Margaret Tallichet

Margaret "Talli" Tallichet (March 13, 1914 – May 3, 1991) was an American actress and longtime wife of movie director William Wyler. Her best-known leading role was with Peter Lorre in the film noir Stranger on the Third Floor.

Background She was the great-granddaughter of Albert Tallichet, an antebellum émigré from Switzerland who settled in the town of Demopolis, Alabama, where he ran a grocery store. Her parents, David Compton Tallichet and Margaret Tallichet, moved from Alabama to Dallas, Texas before her birth. Margaret graduated from Southern Methodist University. She was an active member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. According to her obituary in the Los Angeles Times, she was working in the publicity department at Paramount Pictures when she was befriended by actress Carole Lombard. but the role was given to Ann Rutherford. Selznick also cast her in a minor uncredited role in A Star is Born (1937).

At the outset of her acting career, she also appeared in A Desperate Adventure (1938) and Girls' School (1938).

Marriage and family In 1938, an agent introduced her to Goldwyn Pictures director William Wyler, who had been divorced from his first wife Margaret Sullavan, since 1936.

Before the United States entered World War II, both Tallichet and Wyler continued to work. She appeared in Stand Up and Fight (uncredited, 1939), Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), It Started with Eve (1941), and The Devil Pays Off (1941).

Also before the U.S. entered the war, her husband was an outspoken advocate for the defense of Great Britain. Mrs. Miniver (1942), his first Oscar-winning film, was a sympathetic portrayal of an English family enduring the Battle of Britain. After completing this film, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and flew in missions over Europe in order to make documentaries about those adventures. At the 1943 Academy Awards program, Margaret accepted, in her husband's absence, his Academy Award for Best Director in Mrs. Miniver.

She and Wyler were parents of five children: Catherine Wyler (born July 25, 1939), Judy Wyler (born May 21, 1942), William Wyler Jr. (born April 4, 1946; died November 27, 1949), Melanie Ann Wyler (born November 25, 1950), and David Wyler (born September 1952). They remained married for 42 years until her husband's death. She was also the sister of aviator and restaurateur David Tallichet Jr.

Death She died on May 3, 1991, at age 77.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1937 A Star Is Born Marion uncredited The Prisoner of Zenda scenes deleted 1938 A Desperate Adventure Betty Carrington Girls' School Gwennie 1939 Stand Up and Fight Fox Hunt Guest uncredited1940 Stranger on the Third Floor Jane 1941 It Started with Eve Gloria Pennington The Devil Pays Off Joan Millard