I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (31 page)

While Astor lauded Agnes as a director, she didn’t care for the lack of
comfort on the road. “Playing every night and hopping by some intercity,
single-engine carrier in all kinds of weather, waiting around chilly airports
where even a coffee shop hasn’t opened as yet, not eating properly — it all
took its toll on our small company. I have toured in station wagons and
buses and played one-night stands with a Pullman car waiting on a side
track with at least food and a decent berth. But never anything like this.”

Apparently the toll got to be too much for Astor, as well as what she
considered Montalban’s overacting and overbearing nature, and she gave
her notice. In Minneapolis on Leamington hotel stationary she wrote
despondently to Agnes:

Dear Aggie,
You probably have heard that I have given my notice. To avoid discussion
of something (the producer) couldn’t comprehend I told him that I had an
offer that I could not reasonably refuse.
I see no reason to explain to anyone but you; because of the time and
effort you put into this production and because of the fact that when it left
your hands it was something very fine.
The truth is that I am depressed and sick at heart of what has happened
to Ricardo’s performance. Whether it is ignorance, bullheadedness or star-itis
or all three — I cannot know . . . The tour itself is a bit more fatiguing than
normal. My own personal complaints such as dreadful lighting — stuffing
my gown into a cardboard packing case with tuxedos and shoes, etc. could
be rectified by doing a little screaming. Or born cheerfully because of the
thrilling privilege of playing in a great show.
Everyone has done his bit in trying to get through to Ricky (Montalban).
Kurt has the most influence, and occasionally, part of his performance is
back in line. But the next night it is all forgotten. I gave up trying after asking
him if he could — please — during my ‘compact pantomine’ not make any
gestures, and give me approximately the same tempo. It was ignored. I have
to start later in the speech or add more details or do it in slow motion . . . I did
stop him from pointing at me with his thumb. However, the overall picture
is much more serious . . . Juan is now a lightweight; nasty, argumentative,
obviously loathing everyone including the audience — spitting anger at the
Devil . . . Technically there is none of the carefully constructed form you so
painstakingly gave him. He hits the highs of the great speech many times
before it. Sometimes it gets applause — after a bad moment!
Now that he is completely sure of himself, he underscores and italicizes every
phrase and draws pictures not only of ‘houses’ but of the surrounding countryside! I can try to find reasons but it doesn’t solve anything. I believe that Kurt’s
skill, bewildered him — and his reviews added fuel — he is trying to keep his
‘superiority’ by fighting back with quantity: more voice, more emphasis, more
movement and more gesture — which is futility of course.
The three of us are well ‘jelled’ although Kurt is forced to some dog
fighting. But we sit, miserably on our stools, just waiting for it to end. I
waited to decide what to do till I was well rested in the two day stopover in
Appleton. I thought perhaps a session of rehearsals with you might save it
— but I am convinced it would not — it would be all right as long as you
were around but I know he would get unglued after one good notice —
Carnegie Hall?!!
I am sorry that I can’t stick it out. I believe I am doing the right thing
by leaving, and am not condoning bad theatre. The financial side is as bad
for me as the others. I know that for practical reasons one has to put up
with the mediocre but I have been in this business too long to know the
amateur . . .
Love,
Mary

Agnes, however, stuck by Montalban. In the 70’s when she toured with
another production of
Don Juan in Hell
it was with Montalban again cast
as Don Juan. She later called Astor “illiterate” regarding literature.

III

By the mid-1950’s radio drama programs were fading. The competition
was television. Some programs, such as
The Jack Benny Program
and
Gunsmoke,
were broadcast both on radio and television at the same
time. Eventually both, and others like it, went exclusively to television —
following the consumers and the sponsors. Agnes, one of the great radio
actresses of all-time, and an authentic star of that medium, followed suit.
During the 50’s Agnes, who at one time was appearing on six radio shows
daily and a regular on three weekly shows, was down to making one or two
appearances on the radio show which still considered her their “first lady,”
Suspense.
During the 1950’s Agnes would make 18 appearances on
Suspense.
On two of those occasions, in 1952 and 1957, she would repeat “Sorry,
Wrong Number.” These 18 appearances on
Suspense
would represent the
bulk of her radio work during this decade — and would come to a virtual
stop in the early 1960’s.

But
Suspense
allowed her starring roles in showy parts that motion
pictures and television weren’t giving her. Here is a rundown of the parts
afforded Agnes on
Suspense
during the 50’s:

4/27/50:
“The Chain Letter.” Agnes plays a woman who sends a chain
letter to somebody who dies shortly after receiving it. Her
husband leaves her and she finds herself alone with the husband
of the woman who had died — who is waiting to kill her.

2/15/51:
“The Death Parade.” Agnes as a woman who finds a letter
addressed to a Miss Sheela Manix. The letter warns of a
murder which will take place soon and names a time and
place. She spends the day trying to locate this woman.

9/10/51:
“The Evil of Adelaide Winters.” Agnes as a medium who uses
fake séances to profit through the pain of others until she gets
her comeuppance.

1/14/52:
“The Fall River Tragedy.” Agnes plays Lizzie Borden in a play
which tries to determine if the children’s rhyme (“Lizzie
Borden took an ax gave her mother 40 whacks and when she
saw what she had done gave her father 41”) is true.

9/15/52:
“Sorry, Wrong Number.” Agnes plays Mrs. Ebert Stevenson for
the seventh time on Suspense.

11/17/52:
“Death and Miss Turner.” Agnes as a woman who suffers a
memory loss and can’t remember her name or the reason why
she lost it.

3/23/53:
“The Signalman.” Agnes as a newspaper writer who returns to
her hometown and visits the old train station she used to play
in and meets with a signalman who tells her of the ghost
trains which haunt the station.

9/21/53:
“The Empty Chair.” Agnes plays a teacher who becomes
concerned about a student’s safety when driving.

11/30/53:
“The Wreck of the Maid of Athens.” A ship catches fire and
sinks, leaving passengers and crew shipwrecked on a deserted
island. They come to believe that the captain’s wife (played by
Agnes) is a bad omen and decide to kill her to eliminate the
bad omen.

5/19/57:
“Death and Miss Turner.” Repeat of the show which Agnes did
on 11/17/52.

6/30/57:
“The Yellow Wallpaper.” Another repeat of a performance
Agnes did on Suspense in the 40’s, about a couple who move
into a house where the wife claims the yellow wallpaper
upstairs has patterns which are coming off the wall and
coming toward her — driving her mad.

10/20/57:
“Sorry, Wrong Number.” It seems every so many years she
would have to repeat this stellar performance.

 

3/9/58:
“The Chain.” Agnes gives yet another repeat performance of
an earlier script done in 1950.

8/31/58:
“The Whole Town’s Sleeping.” Written by Ray Bradbury, this
is the first original script Agnes did for
Suspense
in five years
that wasn’t a repeat of an earlier performance. A strangler is
on the loose and Lavinia Nebbs (Agnes) insists she’s not afraid
and to prove it she walks home alone after dark.

1/4/59:
“Don’t Call Me Mother.” Agnes plays a possessive mother who
kills her son’s fiancée and tries to make it look like an accident.

Television was taking over. At first Agnes was cautious, making her
debut on an anthology series called
Revlon Mirror Theater
on October 3,
1953. She did nothing more in the medium for another two years until she
appeared on
The Colgate Comedy Hour
in an hour-long special of the musicalcomedy
Roberta
on April 10, 1955. Part of the reason for her caution was,
like many film actors in those early days of television and (even today), she
felt that by appearing in a medium where people could see you for free
would diminish her bankability and allure in motion pictures. Another
reason is that many studios didn’t want their actors appearing on television
since it was in direct competition with motion pictures and had caused box
office totals to plummet from a high that had been achieved just after the
War. But by 1956, and for the rest of her career, Agnes would appear with
increasing frequency on television as the studio system was dying or long
dead and actors of a certain age found more regular work in television than
they did in motion pictures. In Agnes’ case, though, that is not necessarily
the case, as a strong character actress she was still in demand and, in fact,
would appear regularly throughout the late 50’s and into the early 60’s in
several films. But television, like radio, did allow her the opportunity to do
more challenging roles, often in lead parts that eluded her in films.

One part on television, like the film version, which Agnes didn’t get, was
Sorry, Wrong Number.
For an actress acclaimed for this role, it was her lot
that there would be no visual recording of her anguished performance. John
Houseman, in the early 50’s, had been given “carte-blanche” to do a halfhour television drama and he selected “Sorry, Wrong Number.” In his
book,
Front and Center,
Houseman would recall, “The doomed solitary
heroine had been played on radio by Agnes Moorehead; she was back in
California and we couldn’t afford to bring her back (to New York)” Mildred
Natwick got the part.

In 1956, Agnes had appeared in no fewer than six major studio films:
All
that Heaven Allows, Meet me in Las Vegas, The Conqueror, The Revolt of
Mamie Stover, The Swan, Pardners
and
The Opposite Sex.
None of these

Trying to protect Wyman’s reputation in
All That Heaven Allows
(1956).

films can be considered masterpieces or even very good, but most of them
did well with audiences — the exceptions being
The Conqueror
and
The
Revolt of Mamie Stover.

All that Heaven Allows
reunited Agnes with Jane Wyman and Rock
Hudson, along with producer Ross Hunter and director Douglas Sirk, in a
followup on the big box office hit
Magnificent Obsession.
Agnes felt that this
second film was much more intelligent, and gave the actors more to chew
on than the first. Wyman plays a middle-aged widow who falls in love with
her younger gardener, Hudson. The film takes place in New England and
the color photography is truly magnificent. Hudson plays a character with
a bit of the spirit of Emerson in him, not caring much for material items,
while Wyman’s friends are the country club set, who behind her back
disparage her affair. Agnes plays her friend who walks the thin line between
being supportive and being somewhat aghast herself about the May–
September romance. Overall it is a sympathetic performance delivered by
Agnes. The film also includes a delicious knock on television. At Christmas,
the Wyman character’s children present her with a television set so she
would have something to occupy her time during the long, lonely nights.
Fortunately, for middle-aged women everywhere, Wyman has no intention
of whiling away her hours in front of the set when the handsome Hudson
is pining for her. The resulting film was as much of a gold mine for
Universal as the original, and Hudson, now a much more experienced actor,
gives a more assured performance than he did in
Magnificent Obsession.

Meet Me in Las Vegas
allowed Agnes to play Dan Dailey’s mother — a
strong-willed woman named Miss Hattie. It is a musical about a Nevada
rancher (Dailey) who falls in love with a ballerina (Cyd Charisse). Miss
Hattie at first disapproves of Charisse, but is ultimately won over by her. As
a musical, it would never rival
Singin’ in the Rain,
but it is a pleasant piece
of fluff to occupy a couple of hours. The Las Vegas setting allowed for
cameos by such Vegas performers as Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Debbie
Reynolds, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Lena Horne.

The Revolt of Mamie Stover,
shot at Fox, was based on the true story of a
prostitute who builds a large following among servicemen in Hawaii
during the Second World War. Of course, Hollywood couldn’t allow her to
be identified as a prostitute, so Jane Russell plays Mamie Stover as a dance
hall hostess, the same way that Donna Reed was sanitized in
From Here to
Eternity.
Agnes plays the proprietor of a dance hall named Bertha — wearing
a garish blonde wig. Richard Egan co-stars as a writer who disapproves of,
but falls in love with Mamie. Shooting this film was quite pleasant for
Agnes, who truly appreciated the workman-like talents of veteran director
Raoul Walsh, and she found Egan an interesting and attractive man. She
and Egan spent time between scenes discussing religious theologies; Egan
was a devout Catholic, and Agnes always appreciated someone who was a
true believer regardless of their faith.