Phyllis Thaxter

Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) Her grandfather, Major Sidney W. Thaxter, was awarded the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War.

Career Before appearing in films, Thaxter was on the stage. When Dorothy McGuire went to Hollywood, Thaxter replaced her in the Broadway play Claudia. Although the illness did not impact her pregnancy, it proved sufficiently serious to end Thaxter's film career when, the following month, columnist Hedda Hopper reported that the actress's contract with Warner Brothers had, "by mutual agreement", been "quietly washed up".

Thaxter appeared in television series such as Rawhide, portraying Pauline Cushman in the episode "The Blue Spy" (1961); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, portraying a paralyzed wife being terrorized by her husband in the episode "The Long Silence" (1963); Wagon Train ("The Christine Elliott Story" and "The Vivian Carter Story"); The Twilight Zone ("Young Man's Fancy"); and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

She returned to Broadway, appearing in Take Her, She's Mine at the Biltmore in 1961. The couple divorced in 1962.

In 1962, Thaxter married Gilbert Lea. They were married for 46 years until his death on May 4, 2008. During her time of residency in California, she was a member of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, where she additionally held the wedding of her first marriage in November 1944.

Death Thaxter died on August 14, 2012, aged 92, in Longwood, Florida after an eight-year period with Alzheimer's disease.

Filmography Film

Selected television appearances Year Title Role Notes1953-1956 Lux Video Theatre various characters Season 3 Episode 42: "Wind on the Way" as Diana Forbes (1953) Season 4 Episode 5: "Anniversary" as Fran (1953)

Season 4 Episode 30: "The Girl Who Couldn't Cry" as Anne (1954)

Season 5 Episode 21: "Penny Serenade" as Julie (1955)

Season 5 Episode 40: "Thunder on the Hill" as Sister Mary (1955)

Season 6 Episode 13: "Holiday Affair" as Connie Ennis (1955)

Season 6 Episode 33: "The Night of January Sixteenth" as Karen (1956)1954 The Motorola Television Hour Gladys Mitchell Episode: "Atomic Attack" 1955 Stage 7 Muriel Blandings Episode: "The Hayfield"1956-1960 Alfred Hitchcock Presents various characters Season 1 Episode 30: "Never Again" as Karen Sewart (1956) Season 2 Episode 2: "Fog Closing In" as Mary Summers (1956)

Season 2 Episode 20: "Malice Domestic" as Annette Borden (1957)

Season 3 Episode 11: "The Deadly" as Margot Brenner (1957)

Season 4 Episode 9: "Murder Me Twice" as Lucy Pryor (1958)

Season 6 Episode 5: "The Five-Forty-Eight" as Miss Dent (1960)1957 Studio One Laura Morgan Episode: "The Dark Corner"1958 The Frank Sinatra Show Jean Armstrong Episode: "The Seedling Doubt"1959-1960 Wagon Train various characters Season 2 Episode 23: "The Vivian Carter Story" as Vivian Carter (1959) Season 3 Episode 24: "The Christine Elliot Story" as Christine Elliot (1960)1961 Rawhide Pauline Cushman Episode: "The Blue Spy"1962 The Twilight Zone Virginia Lane Walker Episode: "Young Man's Fancy" 1963-1964 The Alfred Hitchcock Hour various characters Season 1 Episode 25: "The Long Silence" as Nora Cory Manson (1963)

Season 2 Episode 6: "Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale" as Mrs. Logan (1963)

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source 1952 Stars in the Air Christmas in Connecticut