This Day in Horror: Happy Birthday Agnes Moorehead
Born on this day in 1900: Agnes Moorehead
Moorehead developed an early interest in acting, though her father insisted she have a traditional education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in English and public speaking. While in college, she participated in the school theater program.
She had a difficult time getting regular jobs in feature films, so Moorehead made a name for herself in radio, where she became highly in demand. The radio play Sorry, Wrong Number inspired the writers of The Twilight Zone to write an episode called “The Invaders.” Moorehead starred in the episode, in which she is the only human character, playing opposite puppeted “robots.” There is also no dialogue in the episode.
Moorehead appeared in Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte is an example of “hagsploitation” and was meant to be a spiritual sequel to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
In 1964, Moorehead took the role that she is probably best known for: Endora, Samantha’s mother on Bewitched. The witchy sitcom was far more successful than Moorehead ever imagined it would be, and commented that she felt “trapped” by her contract. She received six Emmy nominations for her work on the show.
After Bewitched, Moorehead’s genre work included an early episode of The Night Gallery, made-for-TV movie Night of Terror, and another hagsploitation picture, Dear Dead Delilah. She died of uterine cancer in 1974.
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