| 22nd October 2006 11:24 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Veteran actress Jane Wyatt dies at age 96
Sun Oct 22, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Jane Wyatt, who played Spock's mother in "Star Trek" and the stereotypical television mother on the hit television series "Father Knows Best," has died in her Los Angeles area home, her publicist said on Sunday.
Wyatt died Friday in her sleep of natural causes at age 96, according to publicist Meg McDonald.
Wyatt played Margaret Anderson alongside the late Robert Young in the popular 1950s series "Father Knows Best," which chronicled the life and times of the Anderson family in the Midwestern town of Springfield and earned Wyatt multiple Emmys.
Wyatt, who arrived in Hollywood in the mid-1930s, appeared in 30 films over a 30 year-period, during which she continued to act on stage.
She was often cast as the understanding wife. Among her film roles were: "Great Expectations" (1934), "Lost Horizon," (1937), "The Kansan" (1943), "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947) and "The Voyage Home" (1986).
Her film career suffered when she was blacklisted by Sen. Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s after President Franklin Roosevelt asked her to assist in hosting an American performance by the Bolshoi Ballet following World War II.
Later, she would become a prominent opponent of McCarthy's blacklisting of Hollywood writers and actors.
By the late 1960s, Wyatt appeared on an episode of "Star Trek" as Spock's mother and later reprised the role in "The Voyage Home," one of the Star Trek films.
She was the original host of the classic "Bell Telephone Hour," a Sunday afternoon show that was the first program to introduce classical music, ballet and theater to the growing American television public.
She also starred in the first made-for-TV Movie, "See How They Run", with John Forsyth in 1964.
She was married to investor and inventor Edgar Bethune Ward for 63 years until he died in 2000. She is survived two sons, three grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels] |
| 23rd October 2006 06:02 AM |
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| glencar |
I know the Stones are getting up there in age but this is ridiculous! |
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