Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead was a radio, film, and television star that won Golden Globes and Emmy awards for her work. She was best known as Samantha’s mother on the hit television show Bewitched. But that’s only a small part of what she contributed to entertainment during her lifetime.

She was born in 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts but she actually claimed to have been born in 1906 in order to appear younger for her business. Her father was a minister and his influence remained apparent throughout her life. While she opted to go into show business, she never left her religious values behind.

At an early age she loved to sing and act. While it was her first love, her parents insisted that she earn a college degree. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Muskingum College and became a teacher in public school. At the same time she went on to earn a Master’s Degree in English. She also sought post-graduate studies in fine arts, which eventually led her down the path of acting.

She found some stage parts in her early days, but her big break really came in radio. During the 1940s and 1950s, Moorehead was one of the most in demand actresses for radio drama most notably on Suspense who introduced her as the first lady of Suspense. Moorehead's most successful appearance on Suspense was in the legendary play Sorry, Wrong Number written by Lucille Fletcher and broadcast for the first tiem on May 18, 1943. Moorehead plays Mrs Stevenson an invalid bedridden woman who overhears a murder being plotted via crossed phone wires and tries to report it over the phone to the police. Her attempts are futile and tragic when too late she realizes that it is her own murder that is being plotted.

She recreated the performance six times for Suspense and several times on other radio shows, always using her original, by now well worn script. Also written by Lucile Fletcher is another famous Suspense episode starring Agnes Moorehead called The Diary of Sophronia Winters.

She worked on small parts, but she began to earn a reputation as a solid, professional actress and would sometimes have several radio jobs in the same day. Other radio shows which she appeared in include Mayor of the Town, Cavalcade of America, Inner Sanctum and Witch's Tale. Eventually she met Orson Welles and joined the Mercury Theatre Group. She had roles in many famous radio plays including War of the Worlds and also worked on Campbell Playhouse with Orson Welles.

Agnes moves with the Mercury Theatre Group to Hollywood from New York. Her first movie role was in the incomparable Citizen Kane playing the mother of Orson Welles. She later starred in the Magnificent Ambersons and The Big Street earning critical acclaim.

She signed a contract with MGM and continued playing movie roles. Agnes also continued her work in radio, which was unusual because most signed actors were forbidden from doing radio work but she had a provision in her contract to allow her to do it.

In 1964 she was cast in the role of Endora on Bewitched. This role was probably her most famous, but she often tried to remind people of the long career she had in radio and film previous to the TV show.

Moorehead passed away from uterine cancer in 1974. She left many of her belongings to the various educational institutions she attended. Though she is no longer living, her work can still be enjoyed by many on DVD and of course on radio recordings through RUSC.

Happy listening my friends,