Nancy Marie Wickwire (November 20, 1925 – July 10, 1974) was an American stage and television actress known for her roles on several daytime

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Early years

Nancy Wickwire was born in 1925 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the younger child of two daughters of Ruth Marie (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Larson) and Alva Burton Wickwire, who was a traveling manager with

Railway Express Agency Railway Express Agency (REA), founded as the American Railway Express Agency and later renamed the American Railway Express Inc., was a national package delivery service that operated in the United States from 1918 to 1975. REA arranged trans ...

. Wickwire was a graduate of the John Harris High School (1943) and earned a Bachelor of Science from the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

(1948). Wickwire acted in productions at her high school, in the Harrisburg Community Theater, and on radio station WSBA. She also studied acting at Old Vic School in London, England (1949-1951)."Wickwire-Wickware Family History"
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Television

Wickwire's television debut came on '' Omnibus''. She appeared on ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

'' (Lila Taylor Kelly, 1954–1955), ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'' (Claire English Lowell Cassen, 1960–1964), '' Another World'' (Liz Matthews, 1969–1971), and ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' (Phyllis Anderson, 1972–73). In addition, she made guest appearances on a number of prime time series, including '' Route 66'', '' The Fugitive'', ''

The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...

'', '' Ironside'' and ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

'' (where she starred as “Nell”, a psychotic, over protective and over religious older sister in the 1963 episode “My Sister’s Keeper” - S9E6). Her last appearance was in a 1973 episode of ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law, who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, California. The show was o ...

''. She also starred in a dramatic program for the

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

Stage

Wickwire acted in

summer stock theatre In American theater, summer-stock theater is a theater that presents stage productions only in the summer. The name combines the season with the tradition of staging shows by a resident company, reusing stock scenery and costumes. Summer stock the ...

productions in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Syracuse, New York. Her Broadway debut came in ''Saint Joan'' (1951). Her other Broadway credits include ''Here's Where I Belong'' (1965), ''The Impossible Years'' (1965), ''Traveller Without Luggage'' (1964), ''Abraham Cochrane'' (1964), ''The Golden Age'' (1963), ''Seidman and Son'' (1962), ''Measure for Measure'' (1957), and ''The Grand Prize'' (1955). For two summers, she acted in productions at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.

Personal life and death

Wickwire was married to director

Basil Langton Basil Calvert Langton (9 January 1912 – 29 May 2003) was an English actor, director and photographer, who made a career on both sides of the Atlantic. He was an authority on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and compiled an archive of more than ...

. In July 1974, at age 48, Wickwire died of cancer at Mount Zion Hospital in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

References

External links

* * * 1925 births 1974 deaths American soap opera actresses American television actresses Actors from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Deaths from cancer in California 20th-century American actresses {{US-theat-actor-1920s-stub