I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead (65 page)

22.
The Stratton Story
(1949 – MGM) Director: Sam Wood.
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Williams, Eugene Bearden,
Bill Dickey, Jimmy Dykes, Robert Gist. 106 minutes. Black and White. Originally, Van Johnson and
Donna Reed were cast in this film, but when Stewart expressed interest he got the part; he reportedly
vetoed his
It's a Wonderful Life
co-star, Donna Reed, because that film had not done well at the box
office. Agnes, still married to Jack Lee, met her future husband, Robert Gist, on this film.

23.
The Great Sinner
(1949 – MGM) Director: Gottfried Reinhardt.
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, Ethel Barrymore, Frank Morgan,
Agnes Moorehead, Ludwig Stossel, Ludwig Donath, Erno Verebes, Curt Bois. 110 minutes. Black and
White. Good cast, so-so film.

24.
Without Honor
(1949 – United Artists) Director: Irving Pichel
Cast: Laraine Day, Dane Clark, Franchot Tone, Agnes Moorehead, Bruce Bennett, Harry Lauter, Peter
Virgo, Margie Stapp. 68 minutes. Black and White. A good B+ film with a strong cast.

25.
Caged
(1950 – Warner Brothers) Director: John Cromwell.
Cast: Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby, Hope Emerson, Betty Garde, Jan Sterling, Lee
Patrick, Jane Darwell, Sandra Gould. 96 minutes. Black and White. One of the last really outstanding
films of Aggie's career, boasting a strong cast and a compelling story. Featured in a small role is the
future second Gladys Kravitz, Sandra Gould. Agnes reportedly expected that she would be nominated
for an Academy Award for her crusading prison superintendent, but she wasn't.

26.
Fourteen Hours
(1951 – Twentieth Century-Fox) Director: Henry Hathaway.
Cast: Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Debra Paget, Agnes Moorehead,
Robert Keith, Howard da Silva, Jeffrey Hunter, Martin Gabel, Grace Kelly. 92 minutes. Black and
White. A good film. Agnes’ first with Hathaway, Kelly and Hunter, all of whom she would work
with again.

27.
Show Boat
(1951 – MGM) Director: George Sidney.
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown, Marge Champion, Gower
Champion, Robert Sterling, Agnes Moorehead, William Warfield, Leif Erickson. 108 minutes. Color.
Agnes’ second color film — her previous one,
Summer Holiday
, was also a musical. The film is good,
but many do not feel it stacks up to the 1936 Universal version.

28.
The Blue Veil
(1951 – RKO) Director: Curtis Bernhardt.
Cast: Jane Wyman, Charles Laughton, Joan Blondell, Richard Carlson, Agnes Moorehead, Don Taylor,
Audrey Totter, Everett Sloane, Natalie Wood, Vivian Vance, Alan Napier. 113 minutes. Black and
White. Filmed just prior to Laughton and Agnes embarking on their tour of
Don Juan in Hell.
Written
by her friend Norman Corwin, who would later pen the play
The Rivalry
which Agnes co-starred in.

29.
The Adventures of Captain Fabian
(1951 – Republic) Director: William Marshall.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Micheline Prelle, Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead, Victor Francen, Jim Gerald,
Howard Vernon. 100 minutes. Black and White. Agnes was on location filming this movie when she
got the telegram from Charles Laughton inviting her to join them in
Don Juan in Hell
.

30.
Captain Black Jack
(1952 – Classic) Director: Julien Duvivier.
Cast: George Sanders, Herbert Marshall, Patricia Roc, Agnes Moorehead, Marcel Dalio, Howard
Vernon. 90 minutes. Black and White. Good cast is generally wasted.

31.
The Blazing Forest
(1952 – Paramount) Director: Edward Ludwig.
Cast: John Payne, William Demarest, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Arlen, Susan Morrow, Roscoe Ates,
Lynne Roberts, Walter Reed. 90 minutes. Color. Agnes’ third mediocre film in a row during 1951–52,
all done when she had some off time from her tours of
Don Juan in Hell
. Her first for Paramount.

pairings. Agnes plays a nun for the first time.

34.
Those Redheads from Seattle
(1953 – Paramount) Director: Lewis R. Foster.
Cast: Rhonda Fleming, Gene Barry, Agnes Moorehead, Teresa Brewer, Guy Mitchell, Cynthia Bell,
Kay Bell, Jean Parker. 90 minutes. Color. Aggie's third musical is pleasing, but not much more. Agnes’
first teaming with Gene Barry, who she would later work with on his television series,
Burke's Law.

35.
Main Street to Broadway
(1953 – MGM) Director: Tay Garnett.
Cast: Tom Morton, Mary Murphy, Agnes Moorehead, Herb Shriner, Rosemary DeCamp, Clinton
Sundberg, Florence Bates, Tallulah Bankhead, Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Gertrude Berg,
Shirley Booth, Faye Emerson, Mary Martin, Rex Harrison. 97 minutes. Black and White. Interesting
film, especially seeing Agnes interacting with Bankhead, who plays herself. Agnes plays Bankhead’s
agent.

36.
Magnificent Obsession
(1954 – Universal) Director: Douglas Sirk.
Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead, Barbara Rush, Gregg Palmer, Otto Kruger, Paul
Cavanagh, Sara Shane. 108 minutes.Color. Not really a very good film, but it became very, very popular,
especially with female moviegoers. Rock Hudson became a major star with this Ross Hunter-produced
film. Wyman was nominated for an Academy Award. Leonard Maltin gives this film *** and writes,
“Sirk pulls out all the stops in this baroque, melodramatic remake.”

37.
Untamed
(1955 – Twentieth Century-Fox) Director: Henry King.
Cast: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, Agnes Moorehead, Rita Moreno, John Justin,
Hope Emerson, Brad Dexter. 111 minutes. Black and White. So-so action film aided by a strong cast.
This film was shot on location in South Africa in CinemaScope. Robert Mitchum was originally slated
for the lead with Lana Turner; Eleanor Parker and Jane Wyman were both considered for the Hayward
part, according to author Lynn Kear.

38.
The Left Hand of God
(1955 – Twentieth Century-Fox) Director: Edward Dmytryk.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gene Tierney, Lee J. Cobb, Agnes Moorehead, E.G. Marshall, Jean Porter,
Victor Sen Yung, Benson Fong. 87 minutes. Color. Agnes’ second and final film with Bogart. Tierney
barely made it through production of this film due to her delicate mental state. She credits Bogart with
helping her finish the film. Author William Barrett, who wrote the novel, greatly admired Agnes’
performance as Beryl.

39.
All That Heaven Allows
(1956 – Universal) Director: Douglas Sirk.
Cast: Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead, Conrad Nagel, Gloria Talbott, William
Reynolds, Virginia Grey, Charles Drake, Hayden Rorke. 89 minutes. Color. Follow-up to
Magnificent
Obsession
is actually the better film. Beautiful color photography. Hudson's performance is much more
assured.

40.
Meet Me in Las Vegas
(1956 – MGM) Director: Roy Rowland.
Cast: Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Agnes Moorehead, Lili Darvas, Jim Backus, Oscar Karlweis, Cara
Williams, George Chakiris, Betty Lynn. 112 minutes. Color. This is Agnes’ fourth musical.
Choreography was by Fred Astaire's longtime collaborator, Hermes Pan.

41.
The Conqueror
(1956 – RKO) Director: Dick Powell.
Cast: John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz, Agnes Moorehead, Thomas Gomez, John
Hoyt, William Conrad, Ted de Corsia, Leslie Bradley, Lee Van Cleef. 111 minutes. Color. Probably
the nadir of Agnes' film career.
Time
summed up John Wayne's performance: “He portrays the great
conqueror as a sort of cross between a square-shootin' sheriff and a Mongolian idiot.” What a waste of
a fine cast. Many people believe that location shooting in the radiation-filled sands of the Utah desert
led to the untimely cancer deaths of a remarkably large percentage of actors and crew members
connected with this film. Leonard Maltin writes, “Expensive epic has camp dialogue to spare.”

42.
The Revolt of Mamie Stover
(1956 – Twentieth
Century-Fox) Director: Raoul Walsh.
Cast: Jane Russell, Richard Egan, Joan Leslie, Agnes
Moorehead, Jorja Curtright, Michael Pate, Richard
Coogan, Alan Reed, Eddie Firestone, Jean Willes. 92
minutes. Color. Aggie runs the “dance hall” that
Mamie Stover works at. Of course, in the novel by
William Bradford Huie, the dance hall is a brothel and
Agnes' character is a madam. Russell was cast as Mamie
Stover when Marilyn Monroe proved unavailable.