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Martha Scott

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Martha Scott
Scott in In Old Oklahoma, 1943
Born
Martha Ellen Scott

(1912-09-22)September 22, 1912
Jamesport, Missouri, U.S.
DiedMay 28, 2003(2003-05-28) (aged 90)
Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeMasonic Cemetery
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Occupation(s)Film, television and stage actress
Years active1940–1990
Spouses
  • Carlton Alsop (1940–1946; divorced; 1 child)
  • Mel Powell (1946–1998; his death) 2 children
Children3
Parents
  • Walter Scott (father)
  • Letha McKinley (mother)

Martha Ellen Scott (September 22, 1912 – May 28, 2003) was an American actress. She was featured in major films like Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1956), and William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959). She originated the role of Emily Webb in Thornton Wilder's Our Town on Broadway in 1938 and later recreated the role in the 1940 film version for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.[1]

Early life

Scott was born in Jamesport, Missouri, the daughter of Letha (née McKinley) and Walter Alva Scott, an engineer and garage owner.[2] Her mother was a second-cousin of U.S. President William McKinley.[2] The Scott family remained in Jamesport until Martha was thirteen years old when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri and eventually to Detroit Michigan.[3] Scott became interested in acting in high school, an interest she furthered by attending the University of Michigan, earning a teaching certificate and a Bachelor of Arts degree[4] in drama in 1934.[3]

Career

Stage

Scott with husband Mel Powell in 1947

Martha Scott received a career boost right out of college when she appeared with the Globe Theatre Troupe in a series of Shakespeare productions at the Century of Progress world's fair in Chicago in 1934.[5] Following that she moved to New York City, where she found steady work both in stock stage productions and in radio dramas. In 1938 she made her Broadway debut in the original staging of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town as Emily Webb, the tragic young woman who dies in childbirth.[6]

Film

Scott in The Ten Commandments, 1956

Two years later Scott reprised the role of Emily in her film debut when Our Town was made into a movie. Her critically acclaimed performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The newcomer Scott was up against some of Hollywood's biggest names for the award: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Fontaine, Bette Davis, and the winner Ginger Rogers.[6] With an Oscar nomination on her resumé Scott found steady movie work for the next four decades, appearing in some major epics like The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, The Desperate Hours, and Airport 1975. Charlton Heston was a frequent co-star with Scott on both stage and screen, as she told an interviewer in 1988: "I played his mother twice and his wife twice. I was his mother in Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments. I was his wife on the stage in New York in Design For a Stained Glass Window and The Tumbler in London."[6]

Producer

In 1968, Scott joined Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan in forming a theatrical production company called The Plumstead Playhouse.[7] It later became the Plumstead Theatre Company and moved to Los Angeles. The company produced First Monday in October, both on stage and on film. Scott co-produced both versions. Her last production was Twelve Angry Men, which was performed at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Television

Martha Scott first began appearing in TV roles in the medium's early days. Her first came in 1950 on The Nash Airflyte Theater, followed by several guest appearances on Robert Montgomery Presents and other shows of television's "golden age". This pattern of guest episodic roles continued through the 1960s with appearances on Route 66, Ironside, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father among others.

In the mid-1950s, Scott was the narrator for Modern Romances, an afternoon program on NBC-TV.[8]

Scott was a frequent TV guest star in the 1970s. She had recurring roles as Bob Newhart's mother on The Bob Newhart Show, the mother of Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors) on both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman as well as Patricia Shepard, Sue Ellen and Kristin's mother on Dallas during its early years and later during the 1986 season. Scott was cast in single episode guest appearances on several hit shows of the era like The Sandy Duncan Show, Columbo: Playback (1975), The Mod Squad, Marcus Welby, M.D., and The Love Boat. She played the role of Jennifer Talbot, Terri Brock's nasty grandmother on General Hospital for six months (1986-1987) which ended when her character was murdered and stuffed in a drain pipe.

In the 1980s she had a regular role on the short-lived series Secrets of Midland Heights, several television movies, and single-episode appearances in shows like Magnum, P.I., The Paper Chase, and Highway to Heaven. In the late 1980s, she and Jeffrey Lynn acted in an episode of Murder, She Wrote, which was a direct sequel to their 1949 feature film Strange Bargain. Martha Scott's final acting role on television came in 1990 in the movie Daughter of the Streets.

Personal life

Gravesite of Martha Scott and husband Mel Powell in Jamesport, Missouri

Martha Scott was twice-married. First to radio producer and announcer Carleton William Alsop from 1940 to 1946, and then to jazz pianist and composer Mel Powell from 1946 until his death in 1998.[9] She had one child with Alsop, son Carleton Scott Alsop, and two daughters—Mary Powell Harpel and Kathleen Powell—with her second husband. According to son Scott his mother never forgot about her childhood hometown, using the mental image of a Jamesport cemetery in preparation for her Oscar-nominated role in Our Town. Said Alsop, "She told me she used that place as her image because it's so serene and beautiful" and that her deceased McKinley and Scott relatives "became the Gibbs and the Webbs in the play".[3] Martha Scott died on May 28, 2003 in California. She was interred next to Powell, in the Masonic Cemetery in her native Jamesport, Missouri.

Honors

For her contribution in the theatre, Scott has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6126 Hollywood Boulevard.[10]

Partial filmography

Radio appearances

Year Program Episode/source
1941 Philip Morris Playhouse Made for Each Other[11]
1953 Theatre Guild on the Air Kate Fennigate[12]

References

  1. ^ Thise, Mark (2008). Hollywood Winners & Losers A to Z. Limelight Editions. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-87910-351-4.
  2. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (May 31, 2003). "Martha Scott, Original Emily in 'Our Town', Dies at 88". New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Oscar nominee Martha Scott of Jamesport". Daviess County Historical Society. April 20, 2004. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  4. ^ "B.A. Degree". The Havre Daily News. March 24, 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  5. ^ Thalman, Jane (November 1938). "Starring on Broadway, the Career of Martha Scott". Anchora. LV (1): 29.
  6. ^ a b c "Actress Martha Scott Dies, Aged 90". Breaking News. May 31, 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  7. ^ Scott, Martha (December 26, 1974). "1975 Hope: Rebirth of Theatre". Arcadia Tribune. p. 11. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  8. ^ Mercer, Charles (August 11, 1955). "Martha Scott Typifies New TV Gimmick—Narrator". The Kokomo Tribune. p. 57. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  9. ^ Champlin, Charles (September 21, 1989). "Martha Scott Travels from 'Our Town' to Tinseltown". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  10. ^ "Martha Scott". Hollywood Star Walk. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  11. ^ "Martha Scott". Harrisburg Telegraph. November 1, 1941. p. 28. Retrieved 22 July 2015 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  12. ^ Kirby, Walter (May 24, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 48. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
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