Agnes Morehead

[Jimmy Todd]

I watched Dark Passage and Caged yesterday in which Agnes Morehead gave great performances in supporting roles in both movies. I don't know why the two movies seem to often get mixed, or in the case of Caged, negative reviews. O enjoyed them both and thought Agnes turned in fine performances. I had never seen her in anything besides Bewitched.
Caged seemed to stay with me the most. Compelling and disturbing it had a tiny bit of camp but wasn't exploitive..

 

[Crimson]

Agnes was great. She had a precise theatrical intensity that worked equally well in cinematic masterpieces as B-movie claptrap. Despite the floridness of her acting, she never seemed stagey & remote like Judith Anderson could come across.

Her work in BETWITCHED plays back even better in retrospect with the realization that Endora wasn't the "villain"; she was right. Derwood was a jerk and Sam should have left him.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I watched Dark Passage and Caged yesterday in which Agnes Morehead gave great performances in supporting roles in both movies. I don't know why the two movies seem to often get mixed, or in the case of Caged, negative reviews. O enjoyed them both and thought Agnes turned in fine performances. I had never seen her in anything besides Bewitched.
Caged seemed to stay with me the most. Compelling and disturbing it had a tiny bit of camp but wasn't exploitive..

She's in CITIZEN KANE and HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE -- both worth a look.

Also MAGNIFICENT AMNERSONS and JANE EYRE and JOHNNY BELINDA and MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION and others.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

She's in CITIZEN KANE and HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE -- both worth a look.

Also MAGNIFICENT AMNERSONS and JANE EYRE and JOHNNY BELINDA and MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION and others.

Thank you for the suggestions I've seen Citizen.Kane, but not the others.
She's an interesting actress. She doesn't have the typical glamor look, but she's fascinating to watch.

 

[Alexis]

I love her, she's a great character actress and is in a lot of my favourite films. Sometimes in a slightly comedic role sometimes more serious. I last saw her in an old Susan Hayward gothic melodrama called The Lost Moment, and she played a woman over 100 years old, in heavy makeup.

 

[Crimson]

She doesn't have the typical glamor look

Only in Hollywood could Agnes have been considered not beautiful. Unlike other actresses consigned to the "character" roles, who tended to range between unconventionally attractive (Eve Arden) to unattractive (Thelma Ritter), Agnes was striking. Those cheekbones and eyes were extraordinary. Of course she was past 40 by the time she made her first film. If she had arrived in Hollywood a decade earlier, she may have had a shot at leading lady status. I think she would have preemptively obliterated Davis and Stanwyck.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

A terrific actress.
Some notes
I am somewhat empathetic to Endora.
Darren was often insulting to her, and sometimes a bit of a bully.
Samantha's magic was part of who she was, and he shouldn't have been so emphatic
about her not using it.
Just IMHO

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Shouldn't this thread be in the 'screen icons' page?

 

[ClassyCo]

Shouldn't this thread be in the 'screen icons' page?

Probably.

I've enjoyed Agnes Morehead in what I've seen of her work. She's probably one of my favorite character actresses, along with the aforementioned Eve Arden and Thelma Ritter.