Helen Alliene Shaw (July 25, 1897 – September 8, 1997) was an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Mrs. Dempsey in the 1983 film ''
Twilight Zone: The Movie'' and
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
's grandmother in the 1989 comedy ''
Parenthood''. She was a humorous guest during her first and only appearance on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
''.
[The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; October 6, 1989: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXqRvO6QJ-I]
Early life
Shaw was born on July 25, 1897 in
Birmingham, Michigan
Birmingham is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor ( M-1). As of the 2010 census, the population was 20,103.
History
The area comprising what is now the c ...
, the daughter of Bertha Maud (née Crafts; 1873-1964) and Dr. Nenian Thomas Shaw (1867-1952), a Canadian-born
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. Shaw studied medicine at one time and on February 17, 1923 was present in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
when
Howard Carter
Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the K ...
unsealed the tomb of the Pharaoh
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
. She married Loren George Stauch (1892-1957) on April 22, 1918 in Birmingham and they had one daughter, Patricia Alliene Stauch (1924-2018),
before divorcing in August 1935, with extreme cruelty being cited as Shaw's reason for seeking the divorce. In her 1989 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson she mentioned the marriage as being brief and commented on how couples need to be well paired for one to work.
Career
In 1938, Shaw, along with her parents and daughter, moved to southern California. Shaw became active as a writer and director with the Theatre Americana of Altadena, and served as a writing coach for 30 years.
[Monrovia News-Post; August 19, 1987; Page 6: Helen Shaw – still vivacious at age 90] She later took stage acting roles at the Theatre Americana and the Glendale Centre Theatre. Then, at the age of 82, she became a professional actress. Her first notable role was in the television movie ''
Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case'' in 1980, which was followed by several additional appearances in film and television.
Death
Shaw died on September 8, 1997, a month and a half after her 100th birthday, in Los Angeles and was interred in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...
under the name Helen Shaw Stauch.
Filmography
Television
Film
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Helen
1897 births
1997 deaths
American centenarians
20th-century American actresses
Women centenarians