is also recalled fondly by those who first saw him in the popular tv adaptation of The Farmer's Daughter with Inger Stevens & Cathleen Nesbitt, as well as his role as a James Thurberish cartoonist in My World and Welcome to It described in some detail here: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/6435 ... ndom-.html


Here is an obituary from Media Insights:

William Windom, the recognizable character actor who had a career on the small screen spanning seven decades, passed away today at age 88.

Born on September 28, 1923 in New York City and schooled at Williams College, Fordham and Columbia, Windom made his debut with the American Repertory Theatre in 1946 in productions of Henry VIII, What Every Woman Knows, John Gabriel Borkman and Androcles and the Lion. The following year, he remained on Broadway with roles in Yellow Jack and as the White Rabbit in a production of Alice in Wonderland. Windom segued onto television with early guest starring roles in series like The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, Masterpiece Playhouse and Robert Montgomery Presents. Following guest shots in other series like The Twilight Zone, The New Breed, Checkmate, Cheyenne, Ben Casey, The Lucy Show and The Donna Reed Show, Windom headlined sitcom The Farmer’s Daughter from 1963-66. Multiple TV appearances followed through the 1970s, including a one season stint on 1969-70 comedy My World and Welcome To It, which resulted in an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.

Windom, in total, appeared as a guest star in dozens of television series, and racked up his third and fourth regularly scheduled sitcoms in short-lived Brothers and Sisters (which stemmed from the success of Animal House) in 1979 and the first Parenthood, based on the Ron Howard theatrical, in 1990. He also appeared on a recurring basis on detective drama Murder, She Wrote.

Windom is survived by his fifth wife, Patricia Veronica Tunder, and four children.