Background
Moorehead, Agnes Robertson was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of John Henderson and Mary Mildred (McCauley) Moorehead.
Moorehead, Agnes Robertson was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of John Henderson and Mary Mildred (McCauley) Moorehead.
Bachelor of Arts honorary doctorate Muskingum College, 1947. Master of Arts, University Wisconsin. Doctor of Philosophy., Bradley U.
Student American Academy Dramatic Art.
Began as teacher of public speaking and English, Centralized High School, Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin then teacher of dramatics at Dalton School, New York City. First stage appearance at Municipal Opera, St. Louis, then appeared with College Dramatic Club and American Academy Stock Company. New York City; founded Mercury Theatre.
Appeared in Marco’s Millions, Scarlet Pages, All the King’s Men, Courage, Soldiers and Women, The Pink Judge, Lord Pengo, Rivalry, Subscription Murder, 6161. Appeared as an actress in motion pictures. Citizen Kane, 1941, Magnificent Ambersons, The Left Hand of God, 1955, The Big Street, Jane Eyre, Since You Went Away, Mistress Parkington, Dark Passage, Johnny Belinda, Magnificent Obession, All That Heaven Allows, The Opposite Sex, The Swan, The Stratton Story, Show Boat, Untamed, Journey into Fear, Dragon Seed, Caged, Meet Me In Las Vegas, Raintree County, The True Story of Jesse James, Mainstreet to Broadway, The Blue Veil, The Conqueror, Pollyanna, Who’s Minding The Store, The Jeanne Eagles Story, The Tempest, 20 and 2, Jessica, How The West Was Won, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Singing Nun, others.
During 4 years toured with Drama Quartette’s production Don Juan in Hell, 5 tours G. B. Shaws production. Toured with show Fabulous Redhead. Toured with Paul Gregory’s production The Rivalry.
First radio appearance as singer on KSO and KMOX, St. Louis, 1923-1924, actor on Seth Parker Family Hour with Phillip Lord, radio program, 20 weeks. Appeared on radio programs from 1929, including March of Time, Cavalcade. Television appearances including series Bewitched, Orson Welles Mercury Theatre of the Air, Shirley Temple Theatre, Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, Channing, Have Gun Will Travel, The Rebel, Night Gallery, The Virginian, Terror By Night, Suddenly Single, Doctor Frankenstein.
Member Phi Beta (honorary), Lambda Alpha Lambda, Dalta Gamma. Member O.E.S.; Clubs: Twelfth Night, Town Hall (New York City).
What are the two most indelibly humane moments in the work of Orson Welles? There is a case for saying that Agnes Moorehead figures in both: in Kane, the scene with Kanes mother opening the window to call in her son from the snow so that he may advance on his destiny; and in Ambersons, where Aunt Fanny watches Georgie devouring her strawberry shortcake, pleased to be useful, daunted by his appetite but knowing that lie does not need her, deeply aware that her vibrant romantic hopes are growing shrill with neglect.
It is hardly coincidence that these are moments ol loss and frustration that stay with us long afterwards, just as the last close-up of Kane’s mother, sinking down to the son’s face, is the wav in which Kane has recalled her all his life—as stylized and emotional as the sort of operas in which he imprisons Susan Alexander. Sadly, they predicted the course of Agnes Moorehead’s career. She was one of several Mercury players brought to movies bv Welles. Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca on radio showed her flair for melodrama and, in truth, she may have been best confined to brief passages where her intensity was limited. Her subsequent parade of shrews, rancorous mothers, bitches, and spinsters shows how quickly she overheated. But she was perfectly equipped for the controlled theatriealitv of Welles’s debut.
Married John Griffith Lee, June 5, 1930. Married second, Robert Gist, 1953.