The Films of Agnes Moorehead

Axel Nissen

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Year: 2013
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780810891371
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Before she achieved immortality on the long-running situation comedy Bewitched, Agnes Moorehead had established a distinguished career as a character actress. After her screen debut in Citizen Kane (1941), Moorehead became one of the most familiar female faces on the silver screen. For moviegoers of the 1940s and '50s, she was the quintessential character actress, earning four Academy Award nominations during a career that saw her gain the respect of her peers in all four major entertainment media: radio, film, theater, and television.

In The Films of Agnes Moorehead, Axel Nissen looks at the actress's sixty-three feature films between 1941 and 1973. Each film is profiled here, with particular emphasis placed on the films that merit closer attention: Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Mrs. Parkington, Dark Passage, All That Heaven Allows, The Left Hand of God, The Swan, Tempest, The Bat, and Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Arranged in chronological order, the discussion of these films highlights Moorehead's contribution to each feature. In addition to analyzing her performances, the author discusses the development of Moorehead's career as a whole, along with her relationship with various studios, directors, producers, and fellow actors.

Based on extensive interviews with the actress's surviving friends and co-workers, as well as detailed archival research into primary sources, this book brings to light new information not just about Moorehead's work in film, but on her life and career in general. Though this book will certainly appeal to movie buffs, The Films of Agnes Moorehead will also be of interest to students and scholars of classic Hollywood films, including those interested in women and film, gender studies, and film history.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Citizen Kane
• The Magnificent Ambersons
• The Big Street
• Journey into Fear
• The Youngest Profession
• Government Girl
• Jane Eyre
• Since You Went Away
• Dragon Seed
• The Seventh Cross
• Mrs. Parkington
• Tomorrow, the World!
• Keep Your Powder Dry
• Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
• Her Highness and the Bellboy
• Dark Passage
• The Lost Moment
• Summer Holiday
• The Woman in White
• Station West
• Johnny Belinda
• The Stratton Story
• The Great Sinner
• Without Honor
• Black Jack
• Caged
• Fourteen Hours
• Adventures of Captain Fabian
• Show Boat
• The Blue Veil
• The Blazing Forest
• The Story of Three Loves
• Scandal at Scourie
• Main Street to Broadway
• Those Redheads from Seattle
• Magnificent Obsession
• Untamed
• All That Heaven Allows
• The Left Hand of God
• The Conqueror
• Meet Me in Las Vegas
• The Swan
• The Revolt of Mamie Stover
• Pardners
• The Opposite Sex
• The True Story of Jesse James
• Jeanne Eagels
• Raintree County
• The Story of Mankind
• Tempest
• Night of the Quarter Moon
• The Bat
• Pollyanna
• Twenty Plus Two
• Bachelor in Paradise
• Jessica
• How the West Was Won
• Who’s Minding the Store?
• Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte
• The Singing Nun
• What’s the Matter with Helen?
• Dear Dead Delilah
• Charlotte’s Web
• Bibliography
• About the Author