I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (24 page)

Agnes flew to Detroit to spend Christmas with Jack, their last together,
who was appearing there in
Command Decision.
Noxema, the chemical company which was sponsoring
Mayor of the
Town,
would end its sponsorship of the show when it launched its sixth
season. The President of the company, GA Bunting, wrote to Agnes
expressing their admiration for her. “Your fan mail is indicative of the
great popularity you enjoy among your audiences, but as sponsor . . . I
personally want to add this bit to let you know just how much we at
Noxema feel you contributed to the program and how you endeared
yourself to us all.”
It was not surprising when, in
February 1949, it was announced
that
Johnny Belinda
was nominated
for twelve Academy Awards including
Best Actress, Actor, Supporting
Actor and Agnes as Supporting
Actress — her third nomination.
Agnes’ competition was Barbara
Bel Geddes,
I Remember Mama,
Ellen Corby,
I Remember Mama,
Jean Simmons,
Hamlet,
and Claire
Tre vo r,
Key Largo.
The Oscar ceremony was held at
the Academy Theatre in Hollywood
on March 24, 1949, hosted by
Robert Montgomery. In the book,
Inside Oscar,
Montgomery is
described as acting like “the host of
a bachelor party as he drooled over
every actress presenter.” When he introduced Ava Gardner, he winked, “you
must admit that Mother Nature lingered over the job.”
Prior to the awards ceremony each nominee got special instructions for
the 21st Academy Awards: “As a nominee for an Academy Award you will
be seated near one of the two center aisles. If your name is announced as a
winner, please rise promptly and approach the stage by the nearest aisle. A
spotlight from the balcony will follow you on stage. When receiving your
award, please acknowledge the applause first and shake hands with the
presenter. Your thanks, to be spoken clearly into the microphone, must not
exceed one-half minute of air time. Exit S
TAGE
R
IGHT
(your own right as
you face the audience). You will then be taken to the press photographer’s
room and to the press room for a brief interview.” It was signed William
Dozier, General Director, and 21st Awards Program. Dozier would later be
the head of Screen Gems at the time Agnes agreed to do the pilot of
Bewitched
.
The day before the awards producer Jerry Wald wired Agnes:

D
EAR
A
GGIE
W
IN
LOSE
OR
DRAW
T
HURSDAY
NIGHT
ALL
OF
US
CONNECTED
WITH
B
ELINDA
HAVE
HAD THE
SATISFACTION
OF
KNOWING
THAT WE DID A FIRST RATE JOB THAT WAS RECOGNIZED BY THE PUBLIC AND

Edmund Gwenn, who had won an Oscar the previous year for his
performance as Kris Kingle in the film
Miracle on 34th Street,
presented the
Best Supporting Actress category. He prefaced his announcement of the
nominees by stating, “I’m just about able to venture down the street
without being mobbed by small children.” He read the list of nominees and
the winner was — Claire Trevor for
Key Largo.

Trevor was a popular choice and indeed her performance as the boozy
moll in
Key Largo
is a highlight. But it was just one more disappointment
for the
Belinda
nominees. Of the 12 nominations, the film would only win
one — for lead actress Jane Wyman. Wyman was excited, but she later said
when her name was announced, the first thing that came to her mind was,
“Did I or didn’t I put on my girdle tonight? Then I thought, so what? Let
it bounce.” Her acceptance speech was short and funny: “I accept this for
keeping my mouth shut for once. I think I’ll do it again.”

Agnes was disappointed, but probably relieved that Barbara Stanwyck,
nominated for Best Actress that night for
Sorry, Wrong Number,
had also
lost. Had Agnes lost and Stanwyck won for a role which Agnes was so
associated with, it might have made a disappointing evening even worse.
After the ceremony, Agnes and Jack gamely attended a small dinner dance
Warner Brothers’ studio head, Jack Warner, was giving at the Mocambo.
While she didn’t win, she and the other
Belinda
nominees consoled each
other that night — and they all were happy for Jane.

Professionally, throughout the 30’s and 40’s, the bread-and-butter of Agnes’
career was her work in radio and films. She would still work in both, as well
as television in the 1950’s, but the stage now became her favored medium.
After Orson Welles, two men would establish themselves as the major
influences in her career: the tall and handsome producer Paul Gregory, and
the short, fat, but brilliant actor Charles Laughton.

During the 40’s, Agnes appeared in such varied and important films as
Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Journey into Fear, Jane Eyre,
Dragon Seed, Mrs. Parkington, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, Dark Passage,
The Lost Moment,
and
Johnny Belinda.
She won three Academy Award
nominations in the process as well as the New York Film Critics Award and
the Golden Globe award of 1944 from the foreign press. During the 50’s
she would appear in some good films, but really no exceptional ones — for
every
Caged
or
Fourteen Hours
she would appear in, she would follow it up
with the likes of
The Adventures of Captain Fabian, Captain Blackjack, The
Blazing Forest,
and
The Conqueror.
She was still in great demand as a
motion picture actress during the 1950’s — she released 27 films during
this decade — but without a doubt the quality of her films dropped and she
would not be nominated for the Academy Award again until 1964. Instead,
she would mount a three-year run in one of the most spectacular stage
experiences of her time, begin touring with her own one-woman show and
do two more stage productions before the decade was out. In her mind,
Hollywood was a “place to earn enough money to be able to do the sort of
stage acting one wants to do.” Personally, the new decade would bring the
desolation of her 20-year marriage to Jack Lee, the continuation of her
romance and eventual marriage to Robert Gist, and she would take in a
foster son.

Caged
would be Agnes’ only
film release of 1950. It was an
important film — released by
Warner Brothers and directed
by veteran John Cromwell, who
had also helmed
Since You Went
Away.
It was a message picture
with Agnes cast as a wellmeaning progressive warden in
a woman’s penitentiary who
tries to bring reform. Eleanor
Parker stars as a young woman
who is sent to prison for
helping her husband rob a gas
station — the husband is killed
during the robbery and the widow
is also two month’s pregnant.
Agnes, as Mrs. Benton, assures
the young woman, Marie, “I
want you to know that we’re all
here to help you. I want you to
believe that I’d like to be your
friend.” Her baby is delivered
prematurely and, because she is

in prison and her family won’t take care of the baby, it is put up for adoption.
During Marie’s stay she sees suicide and has to deal with a sadistic matron,
Harper, played by Hope Emerson. In this world of brutality Marie finds a
bit of hope in the form of a kitten that she keeps and takes care of — but
the evil prison matron attempts to take the kitten away from her, the end
result being that the kitten is killed. Mrs. Benton has tried to get Harper
fired in the past and writes to the commissioner of prisons to recommend
her firing again, only to be thwarted by Harper’s connections. Harper
retaliates against Benton by spreading rumors about her which causes the
commissioner to ask for Benton’s resignation — which she avoids by telling
the commissioner that if she is fired she will take him and the crooked penal
system down with her. The evil Harper is eventually killed by another inmate
and Marie is released, but, by now, the once innocent Marie is hardened by
prison life, and it is clear to Mrs. Benton where she is headed. The final line
in the film is Benton telling her secretary to keep Marie’s file active. “She’ll
be back.”

Agnes was justly proud of
Caged,
even though it seems a bit dated today.
She told author Boze Hadleigh that it was an important film, “because it
helped ameliorate conditions throughout the penal system. I was assured.”
Prior to shooting this picture, Agnes got the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s
Office to intercede on her behalf so she could do research at the California
Institution of Women in Tehachapi. The Sheriff ’s office wrote, “Miss
Moorehead is well and favorably known to this office and any courtesies
extended her will be very much appreciated.” She visited the institution and
conferred with Alma Holzschuh, the Superintendent at Tehachapi, as well
as touring the facility and meeting many of the inmates. In her interview
with Boze Hadleigh, Hadleigh points out to Agnes that
Caged
is a “lesbian
cult classic,” and goes on to say, “It was one of the first movies to bring up
lesbianism, although in an unsavory context and even though each Sapphic
character had to express interest in men.” Agnes points out to Hadleigh,
“My character was the film’s conscience — she had nothing to do with sex,
one way or another.”

Caged
boasts an excellent supporting cast; along with Emerson, there is
Ellen Corby (twenty years before she became Grandma Walton), Jan
Sterling, Lee Patrick, Jane Darwell, and numerous other lesser known
actresses who excel even in the smallest of parts. The film was released in
June 1950 and the reviews were quite good. The
New York Herald
called
Eleanor Parker’s performance as Marie a “tear-jerker.” They said that Agnes,
“exhibits the best control as a keen, aggressive prison superintendent trying
to substitute education for the rubber hose as a corrective measure.” The
New York Daily Mirror
pointed out that
Caged,
“explores a woman’s prison,
as
The Snake Pit
did a mental asylum.”
Time
made note of John Cromwell’s
direction, saying the film “has some unblinkingly realistic moments.” The
New York Times’
Bosley Crowther wrote, “John Cromwell manages now
and again to bring individual scenes to throbbing life . . . but on the whole
Caged
is a cliché-ridden account.” The film went on to do decent, but
unexceptional, business at the box office — it was probably too bleak for
many moviegoers. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards,
although none for Agnes; Eleanor Parker for Best Actress, Hope Emerson
for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the screenplay and the story.

Just prior to the film’s opening, Hedda Hopper announced in her
column that Agnes filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage to Jack.
Hopper reported that if a property settlement could be worked out, Agnes
would go to Las Vegas “immediately” to obtain a quick divorce. If it couldn’t
be worked out then the divorce would proceed in California, which meant
it wouldn’t be final for a year. The property settlement was not worked out
and Agnes did not go to Las Vegas — instead the Lees would spend the last
year of their marriage living separately and waiting. Jack, having toured in
Command Decision
during the late 40’s, had enjoyed a return of some of his
confidence during that time only to see it elapse again once the tour was
finished and no further job offers were on the horizon. He again retreated
to the bottle. By this time, though, Agnes had had enough and having fallen
in love with Robert Gist, she wanted to marry him.