
Jane Wyatt
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1910-08-12
Day of Death
2006-10-20 (96 years old)
Place of Birth
Campgaw, New Jersey, USA
Jane Wyatt
Biography
From Wikipedia
Jane Wyatt (August 12, 1910 – October 20, 2006) was an American actress best known for her role as the housewife and mother on the NBC and CBS television comedy series, Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science fiction television series Star Trek. Wyatt was a three-time Emmy Award-winner.
Jane Waddington Wyatt was born on August 12, 1910 in Mahwah, New Jersey, but raised in Manhattan. Her father, Christopher Billopp Wyatt, Jr., was a Wall Street investment banker, and her mother, the former Euphemia Van Rensselaer Waddington, was a drama critic for the Catholic World. Both of her parents were Roman Catholic converts.
She made her film debut in 1934 in One More River. In arguably her most famous role, she co-starred as Ronald Colman's character's love interest in Frank Capra's Columbia Pictures film Lost Horizon (1937).
Other film appearances included Gentleman's Agreement with Gregory Peck, None but the Lonely Heart with Cary Grant, Boomerang with Dana Andrews, and Our Very Own. Her film career suffered because of her outspoken opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy, the chief figure in the anti-Communist investigations of that era, and was temporarily derailed for having assisted in hosting a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet during the Second World War, even though it was at the request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wyatt returned to her roots on the New York stage for a time and appeared in such plays as Lillian Hellman's The Autumn Garden, opposite Fredric March.
For many people, Wyatt is best remembered as Margaret Anderson on Father Knows Best, which aired from 1954 to 1960. She played opposite Robert Young as the devoted wife and mother of the Anderson family in the Midwestern town of Springfield. This role won Wyatt three Emmy Awards for best actress in a comedy series. After Father Knows Best, Wyatt guest starred in several other series.
On June 13, 1962, she was cast in the lead in "The Heather Mahoney Story" on NBC's Wagon Train. In 1963, she portrayed Kitty McMullen in "Don't Forget to Say Goodbye" on the ABC drama, Going My Way, with Gene Kelly and Leo G. Carroll, a series about the Catholic priesthood in New York City. In 1965, Wyatt was cast as Anne White in "The Monkey's Paw – A Retelling" on CBS's The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
Wyatt was married to investment broker Edgar Bethune Ward from November 9, 1935, until his death on November 8, 2000, just one day short of the couple's 65th wedding anniversary. The couple reportedly met in the late 1920s when both were weekend houseguests of Franklin D. Roosevelt at Hyde Park, New York. Ward later converted to the Catholic faith of his wife. Wyatt suffered a mild stroke in the 1990s, but recovered well. She remained in relatively good health for the rest of her life
Jane Wyatt died on October 20, 2006 of natural causes at her home in Bel-Air, California, aged 96. She was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, next to her husband.
Known For
Acting
(1997)
Frank Capra's American Dream
as Self
(1993)
The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors
as Narrator (voice)
(1989)
Amityville: The Evil Escapes
as Alice Leacock
(1987)
(1986)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
as Amanda
(1982)
Missing Children: A Mother's Story
as Judge Eloise Walker
(1978)
Superdome
as Fay Bonelli
(1978)
A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story
as Eleanor's Mother
(1978)
The Nativity
as Anna
(1978)
The Millionaire
as Mrs. Mathews
(1977)
The Father Knows Best Reunion
as Margaret Anderson
(1977)
Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas
as Margaret Anderson
(1976)
Treasure of Matecumbe
as Aunt Effie
(1976)
Amelia Earhart
as Amy Earhart
(1975)
Katherine
as Emily Alman
(1973)
You'll Never See Me Again
as Mary Alden
(1973)
Tom Sawyer
as Aunt Polly
(1971)
(1970)
Weekend of Terror
as Sister Frances
(1965)
Never Too Late
as Grace Kimbrough
(1964)
See How They Run
as Augusta Flanders
(1961)
The Two Little Bears
as Anne Davis
(1957)
Interlude
as Pure Stubbins
(1951)
Criminal Lawyer
as Maggie Powell
(1950)
The Man Who Cheated Himself
as Lois Frazer
(1950)
House by the River
as Marjorie Byrne
(1950)
My Blue Heaven
as Janet Pringle
(1950)
Our Very Own
as Lois Macaulay
(1949)
Canadian Pacific
as Dr. Edith Cabot
(1949)
Task Force
as Mary Morgan
(1949)
Bad Boy
as Mrs. Maud Brown
(1948)
Pitfall
as Sue Forbes
(1948)
No Minor Vices
as Miss Darlington
(1947)
Gentleman's Agreement
as Jane
(1947)
Boomerang!
as Madge Harvey
(1946)
Strange Conquest
as Dr. Mary Palmer
(1946)
The Bachelor's Daughters
as Marta Jordan
(1944)
None But the Lonely Heart
as Aggie Hunter
(1943)
Buckskin Frontier
as Vinnie Marr
(1943)
The Kansan
as Eleanor Sager
(1942)
The Navy Comes Through
as Myra Mallory
(1942)
Army Surgeon
as Elizabeth Ainsley
(1941)
Kisses for Breakfast
as Laura Anders
(1941)
Weekend for Three
as Ellen 'Gretch' Craig
(1941)
Hurricane Smith
as Joan Bradley
(1940)
Girl from God's Country
as Anne Webster
(1937)
Lost Horizon
as Sondra Bizet
(1936)
The Luckiest Girl in the World
as Pat Duncan
(1935)
We're Only Human
as Sally Rodgers
(1934)
Great Expectations
as Estella
(1934)
One More River
as Dinny Cherrell