Research Catalog

Title

Georgia Johnstone papers regarding Agnes Moorehead, 1930-1974.

Author

Johnstone, Georgia.

Supplementary Content

Finding Aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Moorehead, Agnes, 1900-1974.

Description

2.25 lin. ft. (4 boxes)

Summary

Georgia Johnstone Papers regarding Agnes Moorehead consist primarily of correspondence between actress, Moorehead and Johnstone, her personal secretary.

Subjects

• Television actors and actresses
• Actresses
• Moorehead, Agnes, 1900-1974

Access (note)

• Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Biography (note)

• Georgia Johnstone was the personal secretary of actress Agnes Moorehead.
• Agnes Moorehead, star of radio, television, stage and film, received an Emmy Award as well as five Emmy and five Academy Award nominations.

Processing Action (note)

• Cataloged

Call Number

*T-Mss 2003-039

OCLC

NYPW03-A187

Author

Johnstone, Georgia.

Title

Georgia Johnstone papers regarding Agnes Moorehead, 1930-1974.

Restricted Access

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Biography

Georgia Johnstone was the personal secretary of actress Agnes Moorehead.

Agnes Moorehead, star of radio, television, stage and film, received an Emmy Award as well as five Emmy and five Academy Award nominations. She began her broadcasting career as a singer and went on to a very active career on dramatic and variety radio programs through the 1930s and 1940s. This included the starring role in SORRY, WRONG NUMBER on SUSPENSE in 1943 and as Marilly, the volatile housekeeper, in MAYOR OF THE TOWN with Lionel Barrymore.

She appeared with Beatrice Lillie, Bert Lahr, Bob Hope, Fred Allen and others in tragedy, comedy, mystery and other genres. She was a founder and charter member of the Mercury Theater Players with Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles. Her connection to Orson Welles led to her screen debut as the mother in CITIZEN KANE (1941). This was followed by THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942), which brought her the New York Critics Award for Best Actress and her first Academy Award nomination. She was also nominated for MRS. PARKINGTON (1944), JOHNNY BELINDA (1948), ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1956), and HUSH HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964) and appeared in many other films including DARK PASSAGE, HOW THE WEST WAS WON, JANE EYRE, RAINTREE COUNTY, SHOWBOAT and THE SINGING NUN.

Moorehead had made her Broadway debut in SCARLET PAGES in 1929 and then appeared in ALL THE KING'S HORSES, COURAGE, SOLDIERS AND WOMEN, CANDLELIGHT, and LORD PENGO, among others. She toured in George Bernard Shaw's DON JUAN IN HELL with Charles Boyer, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Charles Laughton in the United States and Europe and in her one-woman show, THE FABULOUS REDHEAD, beginning in 1954 and intermittently for ten years including tours in the Middle East. She also toured in THE PINK JUNGLE, THE RIVALRY, PRESCRIPTION: MURDER, HIGH SPIRITS and GIGI.

Moorehead's best known television role was as the mother witch Endora on ABC's BEWITCHED (1964-1971) for which she received five Emmy nominations. She won an Emmy for a guest-starring role on THE WILD, WILD WEST. Other television credits include THE TWILIGHT ZONE, PLAYHOUSE 90, STUDIO ONE, SHIRLEY TEMPLE THEATER, WAGON TRAIN, THE REBEL and THAT'S LIFE, among many others.

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Finding Aid

Added Author

Moorehead, Agnes, 1900-1974.

Research Call Number

*T-Mss 2003-039