Thursday, October 16, 2014

WOMEN OF HORROR: AGNES MOOREHEAD

THE QUEEN OF SUSPENSE. 

This was Agnes Moorehead's official designation as a frequent guest star on the old radio show SUSPENSE in which she starred in many hair-raising episodes including perhaps the most famous and frightening:  "SORRY, WRONG NUMBER".  The radio script written by Lucille Fletcher was so good it was repeated many times and also spawned the motion picture starring Barbara Stanwyck -- which doesn't hold a candle to the original radio show.  But before that, Agnes' spooky credentials in radio began when she played the lovely Margo Lane to Orson Welles' Lamont Cranston on the radio program THE SHADOW.  But here are Agnes Moorehead's TV and film work which brought a chill to our spines:
  • JANE EYRE (1943)
  • THE BAT  (1959)
  • TWILIGHT ZONE "The Invaders" (1961)
  • HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964)
  • NIGHT GALLERY "Certain Shadows on the Wall" (1970)
  • WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?  (1971)
  • NIGHT GALLERY "Witches' Feast" (1971)
  • BEWITCHED (1964-1972)
  • FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY (1973)
radio's Margo Lane to Orson Welles' THE SHADOW
 

live on the air with SUSPENSE "Sorry, Wrong Number"

with Vincent Price in THE BAT

the TWILIGHT ZONE with no dialogue:  THE INVADERS

with Bette Davis in HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE

witness to Shelley Winters & Debbie Reynolds catfight in WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?

NIGHT GALLERY's "CERTAIN SHADOWS ON THE WALL"

with Joan Crawford in HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE (before Miss Crawford quit the movie, that is)

NIGHT GALLERY's "WITCHES' FEAST" with Ruth Buzzi

as the beloved Endora with Elizabeth Montgomery in BEWITCHED

once more menaced by THE BAT
 
 
TODAY'S "WOMEN OF HALLOWEEN" SONG ON MY AUDIO BLOG "BATHED IN THE LIGHT FROM ANDROMEDA" IS "I'D RATHER BE BURNED AS A WITCH" BY EARTHA KITT.

No comments: