Jessica may refer to:

Given name

Jessica (given name), popular first name for girls in many English-speaking countries (includes a list of people with this name)

Iscah, in the Bible (Genesis 11:27, 29), daughter of Haran

Jessica (entertainer), a member of a K-pop girl group, Girls' Generation

Songs

"Jessica" (instrumental), a song by The Allman Brothers Band

"Jessica" (Dir En Grey song), single by Dir En Grey

"Jessica" (Elliot Minor song), song by English band Elliot Minor

"Jessica", song by Adam Green (musician)

"Jessica", a song by Herbie Hancock originally on the album ''Fat Albert Rotunda''

"Jessica", a song by The Beau Brummels on the album ''Bradley's Barn''

"Jessica", a song by Seals and Crofts on the album ''Diamond Girl''

"Jessica", a song by Avi Buffalo on their self-titled debut album

Other uses

Jessica (genus), Anyphaenid sac spider genus

''Jessica'' (novel), by Bryce Courtenay

''Jessica'' (painting), 1890 painting by Dennis Miller Bunker

''Jessica'' (film), 1962 film starring Angie Dickinson and Maurice Chevalier

''Jessica'' (TV miniseries), based on the novel

''Jessica'' (tanker), oil tanker that spilled 568 tons of oil off the coast of the Galapagos Islands

JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas), an initiative of the European Investment Bank

See also

Jessica's Law, Florida law to punish child predators

Jessicka, a musician

de:Jessica fr:Jessica (homonymie) ko:제시카 it:Jessica nl:Jessica ja:ジェシカ pl:Jessica pt:Jessica

birth name	Angeline Brown
birth date	September 30, 1931
birth place	Kulm, North Dakota, US
occupation	Actress
years active	1954–present
spouse
website	}}

Angie Dickinson (born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including ''Rio Bravo'', ''Ocean's 11'', ''Dressed to Kill'' and ''Pay It Forward'', and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series ''Police Woman''.

Early life

Dickinson, the second of four daughters, was born Angeline Brown (but called "Angie" by family and friends) in Kulm, North Dakota, the daughter of Frederica and Leo H. Brown. Her family is of German descent and she was raised Roman Catholic. Dickinson's father was a small-town newspaper publisher and editor. In 1942, her family moved to Burbank, California, where she attended Bellarmine-Jefferson High School, graduating in 1947 at just 15 years of age. The previous year, she had won the Sixth Annual Bill of Rights essay contest. She studied at Glendale Community College and in 1954 graduated from Immaculate Heart College with a degree in business. Taking a cue from her publisher father, she had intended to be a writer. While a student from 1950–52, she worked as a secretary at Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank (now Bob Hope Airport) and in a parts factory.

Career

1950s

Angie married football player Gene Dickinson in 1952. With Gene's encouragement she entered a beauty pageant in 1953, placing second. The exposure brought her to the attention of a television industry producer who asked her to consider a career in acting. She studied the craft and a few years later was approached by NBC to guest-star on a number of variety shows, including ''The Colgate Comedy Hour''. She soon met Frank Sinatra who became a lifelong friend. She would later play Sinatra's wife in the film ''Ocean's Eleven''.

On New Year's Eve 1954, Dickinson made her television acting debut in an episode of ''Death Valley Days''. This led to other roles in such productions as ''Buffalo Bill Jr.'', ''Matinee Theatre'' (8 episodes), ''City Detective'', ''It's a Great Life'' (2 episodes), ''Gray Ghost'', ''General Electric Theater'', ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'', ''Broken Arrow'', ''Meet McGraw'' (twice), ''Northwest Passage'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''The Virginian'', ''Tombstone Territory'', ''Cheyenne'', and ''The Restless Gun'',

Angie went on to create memorable characters in programs such as ''Perry Mason'', ''Mike Hammer'', ''Wagon Train'', and ''Men Into Space''. In 1957, Dickinson appeared along with Richard Boone in ''Have Gun Will Travel,'' in the first season episode entitled "A Matter of Ethics", and in 1965, she had a recurring role as Carol Tredman on ''Dr. Kildare''. She had a memorable turn as the duplicitous murder conspirator in a 1964 episode of the classic ''The Fugitive'' series with David Janssen and fellow guest star Robert Duvall.

Dickinson's motion picture career began with small roles in ''Lucky Me'' (1954) with Doris Day, ''The Return of Jack Slade'' (1955), ''Man with the Gun'' (1955) and ''Hidden Guns'' (1956). She had her first starring role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) with James Arness, followed by the Sam Fuller cult film ''China Gate'' (1957), which depicted an early view of the Vietnam War.

Rejecting the Marilyn Monroe/Jayne Mansfield style of platinum blonde sex-symbolism because she felt it would narrow her acting options, Dickinson initially allowed studios to lighten her naturally-brunette hair to only honey-blonde. She appeared mainly in B-movies early on, westerns, including ''Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend'' (1957) co-starring with James Garner.

In 1959, Dickinson appeared in Howard Hawks' ''Rio Bravo'', in which she played a flirtatious gambler called "Feathers" who becomes attracted to the town sheriff played by Dickinson's childhood idol John Wayne. The film co-starred Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson and Walter Brennan. When Hawks sold his personal contract with her to a major studio without her knowledge, she was unhappy. Dickinson nonetheless became one of the more prominent leading ladies of the next decade, beginning with ''The Bramble Bush'' with Richard Burton and ''Ocean's Eleven'' with friends Sinatra and Martin, two films released in 1960.

1960s and 1970s

These were followed by the political potboiler ''A Fever in the Blood'' (1961); a Belgian Congo-based melodrama ''The Sins of Rachel Cade'' (1962), in which she played a missionary nurse tempted by lust; and the European travelogue ''Rome Adventure'' (also known as ''Lovers Must Learn'') in 1962; and Jean Negulesco's ''Jessica'' (1962) with Maurice Chevalier, in which she plays a young midwife who is resented by the married women of the town. Angie would also share the screen with friend Gregory Peck in the comedy-drama ''Captain Newman, M.D.''

In ''The Killers'', a film originally intended to be the very first made-for-television movie but released to theatres due to its violent content, Dickinson played a femme fatale opposite future U.S. President Ronald Reagan in his last movie role. This movie was directed by Don Siegel. It was a remake of the 1946 version based on a story by Ernest Hemingway.

Dickinson co-starred in the comedy ''The Art of Love'' (1965), in which she played the love interest of both James Garner and Dick Van Dyke. She appeared in a star-studded Arthur Penn/Sam Spiegel production, ''The Chase'' (1966) along with Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Miriam Hopkins and others.

Dickinson's best movie of this era was arguably John Boorman's cult classic ''Point Blank'' (1967), a lurid crime drama with Lee Marvin as a criminal betrayed by his wife and best friend and out for revenge. Epitomizing the stark urban mood of the period, the film's reputation has grown through the years.

Westerns would continue to be a part of her work in 1969, when she starred in ''Young Billy Young'' with Robert Mitchum, and in ''Sam Whiskey'', where she gave a young Burt Reynolds his first on-screen kiss.

In 1971, she played a lascivious high school teacher in the dark comedy ''Pretty Maids All in a Row'' with Rock Hudson. One of Dickinson's best-known and most sexually provocative movie roles became the tawdry widow Wilma McClatchie from the Great Depression romp ''Big Bad Mama'' (1974) with William Shatner and Tom Skerritt. Although well into her forties at the time, she appeared nude in several scenes, creating interest in the movie and a new generation of male fans for Dickinson.

In 1973, she co-starred with Roy Thinnes in the supernatural thriller ''The Norliss Tapes'', a TV-movie produced and directed by Dan Curtis.

''Police Woman''

Dickinson returned to the small screen in March 1974 to play lead in an episode of the critically acclaimed hit anthology series ''Police Story''. That one guest appearance proved to be so popular that NBC offered Dickinson her own television show which became a ground-breaking weekly police series called ''Police Woman''; it would be the first successful hour-long dramatic television series to feature a woman as the star of the show. At first, Dickinson was reluctant to accept the role, but producers told her she could become a household name, and she accepted the role.

In the series, she played Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson, an officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Criminal Conspiracy Unit. The show became a hit, reaching number one in many countries in which it aired during its first year. It would run for four seasons and Dickinson would win a Golden Globe award, and receive Emmy nominations for three consecutive years.

Co-starring on the show was Earl Holliman as Sergeant Bill Crowley, Andersen's commanding officer, along with Charles Dierkop as investigator Pete Royster and Ed Bernard as investigator Joe Styles.

The series ran from 1974 to 1978. The same year the show ended, Dickinson reprised her Pepper Anderson character on the television special ''Ringo'', co-starring with Ringo Starr and John Ritter. She also parodied the part in the 1975 and 1979 Bob Hope Christmas Specials for NBC. She would do the same years later on the 1987 Christmas episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''.

With Dickinson having proved that a female lead can carry an hour-long television series, this resulted in several female-starring hour-long TV series to follow in ''Police Woman'''s wake, such as ''Charlie's Angels'', ''Wonder Woman'', ''The Bionic Woman'', and ''Cagney and Lacey'' during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1987, the Los Angeles Police Department awarded Dickinson an honorary doctorate, which led her to quip, "Now you can call me Doctor Pepper."

The 1980s

After appearing in the television mini-series 'Pearl' (1978), Dickinson returned to the big screen in Brian De Palma's thriller ''Dressed to Kill'' (1980). The role, a sexually frustrated New York housewife, earned her a 1981 Saturn Award for Best Actress.

She took a less substantial role in 1981's ''Death Hunt'', reuniting her with Lee Marvin, and also appeared in ''Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen''. Earlier that year, she had been the first choice to play the character Krystle Carrington on the television series ''Dynasty'' but, deciding she wanted to spend more time with her daughter, she turned it down; the role instead went to Linda Evans. In the mid-1980s Dickinson declined the role of Sable Colby on the Dynasty spin-off, The Colbys.

After nixing her own Johnny Carson-produced prospective sitcom, ''The Angie Dickinson Show'', in 1980 after only two episodes had been shot because she did not feel she was funny enough, the private-eye series ''Cassie & Co.'' became her unsuccessful attempt at a television comeback. She then starred in several television movies, such as ''One Shoe Makes It Murder'' (1982), ''Jealousy'' (1984), ''A Touch of Scandal'' (1984), and ''Stillwatch'' (1987). She also had a pivotal role in the highly rated mini-series ''Hollywood Wives'' (1985), based on a novel by Jackie Collins.

In motion pictures, Dickinson reprised her role as Wilma for ''Big Bad Mama II'' (1987) and completed the television movie ''Kojak: Fatal Flaw'', in which she was reunited with Telly Savalas. She co-starred with Willie Nelson and numerous buddies in the 1988 television western ''Once Upon a Texas Train''.

1990s and 2000s

In the 1993 ABC miniseries ''Wild Palms'', produced by Oliver Stone, she was the sadistic, militant sister of Senator Tony Kruetzer, played by Robert Loggia. That same year, she starred as a ruthless Montana spa owner in Gus Van Sant's theatrical film ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''.

In 1995, Sydney Pollack cast her as the prospective mother-in-law of Greg Kinnear in the romantic comedy ''Sabrina'' starring Harrison Ford, a remake of the Billy Wilder classic. She also played Burt Reynolds' wife in the thriller ''The Maddening'' and the mother of Rick Aiello and Robert Cicchini in the National Lampoon comedy ''The Don's Analyst''. In 1997, she also seduced old flame Artie (Rip Torn) in an episode of HBO's ''The Larry Sanders Show'' called "Artie and Angie and Hank and Hercules."

During the first decade of the new millennium, Dickinson played an alcoholic, homeless mother to Helen Hunt in ''Pay It Forward'' (2000); the grandmother of Gwyneth Paltrow in the drama ''Duets'' (2000) and the mother of Arliss Howard in ''Big Bad Love'' (2001), co-starring Debra Winger.

Having appeared in the original ''Ocean's Eleven'' (1960) with good friends Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, four decades later she made a brief cameo in the 2001 remake with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

An avid poker player, during the summer of 2004 she participated in the second season of Bravo's ''Celebrity Poker Showdown''. After announcing her name, host Dave Foley said "Sometimes, when we say 'celebrity,' we actually mean it."

Dickinson is a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award.

In 1999, ''Playboy'' ranked Dickinson #42 on their list of the '100 Sexiest Stars of the Century'. And in 2002, TV Guide ranked her #3 on their list of the '50 Sexiest television Stars of All Time', behind Diana Rigg and George Clooney (who tied for #1).

In July 2009, Dickinson starred in a Hallmark Channel film, ''Mending Fences''.

Personal life

She was married to Gene Dickinson, a former football player, from 1952 to 1960.

Dickinson married Burt Bacharach in 1965. They remained a married couple for fifteen years, though late in the marriage they had a period of separation where each dated other people. Following the birth of their daughter in 1966 Dickinson temporarily put her career on hold, although she did appear in the occasional picture such as the western ''The Last Challenge'' (1967) with Glenn Ford and the comedy ''Some Kind of Nut'' (1969).

Their daughter, Lea Nikki, known as Nikki, arrived a year after they were married. Born three months prematurely, Nikki suffered from chronic health problems including visual impairment. She was later diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. Burt penned the song ''Nikki'' for their fragile young daughter. Angie declined many roles in order to focus on caring for her daughter. Nikki's parents eventually placed Nikki at the Wilson Center, a psychiatric residential treatment facility for adolescents located in Faribault, Minnesota. Nikki remained there for nine years. Later, Nikki studied geology at California Lutheran University, but her poor eyesight prevented her from pursuing a career in that field.

On January 4, 2007, Nikki committed suicide in her apartment in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks. She was 40. In a joint statement, Dickinson and Bacharach said: "She quietly and peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages to her brain brought on by Asperger's... She loved kitties, and earthquakes, glacial calving, meteor showers, science, blue skies and sunsets, and Tahiti. She was one of the most beautiful creatures created on this earth, and she is now in the white light, at peace."

Award nominations

Emmy Awards

Nominations in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series :

1975 - ''Police Woman''

1976 - ''Police Woman''

1977 - ''Police Woman''

Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Award wins Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Drama Series :

1975 - ''Police Woman''

BAFTA Awards

Nominations in the category of Best television Actress - Drama :

1976 - ''Police Woman''

1977 - ''Police Woman''

1978 - ''Police Woman''

Filmography

Features:

''Lucky Me'' (1954)

''Tennessee's Partner'' (1955)

''The Return of Jack Slade'' (1955)

''Man with the Gun'' (1955)

''Hidden Guns'' (1956)

''Tension at Table Rock'' (1956)

''Gun the Man Down'' (1956)

''The Black Whip'' (1956)

''Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend'' (1957)

''China Gate'' (1957)

''Calypso Joe'' (1957)

''Run of the Arrow'' (1957) (dubbing voice for Sara Montiel)

''I Married a Woman'' (1958)

''Cry Terror!'' (1958)

''Rio Bravo'' (1959)

''I'll Give My Life'' (1960)

''The Bramble Bush'' (1960)

''Ocean's Eleven'' (1960)

''A Fever in the Blood'' (1961)

''The Sins of Rachel Cade'' (1961)

''Rome Adventure'' (1962)

''Jessica'' (1962)

''Captain Newman, M.D.'' (1963)

''The Killers'' (1964)

''The Art of Love'' (1965)

''The Chase'' (1966)

''Cast a Giant Shadow'' (1966)

''The Poppy Is Also a Flower'' (1966)

''Point Blank'' (1967)

''The Last Challenge'' (1967)

''Sam Whiskey'' (1969)

''Some Kind of a Nut'' (1969)

''Young Billy Young'' (1969)

''The Love War'' (1970) (television)

''Pretty Maids All in a Row'' (1971)

''The Outside Man'' (1972)

''The Norliss Tapes'' (1973)

''Big Bad Mama'' (1974)

''The Angry Man'' (1979)

''Klondike Fever'' (1980)

''Dressed to Kill'' (1980)

''Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen'' (1981)

''Death Hunt'' (1981)

''Terror in the Aisles'' (1984)

''Big Bad Mama II'' (1987)

''Prime Target'' (1989)

''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'' (1993)

''The Maddening'' (1995)

''Sabrina'' (1995)

''The Sun, the Moon and the Stars'' (1996)

''The Last Producer'' (2000)

''Duets'' (2000)

''Pay It Forward'' (2000)

''Big Bad Love'' (2001)

''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001)

''Elvis Has Left the Building'' (2004)

''Madman Muntz: American Maverick'' (2005) (documentary)

''3055 Jean Leon'' (2006) (documentary)

''The Brothers Warner'' (2008) (documentary)

''Mending Fences'' (2009) (television film)

The View from here(2009)

Short subjects:

''Down Liberty Road'' (1956)

''The Rock'' (1967)

References

A View from here(2009)

External links

Category:1931 births Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from North Dakota Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:American people of German descent Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (television) winners Category:Living people Category:People from Burbank, California Category:People from LaMoure County, North Dakota

an:Angie Dickinson ca:Angie Dickinson de:Angie Dickinson es:Angie Dickinson fr:Angie Dickinson it:Angie Dickinson nl:Angie Dickinson ja:アンジー・ディキンソン pl:Angie Dickinson pt:Angie Dickinson ro:Angie Dickinson ru:Дикинсон, Энджи sr:Енџи Дикинсон sh:Angie Dickinson fi:Angie Dickinson sv:Angie Dickinson

name	Agnes Moorehead
birth date	December 06, 1900
birth place	Clinton, Massachusetts, U.S.
years active	1937–74
occupation	Actress
death date	April 30, 1974
death place	Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.
birth name	Agnes Robertson Moorehead
spouse	Jack G. Lee (1930-52)Robert Gist (1954-58) }}

Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with ''Citizen Kane'' and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences for her role as the witch Endora in the series ''Bewitched''.

While rarely playing leads in films, Moorehead's skill at character development and range earned her one Emmy Award and two Golden Globe awards in addition to four Academy Award and six Emmy Award nominations. Moorehead's transition to television won acclaim for drama and comedy. She could play many different types, but often portrayed haughty, arrogant characters.

Early life

Moorehead was born in Clinton, Massachusetts, of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh ancestry, to a Presbyterian clergyman, John Henderson Moorehead, and his wife, the former Mildred McCauley, who had been a singer. Moorehead later shaved six years off her age by claiming to have been born in 1906. Moorehead recalled her first public performance was at the age of three, reciting "The Lord's Prayer" in her father's church. The family moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and Moorehead's ambition to become an actress grew "very strong". Her mother indulged her active imagination often asking, "Who are you today, Agnes?", while Moorehead and her sister would often engage in mimicry, often coming to the dinner table and imitating parishioners. Moorehead noted and was encouraged by her father's amused reactions. She joined the chorus of the St. Louis Municipal Opera Company, known as "The Muny". In addition to her interest in acting, she developed a lifelong interest in religion; in later years actors such as Dick Sargent would recall Moorehead arriving on the set with "the Bible in one hand and the script in the other".

Moorehead graduated from Central High School in St. Louis in 1918. Although her father did not discourage Moorehead's acting ambitions, he insisted that she obtain a formal education. In 1923, Moorehead earned a bachelor's degree, with a major in biology, from Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio, and while there she also appeared in college stage plays. She later received an honorary doctorate in literature from Muskingum, and served for a year on its board of trustees. When her family moved to Reedsburg, Wisconsin, she taught public school for five years in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, while she also earned a master's degree in English and public speaking at the University of Wisconsin (now University of Wisconsin–Madison). She then pursued post-graduate studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which she graduated with honors in 1929. Moorehead received an honorary doctoral degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Career

Moorehead's early career was unsteady, and although she was able to find stage work she was often unemployed and forced to go hungry. She later recalled going four days without food, and said that it had taught her "the value of a dollar." She found work in radio and was soon in demand, often working on several programs in a single day. She believed that it offered her excellent training and allowed her to develop her voice to create a variety of characterizations. Moorehead met the actress Helen Hayes who encouraged her to try to enter films, but her first attempts were met with failure. Rejected as not being "the right type", Moorehead returned to radio.

Mercury Theatre

Moorehead met Orson Welles and by 1937 was a member of his Mercury Theatre Group, along with Joseph Cotten. She appeared in his radio production ''Julius Caesar'', had a regular role in the serial ''The Shadow'' as Margo and was one of the players in his ''The War of the Worlds'' production. In 1939, Welles moved the Mercury Theatre Group to Hollywood, where he started working for RKO Studios. Several of his radio performers joined him, and Moorehead made her film debut as his mother in ''Citizen Kane'' (1941). She also appeared in his films ''Journey into Fear'' (1943), based on a novel by Eric Ambler and ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942), based on a novel by Booth Tarkington. She received a New York Film Critics Award and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the latter film. Moorehead played another strong role in ''The Big Street'' (1942) with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, and then appeared in two films that failed to find an audience, ''Government Girl'' with Olivia de Havilland and ''The Youngest Profession'' with the adolescent Virginia Weidler.

MGM

By the mid 1940s, Moorehead joined MGM, negotiating a $6,000-a-week contract with the provision to perform also on radio, an unusual clause at the time. Moorehead explained that MGM usually refused to allow their actors to play on radio as "the actors didn't have the knowledge or the taste of the judgment to appear on the right sort of show." In 1943-1944, Moorehead portrayed "matronly housekeeper Mrs. Mullet", who was constantly offering her "candied opinion", in Mutual Radio's ''The Adventures of Leonidas Witherall''; she inaugurated the role on CBS Radio.

Moorehead skillfully portrayed puritanical matrons, neurotic spinsters, possessive mothers, and comical secretaries throughout her career. She played Parthy Hawks, wife of Cap'n Andy and mother of Magnolia, in MGM's hit 1951 remake of ''Show Boat''. She was in many important films, including ''Dark Passage'' and ''Since You Went Away'', either playing key small or large supporting parts. Moorehead was in Broadway productions of ''Don Juan in Hell'' in 1951-1952, and ''Lord Pengo'' in 1962-1963.

Radio

During the 1940s and 1950s, Moorehead was one of the most in demand actresses for radio dramas, especially on the CBS show ''Suspense''. During the 946 episodes run of ''Suspense'', Moorehead was cast in more episodes than any other actor or actress. She was often introduced on the show 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, broadcast on May 18, 1943. Moorehead played a selfish, neurotic woman who overhears a murder being plotted via crossed phone wires who eventually realizes she is the intended victim. She recreated the performance six times for ''Suspense'' and several times on other radio shows, always using her original, dog-eared script. In 1952, she recorded an album of the drama, and performed scenes from the story in her one-woman show in the 1950s. (Barbara Stanwyck played the role in the 1948 film version.)

Later film

In the 1950s, Moorehead continued to work in films and to appear on stage across the country, including a national tour of Shaw's ''Don Juan in Hell'', co-starring Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton, and Cedric Hardwicke.

''Sorry, Wrong Number'' also inspired writers of the CBS television series ''The Twilight Zone'' to script an episode with Moorehead in mind. In "The Invaders" (broadcast 27 January 1961) Moorehead played a woman whose isolated farm is plagued by mysterious intruders. In "Sorry, Wrong Number" Moorehead offered a famed, bravura performance using only her voice, and for "The Invaders" she was offered a script where she had no dialogue at all.

Television

In the 1960-1961 season, Moorehead made guest appearances as Aunt Harriet in the short-lived CBS sitcom ''My Sister Eileen'' starring Shirley Bonne and Elaine Stritch as Eileen (an aspiring actress) and Ruth Sherwood, respectively, two single sisters living in New York City. That same season, she appeared in Pat O'Brien's ABC sitcom ''Harrigan and Son''.

In the 1963-1964 season, she appeared in an episode of the ABC series about college life, ''Channing''. In 1967, she portrayed an Indian named Watoma on the ABC military-western series ''Custer'' with Wayne Maunder in the title role.

She appeared as the nosy do-gooder "Miss Bertie" in the show The Rifleman.

Twilight Zone

Moorehead starred in the Twilight Zone episode "The Invaders", which became one of the most famous episodes of the series.

''Bewitched''

In 1964, Moorehead accepted the role of Endora, in the situation comedy ''Bewitched''. She later commented that she had not expected it to succeed and that she ultimately felt trapped by its success. However, she had negotiated to appear in only eight of every twelve episodes made, therefore allowing her sufficient time to pursue other projects. She also felt that the television writing was often below standard and dismissed many of the ''Bewitched'' scripts as "hack" in a 1965 interview. The role brought her a level of recognition that she had not received before as ''Bewitched'' was in the top 10 programs for the first few years it screened.

Moorehead received six Emmy Award nominations, but was quick to remind interviewers that she had enjoyed a long and distinguished career. Despite her ambivalence, she remained with ''Bewitched'' until its run ended in 1972. She commented to the ''New York Times'' in 1974, "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." Later that year she said that she had enjoyed playing the role, but that it was not challenging and the show itself was "not breathtaking" although her flamboyant and colorful character appealed to children. She expressed a fondness for the show's star, Elizabeth Montgomery, and said that she had enjoyed working with her. Co-star Dick Sargent, who in 1969 replaced the ill Dick York as Samantha's husband, Darrin Stephens, had a more difficult relationship with Moorehead, and described her as "a tough old bird...very self-involved."

Later years

In 1970, Moorehead appeared as a dying woman who haunts her own house in the early ''Night Gallery'' episode "Certain Shadows on the Wall."

In January 1974, Moorehead performed in two episodes (including the very first) of ''CBS Radio Mystery Theater'', the popular series produced by old-time radio master Himan Brown.

Private life

Moorehead married actor John Griffith Lee in 1930, and they divorced in 1952. Moorehead and Lee adopted an orphan named Sean in 1949, but it remains unclear whether the adoption was legal, although Moorehead did raise the child until he ran away from home. In 1954, she married actor Robert Gist, and they divorced in 1958. In the years since her death, rumors about Moorehead's being a lesbian have been widespread, most notoriously in the book ''Hollywood Lesbians'' by Boze Hadleigh, whose source for the allegation was Paul Lynde. However, Moorehead biographer Charles Tranberg (''I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead'', 2005) interviewed several of the actress's closest friends, including some who are openly gay, who all stated the rumor is untrue. Debbie Reynolds denied to film historian Robert Osborne that her "best friend" Moorehead was gay.

Moorehead was a devout Presbyterian (Reynolds described her as "terribly religious") and, in interviews, often spoke of her relationship with God. Erin Murphy stated that the actress would read Bible stories to the children affiliated with ''Bewitched''. In one of her last films, ''What's the Matter with Helen?'' (1971, costarring Reynolds), she played an evangelist. Shortly before her death, Moorehead, who embraced her Reformed Calvinist roots, sought conservative causes to benefit after her death through her estate.

Death

Moorehead died of at the age of seventy-three in Rochester, Minnesota. Her mother, Mary M. Moorehead (August 25, 1883 – June 8, 1990) survived her by 16 years, dying at the age of 106 in 1990.

Moorehead appeared in the 1956 movie ''The Conqueror'', which was shot downwind from a nuclear test site and was one of over 90 cast and crew members who, over their lifetimes, developed cancer (out of the 220 who worked on the picture). Although much has been made of this, researchers and science writers have debunked the myth that Moorehead and the others died as a result of their exposure. Dr. Lynn Anspaugh, Research Professor of Radiology at the University of Utah, calculated that the crew received no more than 1 to 4 millirems of radiation, which was less than normal background levels.

Moorehead is entombed at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton, Ohio.

Moorehead bequeathed her 1967 Emmy Award statue for ''The Wild Wild West'', her private papers, and her home in Rix Mills, Ohio, to her ''alma mater'' Muskingum College. She left her family's Ohio estate and farmlands, Moorehead Manor, to Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, as well as some biblical studies books from her personal library. Her will stipulated that BJU should use the farm for retreats and special meetings "with a Christian emphasis", but the distance of the estate from the South Carolina campus rendered it mostly useless. In May 1976, BJU traded the Moorehead farmlands with an Ohio college for $25,000 and a collection of her library books. Moorehead also left her professional papers, scripts, Christmas cards and scrapbooks to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research at the Wisconsin Historical Society.

In 1994, Moorehead was posthumously inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Filmography

Features:

''Citizen Kane'' (1941)

''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942)

''The Big Street'' (1942)

''Journey into Fear'' (1943)

''The Youngest Profession'' (1943)

''Government Girl'' (1943)

''Jane Eyre'' (1944)

''Since You Went Away'' (1944)

''Dragon Seed'' (1944)

''The Seventh Cross'' (1944)

''Mrs. Parkington'' (1944)

''Tomorrow, the World!'' (1944)

''Keep Your Powder Dry'' (1945)

''Her Highness and the Bellboy'' (1945)

''Our Vines Have Tender Grapes'' (1945)

''Dark Passage'' (1947)

''The Lost Moment'' (1947)

''Summer Holiday'' (1948)

''The Woman in White'' (1948)

''Station West'' (1948)

''Johnny Belinda'' (1948)

''The Stratton Story'' (1949)

''The Great Sinner'' (1949)

''Without Honor'' (1949)

''Black Jack'' (1950)

''Caged'' (1950)

''Fourteen Hours'' (1951)

''Adventures of Captain Fabian'' (1951)

''Show Boat'' (1951)

''The Blue Veil'' (1951)

''The Blazing Forest'' (1952)

''The Story of Three Loves'' (1953)

''Scandal at Scourie'' (1953)

''Main Street to Broadway'' (1953)

''Those Redheads from Seattle'' (1953)

''Magnificent Obsession'' (1954)

''Untamed'' (1955)

''The Left Hand of God'' (1955)

''All That Heaven Allows'' (1955)

''The Conqueror'' (1956)

''Meet Me in Las Vegas'' (1956)

''The Swan'' (1956)

''The Revolt of Mamie Stover'' (1956)

''Pardners'' (1956)

''The Opposite Sex'' (1956)

''The True Story of Jesse James'' (1957)

''Jeanne Eagels'' (1957)

''Raintree County'' (1957)

''The Story of Mankind'' (1957)

''Tempest'' (1958)

''Night of the Quarter Moon'' (1959)

''The Bat'' (1959)

''Pollyanna'' (1960)

''Twenty Plus Two'' (1961)

''Bachelor in Paradise'' (1961)

''Jessica'' (1962)

''How the West Was Won'' (1962)

''Who's Minding the Store?'' (1963)

''Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte'' (1964)

''The Singing Nun'' (1966)

''What's the Matter with Helen?'' (1971)

''Dear Dead Delilah'' (1972)

''Charlotte's Web'' (1973) (voice)

''Frankenstein: The True Story'' (1973)

Short Subjects:

''Operation Raintree'' (1957)

''Screen Snapshots: Salute to Hollywood'' (1958)

References

Further reading

Lynn Kear, ''Agnes Moorehead: a Bio-Bibliography''. (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1992). ISBN 0-313-28155-6

Warren Sherk, ''Agnes Moorehead: A Very Private Person''. (Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1976). ISBN 0-8059-2317-9

Charles Tranberg, ''I Love the Illusion: The Life And Career of Agnes Moorehead'' (Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2005) ISBN 1-59393-029-1

Quint Benedetti, ''(My Travels with) Agnes Moorehead-The Lavender Lady'' (Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2010). ISBN 978-1-4500-3408-1

External links

Find a Grave

Wisconsin Historical Society">Guide to over 100,000 Moorehead documents spanning 1923-1974 at the Wisconsin Historical Society

Interview with biographer Charles Tranberg from Harpies Bizarre

Listen to - Suspense 1951-02-15 Agnes Moorehead - The Death Parade with new introduction.

Category:American film actors Category:American Presbyterians Category:American radio actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:Cancer deaths in Minnesota Category:Deaths from uterine cancer Category:Muskingum University alumni Category:People from Muskingum County, Ohio Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:People from the Greater Los Angeles Area Category:People from Sauk County, Wisconsin Category:People from Worcester County, Massachusetts Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Category:1900 births Category:1974 deaths

ca:Agnes Moorehead de:Agnes Moorehead es:Agnes Moorehead fa:اگنس مورهد fr:Agnes Moorehead id:Agnes Moorehead it:Agnes Moorehead nl:Agnes Moorehead ja:アグネス・ムーアヘッド pl:Agnes Moorehead pt:Agnes Moorehead ro:Agnes Moorehead ru:Мурхед, Агнес sr:Агнес Мурхед sh:Agnes Moorehead fi:Agnes Moorehead sv:Agnes Moorehead tl:Agnes Moorehead

name	Sylva Koscina
birthname	Sylva Koskinon
birth date	August 22, 1933
birth place	Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Zagreb, Republic of Croatia)
death date	December 26, 1994
death place	Rome, Italy
occupation	Actress, model
years active	1955-1994
spouse	Raimondo Castelli (1967-1971) (divorced)
domesticpartner	Raimondo Castelli (1960-1967)}}

Sylva Koscina (born August 22, 1933, Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia — died December 26, 1994, Rome, Italy) was an Italian actress.

Biography

Born in Zagreb as Sylva Koskinon of Greek and Polish descent, she may be best-remembered for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules (Steve Reeves) in ''Hercules'' (1958) and ''Hercules Unchained'' (1960). She also played Paul Newman's romantic interest in ''The Secret War of Harry Frigg'' (1968).

During the Second World War when she was a teenager, she moved to Italy to live with her sister, who had married an Italian citizen.

Koscina had an extensive film career there. She also starred in the 1967 comedy caper ''Three Bites of the Apple'' with David McCallum, and ''Deadlier Than the Male'' (1967), in which she and Elke Sommer portrayed sophisticated professional killers dueling with Bulldog Drummond. She also played Danica in the Yugoslavian movie ''The Battle of Neretva'', in 1969. She played a German doctor, Bianca, in ''The Hornets' Nest'' with Rock Hudson.

Koscina had studied physics at the University of Naples, was Miss Di Tappa at the Tour of Italy bicycle race in 1954, as well as being a fashion model. She made a fleeting appearance in the part of an aspiring actress in ''Siamo uomini o caporali?'' [Are we men or corporals?] (1955) before making a flying catch at her great opportunity: she portrayed Giulia, daughter of the train engineer Andrea, in Pietro Germi's ''Il ferroviere'' [The Railroad Man] (1956). Koscina immediately confirmed her talent in ''Guendalina'' (1957), where she had no difficulty playing the part of a young mother.

A lead player in popular comedies, such as ''Nonna Sabella'' [Grandmother Sabella] (1957), ''Ladro lui, ladra lei'' [He a thief, she a thief] (1958), and ''Poveri millionari'' [Poor millionaires] (1958), Koscina alternated cleverly between roles as vamp and ingenue. She represented women in search of social upward mobility, the image of an Italy that had left its worst problems behind.

Koscina was suited to sophisticated comedies like ''Mogli pericolose'' [Dangerous wives] (1958), where she made a direct sentimental challenge to poor Giorgia Moll. But she also seemed at ease draped in a peplum: she made a marvelous fiancee for Hercules in ''Le fatiche di Ercole'' [Hercules] (1958), a prototype of this kind of film. A true-life example of her popularity in Italy occurred when, in order to win her over, a police officer named Alberto Sordi let her go without issuing a traffic ticket. Sylva was later a guest on a television program, where thanked him on the air, thus getting him into lots of trouble with the police department. The incident and its aftermath inspired the movie ''Il vigile'' [The policeman] (1960), where she played herself.

In the first half of the sixties, Koscina married her lover, Raimondo Castelli, a small producer connected with Minerva Films. She managed to keep well afloat with roles in Damiano Damiani's ''Il sicario'' [The hired killer] (1961). In ''La lepre e la tartaruga'' [The Tortoise and the Hare], an episode in ''Le quattro verita'' [The Three Fables of Love] (1963), the director Blasetti constructed a duel between Koscina and Monica Vitti. In 1965, Koscina appeared in ''Giulietta degli spiriti''. She was also a television personality, as she was often the special guest on variety shows.

From the early 1960s, she invested most of her considerable salaries as a star in a luxurious villa, in the well-to-do district of Marino, Rome, complete with 16th-century furniture and artistic paintings. That lasted until her spending overcame her dwindling income, and she had to face a tax evasion inquest, when she was forced to sell her house in 1976. Living with Raimondo Castelli since 1960 the couple did not marry due to then Italian law and because his wife Marinella refused him an annulment. Castelli and Koscina married in Mexico in 1967, but that marriage was not recognized in Italy.

After passing thirty, she partnered with actors such as Kirk Douglas in ''A Lovely Way to Die'' (1968) and Paul Newman in ''The Secret War of Harry Frigg'' (1967), but without any luck. Her fame being a bit tarnished, it was given a boost in the second half of the sixties when she photographed bare-breasted in the Italian edition of Playboy magazine. Mauro Bolognini's L'assolute naturale (1969) was released complete with a "chaste" full nude shot.

Personal Quotes

On her infamous love scene - "Of course, if it had not been for the director, I wouldn't have done this film."

Death

Sylva Koscina died in Rome in 1994, aged 61, from breast cancer.

Selected filmography

''Swordsman of Siena'' (1962)

''Hot Enough for June'' (1964)

''Deadlier Than the Male'' (1967)

''Kampf um Rom I'' (1968)

''Kampf um Rom II'' (1969)

References

External links

Category:1933 births Category:1994 deaths Category:People from Zagreb Category:Deaths from breast cancer Category:Italian people of Greek descent Category:Italian people of Polish descent Category:Italian film actors Category:People from Rome (city) Category:Cancer deaths in Italy

de:Sylva Koscina el:Σύλβα Κοσκινά es:Sylva Koscina fr:Sylva Koscina hr:Silva Košćina it:Sylva Koscina ja:シルヴァ・コシナ pt:Sylva Koscina ro:Sylva Koscina ru:Кошчина, Силва sr:Силва Кошћина fi:Sylva Koscina