Agnes Moorehead: Encyclopedia - Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an American character actress. She was born in Clinton, Massachusetts of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry, the only child of a Presbyterian minister. She later shaved 6 years off her age by claiming to have been born in 1906. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.

Moorehead was a graduate of Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. She was also part of Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air radio program in the 1930s and appeared in a Broadway production of Don Juan in Hell in 1950.

While never a headlining star in films, Moorehead's skill at character development and range earned her one Emmy, two Golden Globes, and four Oscar nominations and six Emmy nominations. Moorehead transitioned to television, and again won acclaim and accolades for her work in drama and in comedy.

Agnes Moorehead died of uterine cancer in Rochester, Minnesota.

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While never confirmed, some suspect that Moorehead’s cancer was a result of having been exposed to radiation at a site previously used for nuclear testing while filming The Conqueror (1956) in Utah. Moorehead believed her cancer was related to this exposure, and commented in an interview shortly before her death, "I wish I'd never done that damn movie!"

Director Dick Powell, and co-stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz (suicide), and John Hoyt all died from cancer as well. Dr. Robert Pendleton, Professor of biology at the University of Utah, has described the incidence of cancer among cast and crew of The Conqueror as an "epidemic".

Noting that 91 members of the cast and crew had contracted cancer by 1984, with more than half of them dying, Dr. Pendleton stated, "With these numbers, this case could qualify as an epidemic. The connection between fallout radiation and cancer in individual cases has been practically impossible to prove conclusively. But in a group this size you'd expect only 30 some cancers to develop...I think the tie-in to their exposure on the set of The Conqueror would hold up in a court of law." ^[2]

Though rumoured to be a lesbian [1], Moorehead married actor John Griffith Lee in 1930 and they divorced in 1952; they adopted one son, Sean, in 1949, but it remains unclear whether the adoption was legal, although Moorehead did raise the child until he ran away from home. In 1953, she married actor Robert Gist, and they later divorced in 1958.

The actress was also a devout Presbyterian and, in interviews, often spoke of her relationship with God. Shortly before her death, she returned to her fundamentalist roots and requested an audience with Bob Jones, Jr..

Moorehead willed her 1965 Emmy for The Wild Wild West, her Oscar nominations and her private papers to Muskingum College, including her home in Rix Mills, Ohio. She left her Ohio estate, "Moorehead Manor" to Bob Jones University.

She is interred at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton, Ohio.

Agnes Moorehead - Notable roles

• "The Shadow", 1937 as Margot Lane (radio drama)
• Citizen Kane, 1941 as Mary Kane
• The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942 as Fanny; New York Film Critics Circle Award, Academy Award nomination
• Mrs Parkington, 1944 as Aspasia Conti; Golden Globe, Academy Award nomination
• Jane Eyre (1944) as Mrs. Reed
• Johnny Belinda, 1948 as Aggie McDonald; Academy Award nomination
• Pollyanna, 1960 as Mrs Snow
• The Twilight Zone episode: "The Invaders," (1961) as "The woman"
• Bewitched, 1964-1972 as Endora; six Emmy nominations
• Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 1964 as Velma Cruther; Golden Globe, Academy Award nomination

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