I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (36 page)

Taking a break from the routine of television guest appearances and her
one-woman shows, Agnes was offered a part in the new Walt Disney film,
Pollyanna.
Agnes eagerly accepted the supporting part of crotchety Mrs.
Snow, a hypochondriac, who it seems can’t get along with anyone — until
she meets the ever-cheerful and optimistic eleven-year-old, Pollyanna. The
cast was made up of veterans: Karl Malden, Richard Egan, Nancy Olson,
Adolphe Menjou, Donald Crisp, and Reta Shaw. The role of Pollyanna’s
stern Aunt Polly would be played by Agnes’ old friend, Jane Wyman, in
their fifth and final film together. In the pivotal role of Pollyanna, Disney
cast Hayley Mills, the daughter of John Mills. This film, and her followup
for Disney,
The Parent Trap,
would make Hayley Mills the most popular
child star since Shirley Temple.

While Walt Disney had a reputation for not paying his actors top dollar,
his films were well made by expert craftsmen, and always had a built-in
audience which guaranteed big box office. Karl Malden had fond memories
of the film and Disney. “The Disney studios were one of the best studios to
work at. It was like a college campus. Between shots people would play
volleyball, shoot baskets. It was a relaxed atmosphere. Disney didn’t ask for
much. He trusted filmmakers and the actors. He tried to get the best and,
when he did, he let them do their work without much interference. I did
one six-minute speech in one take (where his character, Rev. Ford is
delivering a fire and brimstone sermon) and the next day, after he had seen
the rushes, Disney came out to me and asked if I wanted a 16mm print of
the film because of what I had done! Of course I did and he delivered.”

The picture was partially shot on location in the Napa Valley of
California and Malden recalls that the actors, himself, Agnes, Wyman,
Egan, among others, would all go to dinner together and then while away
the night by playing card games or charades. “We all were like a family —
full of love like a family.” Malden got to know Agnes on this picture, but
would spend more time with her later on the long location shoot of
How the
West Was Won
and at Screen Actor Guild meetings. “Aggie was a strong, solid
person with a strong character. She was a quiet person and quiet people
don’t get noticed much. Her whole thing was up there, on the screen, and
when she wasn’t acting she was as normal and quiet and nice and sweet as
anyone I knew. It was a pleasure knowing her. I know if she hadn’t died we
would still be friends today.” For her part, Aggie always considered Malden
“one of the most talented and considerate actors I’ve ever worked with.”

Wyman also enjoyed this film and her favorite scene in the entire picture
is where Agnes, playing the hypochondriac, who always thinks she has one
foot in the grave, chooses her own casket. “I just love that scene — only
Aggie could make it as believable as it turned out.”

While the film certainly did well, grossing about $3.5 million, it was far
below Disney’s expectations of between 7 and 8 million. Disney historian
Leonard Maltin, in his book
The Disney Films,
says Disney was convinced
that the title,
Pollyanna,
was a barrier; females were drawn to it, but men
and young boys might have thought it was a “sissy” type film.

For Agnes,
Pollyanna
turned out to be a happy highpoint of an otherwise
lackluster year. Her final television appearance for 1960 was on
The
Rifleman,
playing “Miss Bertie” a woman who keeps a scrapbook on outlaws.
Richard Anderson also guest-starred as an outlaw she tries to apprehend for
the bounty so she can retire to a rest home for older women. Anderson
recalls Agnes as “very direct and certainly polite. I sensed that she was a
private person and I respected it. She would often complete a scene and go
to her trailer. Nobody resented it because when she was on the set she was
a complete pro and very gracious to everyone.”

Anderson had a healthy regard for Agnes’ screen presence. “She brought
it up — the magic or whatever the magic is that the camera captures —
and she could make a poor actor look good. She could take over a scene if
she needed to and dominate it so that no one was paying attention to the
struggling actor. I thought she was technically as good as they come; the
only one who comes close to her in my opinion is Bill Holden.” High
praise indeed, since Anderson considers William Holden to be the best
screen actor he worked with or knew. “I mean, she knew how an actor
should translate a script to the audience. She was like Stanwyck, who I
worked with often, in that she was always prepared. She didn’t make a
fuss. Moorehead had it all down — she knew what she was going to do
and had it thought out in advance. Her acting was below the radar, which
is the highest kind of compliment you can get in this business.” Anderson
believes that Agnes had a “respect for the people that she worked for
which some actors I’ve known didn’t have.“ Because of her preparation,
“the producers and directors knew if you got Moorehead you didn’t have
to worry about her — she would be one less actor they would have to
worry about.” This is why, along with her “obvious talent,” she was always
employed.

During the fall of 1960 Agnes received a script which greatly interested
her. It was an episode of the science fiction anthology series,
The Twilight
Zone
written by Richard Matheson titled, “The Invaders.” The script
contained no dialogue until the end, but was full of action and dramatic
tension. Her character is described in the script as having “been alone for
many years; a strong, simple person whose existence is primitive and whose
only problem is acquiring enough food to eat.”

The story dealt with a
woman who lives alone out in
the middle of nowhere in an
old farmhouse. While preparing
her evening meal, she hears a
strident noise and then a crash,
which sounds like it came
within her home. She climbs
up to the attic to investigate
and is startled by what appears
to be a small flashing flying
saucer. As she approaches the
saucer-shaped object, a door
opens and out comes a small
creature, and then another, which
she does battle with. The ending
is a classic; after she kills one of
the creatures (wrapping it up
in a blanket and beating it to
death — then throwing it in
the fire), the other creature
moves back to the spaceship, and she begins to hack away at the spaceship
with an axe. A voice in the ship is heard to say, “Central Control. Come in,
Central Control. Do you read me? Gresham is dead. Repeat. Gresham is
dead. The ship destroyed. Incredible race of giants here. Race of giants. No
Central Control. No counterattack. Repeat. No counterattack. Too much
for us. Too powerful. Stay away. We’re dying. We’re finished. Finished. Stay
away. Stay away. Uhhh . . .” The camera then focuses in on the writing on the
ship —
U.S. Air Force Space Probe No. 1.

The episode was directed by Douglas Heyes, who recommended Agnes
Moorehead for the lead upon receiving the assignment to direct. “The
reason I suggested her was that she had done a radio show called ‘Sorry,
Wrong Number,’ which was a half-hour
tour de force
where she used nothing
but
her voice, and I said, ‘Here’s a half-hour
tour de force
where the woman
doesn’t use her voice at all!’” At first, when Agnes met with Heyes about the
part, she questioned him about her lines. “She looked at me very curiously
when she came in,” recalled Heyes. “I said, ‘What is it?’ She said, ‘Well, I’ve
been reading the script and I’ve been trying to find my part!’ Assured that

her part was to be done completely without dialogue must have surprised
Agnes, but when Heyes explained why he chose her for this part she must
have felt both honored and up to the challenge.

The show would become one of the most famous of her career. With the
exception of Endora, the woman in “The Invaders” is probably her most
recognizable because it is still in syndication and audiences to this day can
still view it.
The Twilight Zone
often has marathons of favorite episodes
shown, and “The Invaders” is always included. She would always consider
this show to be a highlight of her television career.

The income that Agnes earned by performing on television was
contributing a bigger percentage than ever toward maintaining the lifestyle
which she had become accustomed to. Furthermore television was allowing
her to make new fans among people who really didn’t know her from the
movies, especially among children. She was also impressed by the immediate
reaction she received. While she recognized these benefits from working in
television, and didn’t deem the medium to be below her status like some
actors of her era did, she was never completely taken by it either. She found
the pace of television exhausting and felt it offered actors little in the way
of creative stimulation. “I wouldn’t say it is a lark . . . I do think it’s very hard
work and that you have to be very careful with your creative sense. It is the
only sacred thing an actor has and it must be protected and nurtured a great
deal. There is very little time to nurture it (on television).” But Agnes,
always perceptive, understood the nature of the industry. Actresses of a
certain age tend to get offered fewer roles, and television opened up another
avenue for her which she both embraced and disdained.

By the early sixties Agnes was looking for a series. She was most excited
about doing an anthology which would allow her to introduce every
episode and perform in a certain number of them without being obligated
to appear in each story. Furthermore it would allow her to showcase all of
her talents — heavy drama, light comedy, and even an occasional musical.
To sell this idea to the networks Aggie formed a company called Roxbury
Productions, Inc. along with her friends, writer Robert J. Shaw and Jack
Kelk. Shaw would be the principal writer of the new series and Kelk would
act as producer. The program they would attempt to sell was simply,
Agnes
Moorehead Presents.

To sell this project, Shaw, a distinguished radio and television writer in
his own right, submitted a simple, yet detailed, proposal in which it was
asserted that most pilot proposals were, “ponderous, pompous, promising,
and not much more.” He promised that the proposal for the pilot of
Agnes
Moorehead Presents
would not be and, to a remarkable degree, he succeeded.
The proposal presented by Shaw is only thirteen pages long and included
five pages of a typical Moorehead introduction of the evening’s play along
with a conclusion where she would chat with the guest star or introduce a
scene to the following week’s play.

The proposal suggests that Agnes’ main duties beyond lending her name
and reputation to the series would be as a tutor and talent scout: “. . . since
her reputation speaks for itself, it is pertinent here to mention only that
some may not know of her constant and active participation in teaching her
craft. There are many thousands in her profession who know her not only
as an actress of infinite talent, but also a dedicated teacher. They more than
anyone will realize that she is by no means lending only her name or her
acting abilities to this enterprise. Selecting and guiding the talent she will
present in the series will be, in fact, her personal and primary concern.” To
accomplish this, Agnes would work with people she knew, including Joseph
Cotten, Ray Anthony, Everett Sloane, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Edd
(Kookie) Byrnes. She would also utilize students in her acting classes for
small or even featured parts depending on their development. It was an idea
which thrilled Agnes.

Unfortunately, there were no takers. Anthology series were numerous at
this time. During the 1961–62 season, when Agnes’ show would presumably
have debuted, Barbara Stanwyck would launch her own anthology series.
Additionally, there were many already on the air such as
The Twilight Zone
and
General Electric Theater,
and the vogue for such series was coming to an
end. While the networks were willing to give a green light to the Stanwyck
series, they were hesitant to do so for Agnes. Despite her great reputation
as an actress, she wasn’t considered a big enough name to headline her own
show. It was like
Sorry Wrong Number
all over again with Stanwyck in and
Agnes out. But she wouldn’t give up hope that one day she would find a
series for herself.

Intriguingly, she did audition for a part in a series which would be
launched in the fall of 1961 and would enjoy a five-year run. The show was
Hazel,
based on the popular
Saturday Evening Post
comic strip character of
the maid who runs the Baxter family in more ways than one. Agnes, along
with Betty Field and Shirley Booth, auditioned for the part. According to
Hazel
creator Ted Key the executives in charge of casting were divided over
who should be cast, but that he favored Shirley Booth, who had once wanted
to play the character in a stage play. Booth, a well-respected stage actress
and winner of the Academy Award for
Come Back, Little Sheba
ultimately
won the part and legions of new fans. It is hard today to imagine any other
actress as Hazel, just as it is hard to imagine anyone other than Agnes as
Endora.