Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) was an American actress. She is best known for portraying Ellen Lawson in ''

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' is a 1944 American war film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay by Dalton Trumbo is based on the 1943 book of the same name by Captain Ted W. Lawson. Lawson was a pilot on the historic Doolittle Raid, ...

'' (1944) and Martha Kent in ''

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

'' (1978). She also appeared in ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typ ...

'' (1945), ''

Blood on the Moon ''Blood on the Moon'' is a 1948 RKO black-and-white "psychological" Western film noir starring Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston and Walter Brennan. Directed by Robert Wise, the cinematography is by Nicholas Musuraca. The mov ...

'' (1948), and ''

The World of Henry Orient ''The World of Henry Orient'' is a 1964 American comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tippy Walker, Merrie Spaeth, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald and Tom Bosley. It is based o ...

'' (1964).

Early life

Thaxter was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

, one of three children of Phyllis ( Schuyler) Thaxter, a former actress, and Sidney St. Felix Thaxter, who later served as a Justice of the

Maine Supreme Court The Maine Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the state of Maine's judicial system. It is composed of seven justices, who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Maine Senate. From 1820 until 1839, justices served lifetim ...

. Phyllis Thaxter's siblings were Sidney Thaxter and Hildegarde Schuyler Thaxter Niss Gignoux.

Career

Before appearing in movies, Thaxter was on the stage. When

Dorothy McGuire Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for '' Gentleman's Agreement'' (1947) and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actre ...

went to Hollywood, Thaxter replaced her in the Broadway play '' Claudia''. In 1944, she signed a contract with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

. Her movie debut was opposite

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment ...

in the 1944 wartime film ''

''. In the 1945 film-noir ''

'', Thaxter played Joan Alris Ellis, a woman suffering from split personality. In 1948, she played a cattle owner's daughter in ''

''. At MGM, she routinely portrayed the ever-patient wife to a number of leading men. She moved to

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

in the 1950s, but usually played the same type of roles. Her career stalled after an attack of

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sy ...

in 1952. She made a comeback in television series such as '' Rawhide'', portraying Pauline Cushman in the episode "The Blue Spy" (1961), ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western series that aired 8 seasons: first on the NBC television network (1957–1962), and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and became number one in the Nielsen ratings ...

'' ("The Christine Elliott Story" and "The Vivian Carter Story "), ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

'' (" Young Man's Fancy"), and ''

Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was r ...

''. She returned to Broadway, appearing in ''Take Her, She's Mine'' at the Biltmore in 1961. In 1978, Thaxter was cast with

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-offi ...

as Jonathan and Martha Kent in the blockbuster film ''

''. The film was produced by her daughter Skye Aubrey's husband

Ilya Salkind Ilya Juan Salkind Domínguez (; born July 27, 1947), usually known as Ilya Salkind, is a Mexican film and television producer, known for his contributions to three of the four live-action Superman films of the 1970s and 1980s alongside his fath ...

and father-in-law Alexander Salkind.

Personal life

Patricia Bosworth, in her biography of

Montgomery Clift Edward Montgomery Clift (; October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to ''The New York Times''. He is best remembered ...

, tells of Thaxter's close relationship with Clift in the early 1940s, writing that they "seemed so close that a great many people assumed they would eventually marry". While at MGM, Thaxter married

James T. Aubrey Jr. James Thomas Aubrey Jr. (December 14, 1918 – September 3, 1994) was an American television and film executive. As president of the CBS television network from 1959 to 1965, with his "smell for the blue-collar," he produced some of televi ...

, who later became president of

CBS-TV CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and MGM. They divorced in 1962. They had two children: Susan Schuyler "Skye" Aubrey, an actress, and James Watson Aubrey. In 1962, Thaxter married Gilbert Lea. They were married for 46 years until his death on May 4, 2008. A Republican, she supported the campaign of

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War I ...

in the 1952 presidential election.

Death

Thaxter died on August 14, 2012 aged 92, in Longwood, Florida after an eight-year battle with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

. In keeping with her wishes, she was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea. Her name was added to her husband's tombstone (as a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

) at Saint Mary the Virgin Cemetery in

Falmouth, Maine Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland– Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. This northern suburb of Port ...

, where she had lived for many years.

Filmography

Film

Selected television appearances

Radio appearances

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thaxter, Phyllis American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses 1919 births 2012 deaths People with polio Actresses from Portland, Maine Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Deaths from dementia in Florida 20th-century American actresses Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Schuyler family American people of Dutch descent Maine Republicans California Republicans Florida Republicans American Roman Catholics