Marge Redmond
Encyclopedia
Marge Redmond is an American
actress.
in 1924. She was the first wife of the late actor Jack Weston, with whom she developed her acting craft at the Cleveland Play House
after they married in 1950. Their Hollywood years began in 1958 when they abruptly quit their parts in the hit Broadway musical, Bells Are Ringing
, and left for Los Angeles
"in a vintage Volkswagen
", fully expecting to have to return to New York.
They stayed in Los Angeles together for 18 years as both attained unexpected television success. The union was apparently childless. The couple later divorced and Redmond never remarried.
The Flying Nun
starring Sally Field
, which aired on ABC
from 1967 to 1970. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her Sister Jacqueline role during the 1967-68 season but lost to Marion Lorne
, who won posthumously for her role as "Aunt Clara" on Bewitched
.
She made guest appearances on television programs ranging from Ben Casey
in 1962 through Law & Order
in 1997; other credits include a recurring role in Matlock
, two appearances (as different characters) on The Munsters
, and single-episode appearances on The Donna Reed Show
, The Rockford Files
, Murphy Brown
, Mama's Family
and many others.
She played sage innkeeper Sarah Tucker in a series of television commercials for Cool Whip
dessert topping during the 1970s.
's novel, and a remake of the better-remembered The Story of Temple Drake
), an appearance (playing Sister Liguori, prefiguring her Flying Nun role) in The Trouble with Angels, and a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock
's Family Plot
, which starred Karen Black
and Bruce Dern
. Her last feature film role was 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery
, directed by Woody Allen
.
in the 1955 revue
, Phoenix '55, to understudying Angela Lansbury
in the original Broadway
production of Stephen Sondheim
's Sweeney Todd
. Coincidentally, she parodied Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher
character on an episode of Hunter, a police drama, entitled "Murder, He Wrote".
She also played a supporting role in the 1981 Broadway production of Ronald Harwood
's The Dresser, which starred Tom Courtenay
. In 1999, Redmond appeared Off-Broadway
in Joan Vail Thorne's sentimental comedy The Exact Center of the Universe. The Village Voice
noted Redmond's presence among the "old pros" in the cast, calling Redmond's performance "solid and funny".
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress.
Background/Family
Margery Redmond (later known as Marjorie Redmond) was born in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
in 1924. She was the first wife of the late actor Jack Weston, with whom she developed her acting craft at the Cleveland Play House
Cleveland Play House
The Cleveland Play House is a professional regional theater company located in Cleveland, OH. As of 2005, the artistic director is Michael Bloom, the eighth artistic director since its inception. In 2011 they moved operations to the Allen Theatre in Playhouse Square Center.Founded in 1915,...
after they married in 1950. Their Hollywood years began in 1958 when they abruptly quit their parts in the hit Broadway musical, Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
, and left for Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
"in a vintage Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
", fully expecting to have to return to New York.
They stayed in Los Angeles together for 18 years as both attained unexpected television success. The union was apparently childless. The couple later divorced and Redmond never remarried.
On television
Redmond is probably best-remembered for her role as Sister Jacqueline in the situation comedySituation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun
The Flying Nun is an American sitcom produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book The Fifteenth Pelican, by Tere Rios, which starred Sally Field as Sister Bertrille...
starring Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
, which aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1967 to 1970. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her Sister Jacqueline role during the 1967-68 season but lost to Marion Lorne
Marion Lorne
Marion Lorne MacDougall was an American actress. After a career in theatre in New York and London, Lorne made her first film in 1951, and for the remainder of her life, played small roles in films and television...
, who won posthumously for her role as "Aunt Clara" on Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
.
She made guest appearances on television programs ranging from Ben Casey
Ben Casey
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
in 1962 through Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
in 1997; other credits include a recurring role in Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
, two appearances (as different characters) on The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
, and single-episode appearances on The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
, The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
, Mama's Family
Mama's Family
Mama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...
and many others.
She played sage innkeeper Sarah Tucker in a series of television commercials for Cool Whip
Cool Whip
Cool Whip is a brand of imitation whipped cream named a whipped topping by its manufacturer. It is used in North America as a dessert topping and in some no-bake pie recipes. It was generally described as "non-dairy" as it contained no cream or milk and no lactose; however, it did contain the milk...
dessert topping during the 1970s.
On film
Redmond's film roles have included a small part in 1961's Sanctuary (from William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
's novel, and a remake of the better-remembered The Story of Temple Drake
The Story of Temple Drake
The Story of Temple Drake is a 1933 Pre-Code drama film adapted from the highly controversial novel Sanctuary by William Faulkner. Though watered down, the movie was still so scandalous, it was one of reasons for the introduction of the Hays Code...
), an appearance (playing Sister Liguori, prefiguring her Flying Nun role) in The Trouble with Angels, and a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Family Plot
Family Plot
Family Plot is a 1976 American dark comedy/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his fifty-third and final film. It stars Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, William Devane, and Karen Black....
, which starred Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
and Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
. Her last feature film role was 1993's Manhattan Murder Mystery
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Manhattan Murder Mystery is a comedic murder mystery film directed by and starring Woody Allen and written by Marshall Brickman and Woody Allen.-Plot:...
, directed by Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
.
On stage
Redmond's theatrical experience ranges from appearing with Nancy WalkerNancy Walker
Nancy Walker was an American actress and comedienne of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director...
in the 1955 revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
, Phoenix '55, to understudying Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
in the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
. Coincidentally, she parodied Lansbury's Jessica Fletcher
Jessica Fletcher
Jessica Fletcher is a fictional character portrayed by veteran Tony-winning actress Angela Lansbury on the American television series Murder, She Wrote...
character on an episode of Hunter, a police drama, entitled "Murder, He Wrote".
She also played a supporting role in the 1981 Broadway production of Ronald Harwood
Ronald Harwood
Sir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
's The Dresser, which starred Tom Courtenay
Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , Billy Liar , and Dr. Zhivago . Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre...
. In 1999, Redmond appeared Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in Joan Vail Thorne's sentimental comedy The Exact Center of the Universe. The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
noted Redmond's presence among the "old pros" in the cast, calling Redmond's performance "solid and funny".