Agnes Moorehead | Hollywood Yesterday

BOTD in 1900, the Extraordinary Agnes Moorehead…

December 6, 2022 By Joi

James Stewart, Agnes Moorehead, and June Allyson in The Stratton Story

The extraordinary Agnes Moorehead was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts. In some ways, it’s almost unfortunate that she’s most remembered for her role as Endora on Bewitched. I say “almost” because she created one of the most colorful and entertaining characters ever portrayed on television and gave one outstanding performance after another. I say “unfortunate,” because, in her own words, she didn’t want to be remembered as a witch.

“I’ve been in movies and played theater from coast to coast, so I was quite well-known before ‘Bewitched’ and I don’t particularly want to be identified as a witch.” ~ Agnes Moorehead

Can’t blame her.

Agnes Moorehead’s filmography is filled with wonderful films. In fact, four of her films have been honored in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), All That Heaven Allows (1955) and How the West Was Won (1962). in each of these, as in each of EVERY film or appearace, she gave an excellent performance. My personal favorite of her performances is one I don’t see often mentioned: Ma Stratton in The Stratton Story (1949, directed by Sam Wood).

She gives such a completely believable, beautiful performance in a role that many actresses would have over-sold. She allowed the script to tell the story, gave her co-stars all the space they needed and never once tried to upstage one of them or the script, itself. She played the role of a woman who had had to be strong all her life, and when tragedy comes to her family, she remains so TRUE to character it’s mesmerizing. She had always been the strong one for her son and she handles his horrible accident in the same manner.

Agnes Moorehead was an extraordinary actress but seems to have been an even more extraordinary person. Known for being a very Spiritual person, she would often show up to work with a script in one hand and a Bible in the other.

I LOVE that so much!

Happy Heavenly birthday to one of the truly great ones.

You can buy The Stratton Story on dvd (Amazon link) or watch the wonderul movie on Prime Video.

Beautiful Photo of the Beautiful Agnes Moorehead…

February 3, 2022 By Joi

Agnes Moorehead

The wonderful Agnes Moorehead was mesmerizing on the big screen, the small screen, AND classic radio. She was just SO gifted and SO talented. It’s frustrating that so many only know her from Bewitched. While the series was and is outrageously fun and she was PERFECT in the role of Endora, she had a phenomenal film career before the series.

This gorgeous photo is a publicity photo for one of these films, Summer Holiday (1948, directed by Rouben Mamoulian). You can find Summer Holiday on dvd (Amazon link).

My word, what a gorgeous photo!

Agnes Moorehead and Joseph Cotten behind the scenes of Citizen Kane

October 24, 2021 By Joi

Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten, and Eddie Donahoe

I love the picture of Agnes Moorehead, Joseph Cotten, and Eddie Donahoe above. The photo was taken behind the scenes of the wonderful and iconic 1941 film Citizen Kane (directed by Orson Welles). I love the happy, radiant beauty of Agnes Moorehead the mischievous expression of the always entertaining Joseph Cotten.

Kind of looks like he’s up to something!

You can find the Citizen Kane: 75th Anniversary dvd (Amazon link) online. I’m honestly surprised it isn’t available on Prime Video. If it ever becomes available, I’ll come add the link to the post!

Setting the Halloween Mood with Bewitched!

October 9, 2020 By Joi

Elizabeth Montgomery, Erin Murphy, and Agnes Moorehead

I will never NOT love the series Bewitched and everyone involved. It had a one in a billion cast – one that is somehow just now getting recognized for its insane talent level.

You can watch the hilarious series on Amazon Prime or do what I plan to do… buy the entire series on dvd (Amazon link)!

Agnes Moorehead: Born on This Date in 1900

December 6, 2019 By Joi

Beautiful, versatile, and talented Agnes Moorehead was born on December 6, 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts. From Citizen Kane in 1941 to a made for television movie, Rex Harrison Presents Stories of Love, in 1974 the classy (in every sense of the word) actress created a wonderful filmography.

A few of my own personal favorite Agnes Moorehead films and television shows include:

(Links go to the movies’ dvds on Amazon)

Citizen Kane
The Magnificent Ambersons
Jane Eyre
Dark Passage
Show Boat
The Bat
The Stratton Story
Bewitched
The True Story of Jesse James
Charlotte’s Web (she made a perfect goose!)

I am working on watching her entire filmography and will (undoubtedly) come back here to edit the list as I am CERTAIN there will be more to add. My favorite Agnes Moorehead roles are Endora (Bewitched), Cornelia van Gorder (The Bat) and “Ma Stratton” in The Stratton Story. Unusual selections, I’m sure, given her wonderful body of work – but I have a few reasons for each choice.

(Continued Below….)

Endora (Bewitched)

Wonderful, larger than life dramas (on the big screen) were this lady’s specialty. She commanded dramatic scenes like she was born to do so. Yet… when the opportunity came along to portray a witch, of all things, in a television sitcom, she didn’t just NAIL COMEDY, she created a character that is a household name even today, all these years later.

While there are many sitcom characters, from the sixties and seventies and even earlier who are, also, household names, they are almost always main characters – as in the ones always front and center who, supposedly, carry the show.

Agnes Moorehead made such a huge impact that it’s felt today.

If you stop and think of other dramatic film actresses and imagine them in the role of Endora, you will quickly realize just how “impossible” this feat was. And yet…. she did it with style, pizzazz, and ever so much showmanship!

So, yes, even though her film roles are memorable, to say the least, her role as Endora will forever be one of my favorite Agnes Moorehead roles.

Ma Stratton (The Stratton Story)

Another favorite performance is her subtle, beautiful performance as James Stewart’s character’s mother in The Stratton Story. While her screen time in this film isn’t as much as some of her other wonderful roles, what time she is on the screen, she is mesmerizing. Her character is a woman who life has not been particularly kind to. From her demeanor, her surroundings, and the fact that she is the only parent left, you know that this is a woman who is uncommonly strong – not necessarily because she wants to be but she has had to be.

There is a quiet strength to her throughout the film that is palpable. Without giving anything away to those who have not seen this film, I’ll just say that several VERY emotional things happen to her son Monty (played by James Stewart). At no point does she take her reactions further than a woman of her character’s strength would allow. She also never tries to steal the

spotlight from her co-stars Stewart and June Allyson.

She stays within her character’s persona and it is absolutely breathtaking to watch because, due to the nature of the emotions (some positive, some negative), it would have been easy to play the scenes large. However, this would have been very unlike her character and, being the wonderful actress she was, she reigned it in.

Cornelia (The Bat)

If you watch a lot of Old Hollywood films, you realize that only a select few actresses were given the honor of carrying a film – of being front and center, so to speak. With The Bat, Agnes was given the chance to do this very thing and she was phenomenal.

The film is pretty “out there” but she never comes across as campy and never treats the role or film with anything but the utmost respect.

I think it’s a very entertaining film (co-starring the incomparable Vincent Price) and one of the reasons is the beautiful actress, herself.

The Old-Time Radio Book: Fans of Old Radio Shows Will LOVE this Book

March 3, 2019 By Joi

The Old-Time Radio Book

My fanaticism for the Golden Age of Hollywood, Classic TV, and Silent Movies is legendary. I have, over the past few years, become just as infatuated with and devoted to Old Radio shows. I barely remember hearing radio shows as a child. I mostly remember an old Christmas radio show they aired each Christmas that was one of our most cherished traditions.

Before I Love Lucy, Audrey Hepburn, and Fred & Ginger shook the world, families gathered around their radios each night to be entertained. Just the thought of a family excitedly gathering around a radio brings a smile to my face! Sometimes I think “progress” isn’t much of a “progress” after all, but that’s another hill to climb on another day.

Wonderful radio programs, comedies, westerns, dramas, and soap operas delighted people of all ages for years. Then they disappeared forever… or so we thought. With the internet, podcasts, YouTube, and a WONDERFUL Sirius station devoted entirely to these engaging shows, old time radio is here with us today to give us just as much happiness and entertainment as ever.

You can, literally, access your favorite old radio show(s) as easily as you can watch a favorite old movie. And, boy, do I ever!

My personal favorite old radio shows are:

Nero Wolfe/New Adventures of Nero Wolfe (Sydney Greenstreet)
Candy Matson
I Love Lucy (Lucille Ball)
The Six Shooter (James Stewart)
The Sharp Shooter
Gunsmoke (William Conrad)
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Cisco Kid
Fort Laramie (Raymond Burr)
Hopalong Cassidy
Have Gun Will Travel (John Dehner)
Hercule Poirot
The Lone Ranger
Richard Diamond (Dick Powell)
Abbott & Costello
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
Dragnet
Whistler
The Saint (Vincent Price on some of these)
Bob Hope
Sherlock Holmes
Casey Crime Photographer
Laurel & Hardy
Philip Marlowe
Boston Blackie

Quite a list, huh? I told you I was a fanatic! The crazy thing is, there are still A LOT of radio shows I want to explore but haven’t had the chance yet…. okay, maybe I’ve had the chance, I just can’t pull myself away from my favorites. The truth always comes out, doesn’t it?

When I do check out the others that have caught my eye, I’m sure I’ll have to come back and add to this list.

Just as I collect books, photos, and memorabilia from Old Hollywood and Classic TV, I collect anything related to Old Radio. The Old-Time Radio Book is the newest addition to my cherished collections.

I found this wonderful book from a used book seller (Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit) on Amazon. When I order used books, I always use Amazon. There are also A LOT on eBay – I’m just an Amazon addict, truth be told. When you order used books on Amazon, be sure to select “Like New” or “Very Good” as the conditions you’re interested in.

I order a lot of my Old Hollywood (especially Old Radio) books “used” on Amazon and have never been disappointed.

I really love The Old-Time Radio Book – it’s even better than I expected. It’s in wonderful condition (even better than described online) and it has so much more inside than I expected.

Don’t you just love when you get more than you bargained for?!

I had no idea, for example, there’d be so many wonderful photos. The fact that some of my absolute favorites showed up on these pages made it even sweeter. Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead (check out the gorgeous picture of Agnes below!), Jane Wyman, Lana Turner, Susan Hayward, Ginger Rodgers… I gasped each time I found a new favorite on the pages – some of these pictures I’d never seen before.

Speaking of Agnes Moorehead for a moment, she was an absolutely phenomenal actress – on radio, in movies, and on tv (you may know her best as Endora). When you hear her on Old Radio, you will be blown away by her angelic voice. NOT AT ALL ENDORA-LIKE!

When I first heard her on an old radio show, I had no idea who the actress was. All I knew was that I could listen to her beautiful voice for hours. I couldn’t wait for the end of the program to hear the announcer say her name. When he said, “Agnes Moorehead,” my jaw dropped right into my strawberry sundae (another addiction). Beautiful face, beautiful voice, beautiful person.

No wonder I’m such a huge fan of her’s. She had it all and then some.

The big, beautiful photo of Susan Hayward (below) is another one I had never seen. In fact, there are a lot of pictures in this book I’m sure most people have never seen before. I’m not sure all of them have even been published before.

If you are a fan of Old Radio, this is a book you will love as much as I do. If you’re a fan of Old Hollywood, you will love seeing the pictures of the stars you are familiar with. In fact, if you’re an Old Hollywood fan, you may be lured into Old Radio when you see the names associated with the shows (many are listed in my list of favorites above).

Many of the greatest stars in Hollywood were the greatest stars on radio. Check them out – they will not let you down!

Books for Fans of Old Radio:

The Old-Time Radio Book

The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (one of the ones on my list to buy)

The Top 100 Classic Radio Shows

You can find many more on Amazon as well as eBay.

Websites for Fans of Old Radio:

Radio Spirits

Old Radio Programs

Old Radio World

The Bat Lobby Card: Vincent Price, Agnes Moorhead, and Lenita Lane

October 30, 2018 By Joi

The Bat Lobby Card

The Bat (1959) is a fun movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Is it a “scary” film? Not by any stretch of the imagination (unless you’re 3-1/2), but it is a hoot.

The film stars Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Lenita Lane (excellent with Agnes Moorehead), Gavin Gordon, Darla Hood (yes, that Darla.. you will recognize her IMMEDIATELY as Alfalfa’s buddy), and the ridiculously beautiful Elaine Edwards.

Check this one out when you get a chance. The best things about it are Vincent Price (always worth the Price of admission), the camaraderie between Moorehead and Lane, and the sight of Darla’s sweet little face on a beautifully filled out female figure!

Surprisingly, you can find The Bat on DVD on Amazon. I say “surprisingly” because there have been a lot of great “off the beaten track” old movies I can’t find on dvd. I plan to take advantage of this one being available and adding it to my Vincent Price collection!