What A Character Blogathon 2013!
Hosted by Once Upon A Screen- Outspoken & Freckled & Paula’s Cinema Club
As these fabulous bloggers say -“They are eccentric. They are unusual. AND they are BACK!”
Character actors are the grease that spins the wheels of cinematic & television memories. I am so thrilled to be participating in this blogathon, because there are a lot of unsung actors that deserve recognition. Though it was a tough decision, I decided to focus on the inimitable Jeanette Nolan!
Jeanette Nolan just kept popping up for me in film and television episodes until I couldn’t resist her often irascible charms, and quirky yet dignified demeanor. Okay okay, she’s played a truly bona fide hag at times. No one cackles and frets quite like a Jeanette Nolan crone.
But, don’t let that fool you into thinking that she didn’t have an incredible depth and range of characterizations filled with heart and a sharply honed instinct for creating an atmosphere that drew you into it’s orbit, even when she was on the periphery of the plot and the main stars in the story.
I adore this woman and I’m so glad I get to share more than just a few of the memorable moments in Jeanette Nolan’s long career.
Jeanette Nolan was born in 1911 in Los Angeles California, She began her acting career in the Pasadena Community Playhouse.She made her film debut as Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles’ 1948 film version of Macbeth.
Before her death at age 86 due to a stroke on June 5th, 1998 her career encompassed so many varied roles. Her last performance was in Robert Redford’s film The Horse Whisperer, where she plays Tom Booker’s mother “Ellen.” She played Bertha Duncan in The Big Heat 1953 and Nora Ericson in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962
If you can imagine she brought to life some of the most interesting characters in over more than 300 television shows. From Perry Mason, Doctor Kildare, Boris Karloff’s Thriller, Medical Center, The Twilight Zone, Naked City, I Spy, The Mother’s In-Law, Ironside, Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, The Fugitive & Columbo and even played Rose Nyland’s (Bette White) mother Alma Lindstrom on The Golden Girls just to name a few. Jeanette Nolan earned four Emmy nominations.
Nolan was married to actor John McIntire who died in 1991. And… Nolan actually provided the screams for Norman’s “mother” in Psycho (1960) Husband John played Sheriff Chambers.
Here’s Jeanette Nolan in one of Columbo’s memorable episodes ‘Double Shock’ as Mrs Peck who keeps a very tidy house.
As the oddball Annie in Dr. Kildare’s The Hand that Hurts, The Hand that Heals 1964
Jeanette as Bernadine Spalding in Emergency! Weird Wednesday 1972
As Dirty Sally Fergus on Gunsmoke
As Mary Fitzgibbons in ‘Triumph’ The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 1964
As Edith Beggs in Coming Home Alfred Hitchcock Presents 1961
As Hallie in The Secret- Medical Center 1972
As Mrs Fleming in The Reluctant Astronaut 1967
Jeanette Nolan as Miss Havergill The Invaders
As Mrs Grimes in The Right Kind of House- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
As Naomi Kellin in ‘Ill Wind’ The Fugitive
Jeanette Nolan in Wagon Train- “The Janet Hale Story”
As Granny Harrad in Boris Karloff’s television anthology series Thriller- “Parasite Mansion’
Jeanette Nolan as Mrs Downey in Say Goodbye Maggie Cole Tv Movie 1972
As Bertha Duncan in 1953 film noir classic The Big Heat
As Granny Hart in Twilight Zone’s ‘Jess-Belle
As Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles’ Macbeth
As Mrs Tibbit in Marcus Welby MD “Epidemic”
As Mrs Waddle in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery episode “The Housekeeper”
As Mrs Fitzgibbons in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour “Triumph’
Jeanette Nolan in Rod Serling’s Night Gallery “Since Aunt Ada Came To Stay”
As Judge Millie Cox in The Streets of San Fransisco “The Runaways”
Jeanette Nolan as Granny Harrad in Boris Karloff’s Thriller ‘Parasite Mansion’
Jeanette Nolan as Emma ‘Martha’ Benson in Perry Mason’s The Case of the Nine Dolls
Jeanette Nolas as Mrs Trotter in Alfred Hitchcock Presents “The Morning After”
As Edna Brackett in Quincy M.E. with husband John McIntire
Here’s to the inimitable character- Jeanette Nolan!!! Love Joey