Phyllis Thaxter Movies
The daughter of a Supreme Court judge, Phyllis Thaxter followed the example of her mother, a former actress. Thaxter made her first stage appearance, at the Ogunquit (Maine) Playhouse. In her teens, she received on-the-job training with the Montreal Repertory. On Broadway from 1938, she appeared in such popular plays as What a Life!, There Shall Be No Night, and Claudia. Signed to an MGM contract in 1944, Phyllis was often wasted in traditional faithful-wife roles, but on occasion was permitted a wider acting range in such parts as the schizophrenic heroine of Arch Oboler's Bewitched (1944). While at MGM, Phyllis married James Aubrey, who later ascended to the presidency of CBS-TV (andstill later, took over MGM); the union lasted until 1962, producing a daughter, actress Skye Aubrey. Sidelined by an attack of infantile paralysis in 1952, Thaxter made a slow, steady stage, screen and TV comeback in character parts, frequently accepting roles that would challenge her physical limitations. In 1978, after a long absence from the screen, Phyllis Thaxter was cast as Ma Kent in Superman: The Movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1992
Randall Sloan (Brian McNamara), a former student of Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), returns to Cabot Cove to research his new book. Despite several ominous warnings to drop the project, Randall is determined to complete his volume, a searing expose of a 30-year-old scandal involving two of the town's most prominent families, that Latimers and the Weymouths. You guessed it: Randall is killed, and Jessica is enlisted by Sheriff Mort Metzger (Ron Masak) to help find the killer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
The brutal Salem witch trials provide the setting for this provocative drama that presents the story of an accused woman who survived the ordeal. Like her two older sisters, poor Sarah faces a trial herself. The sisters were tortured, found guilty and burned. Despite her fear, Sarah proves that her family is innocent of the charges. This film originally appeared on PBS television's American Playhouse. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Richard Donner's big-budget blockbuster Superman: The Movie is an immensely entertaining recounting of the origin of the famous comic book character. Opening on Krypton (where Marlon Brando plays Superman's father), the film follows the Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve) as he's sent to Earth where he develops his alter-ego Clark Kent and is raised by a Midwestern family. In no time, the movie has run through his teenage years, and Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet, where he is a news reporter. It's there that he falls in love with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), who is already in love with Superman. But the love story is quickly sidetracked once the villainous Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) launches a diabolical plan to conquer the world and kill Superman. Superman: The Movie is filled with action, special effects and a surprising amount of humor. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, (more)
- 1972
The Longest Night is a harrowing made-for-TV movie based on a real-life kidnapping. Sallie Shockley is abducted from the home of her parents and held for ransom. Her captors entomb her in a box buried several feet underground, with an air hose as her only conduit to the outside world. As the police close in on the kidnappers and search for the girl, she desperately tries to stave off hysteria and to prevent the cutting off of her air supply. She is rescued comparatively early in the storyline, which then switches to the trackdown of the culprits. The Longest Night effectively conveys the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story, even though it runs out of gas before the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Targetting a Chicago-based espionage ring, Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) goes undercover, posing as an injured spy named Eric Cross. It is Erskine's goal to identity the ringleader of the spies, a person known only as "Constantine." In an ironic twist, the spy boss is revealed to be fatally ill and is written off as expendable--and as a result, Erskine must keep "Constantine" alive long enough to die in bed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Phyllis Thaxter guest-stars as widowed newspaper publisher Ruth Manning, yet another old friend of Ben Cartwright. Ben comes to Ruth's assistance when her newspaper is targeted for extinction by ruthless town boss Judge Seth Tabor (Simon Oakland). Featured in the cast are William Jordan as Leek, Hamilton Camp as Dobbs, Philip Kennealy as Sheriff Knox, Ken Mayer as North, Connie Sawyer as Mrs. Lewis, James Jeter as Cotton, Arthur Peterson as Dr. Adams, and Ed McCready as Purdy. Written by John Hawkins and Frank Chase, "The Clarion" first aired on February 9, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1967
A seaport murder alerts Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to the presence of Communist spies in the area. Sure enough, enemy agent Conrad Letterman (Michael Rennie) is laying the groundwork for a plan to blow up a military supply ship bound for the Orient. In order for the mission to succeed, Letterman must put pressure on a pair of "sleeper" agents, John and Viv Caldwell (Arthur Franz, Phyllis Thaxter), who are no longer devoted to the Communist cause. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
A vague clue provided by a dying spy prompts Inspector Erskine (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) to investigate the possibility of espionage within the hierachy of corporate America. The villain of this piece is Steve Ramsey (Andrew Duggan), a veteran Communist agent posing as a top-ranking CEO. Also figuring into the intrigue is Ramsey's missile-scientist brother Alec (Richard Anderson), who may or may not be as corruptible as Steve. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
Travelling under the name "Stu Manning", Kimble (David Janssen) takes a job at a Wyoming mountain lodge which is subsequently burglarized. Obliged to let the police take his fingerprints during the investigation of the crime, Kimble figures that he better get while the going is good, and boards the shuttle bus heading out of the mountains. When the bus is trapped by a landslide, Kimble finds himself entangled in the personal problems of the other passengers--a strange and motley crew indeed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
City dweller Keith Hollands (Arthur Kennedy) rents a dilapidated beach house, much to the dismay of his wife, Elsa (Phyllis Thaxter), who is both disgusted and frightened by the place. Rather than attempt to mollify his wife, Keith helps matters not at all by ardently pursuing a local beach bunny named Rachel (Tisha Sterling). When she finally puts her foot down and refuses to allow Keith to purchase the beach house outright, Elsa signs her own death warrant. But if Keith figured he'd get away with murder, he hadn't reckoned on a little "souvenir" left in the house by the previous owner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Kennedy, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
Decked out with another of his American accents, Peter Sellers plays self-centered concert pianist Henry Orient. While Henry's active libido sends him off on pursuit of married woman Paula Prentiss, a pair of preteen boarding-school chums, played by Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth, worship Orient from afar. The girls' overworked imaginations, manifested in pursuing Orient about and recording their fantasies in their diaries, leads Walker's mom, Angela Lansbury, to conclude that Henry has "had his way" with her underaged daughter. The World of Henry Orient was later musicalized for Broadway as Henry, Sweet Henry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, (more)
- 1963
Fortune hunter Ralph Manson (Michael Rennie) persuades wealthy widow Nora Cory (Phyllis Thaxter) to marry him, only to run afoul of Nora's son from a previous marriage. Manson tries to solve this problem by killing the boy, but Nora witnesses the crime -- whereupon she suffers a stroke which renders her paralyzed and mute. Now fully aware that Manson intends to murder her as well, the helpless Nora desperately tries to communicate her plight to her nurse Jean Dekker (Natalie Trundy). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rennie, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
- 1963
Ben Wister (Fess Parker), sheriff of the small town of Linvale, is besieged by phone calls from the widowed Mrs. Logan (Phyllis Thaxter), who insists that her next-door neighbor Harry Jarvis (Gary Merrill) has murdered his wife and buried her in his backyard. When Wister investigates, Jarvis tells him that his wife has walked out on him, and that he had dug a hole in his yard to bury his dead dog. Further investigation would seem to prove Jarvis' innocence -- a turn of events that has a mighty interesting effect on Mrs. Logan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Merrill, Fess Parker, (more)
- 1962
According to this Richard Matheson-scripted Twilight Zone episode, there is such a thing as too much nostalgia. While visiting his childhood home with his new wife Virginia (Phyllis Thaxter), Alex Walker (Alex Nicol) begins exulting over the artifiacts of his youth -- toys, books, clothes, and the like. What Virginia doesn't know until it's too late is that Alex has fallen under the spell of his late mother (Helen Brown), who intends to reclaim her "little boy" at any cost. The ending is hardly satisfactory, but this cannot be blamed on Matheson, who had an entirely different (and infinitely more suitable) denoument in mind. "Young Man's Fancy" was originally telecast May 11, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Thaxter, Alex Nicol, (more)
- 1960
One of John Cheever's best known (and most often dramatized) short stories is basis for this tense episode. While riding home from his office on the 5:48 commuter train, married suburbanite James Blake (Zachary Scott) is confronted by Iris Dent (Phyllis Thaxter), his former secretary -- and former mistress. Pulling a gun on Blake, Iris intends to exact vengeance for being spurned and humiliated by him. Although the situation heats up as the train ride continues, Iris' revenge turns out to be a dish best served cold -- and dirty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
This episode is clearly inspired by the famous "Bridey Murphy" affair of the mid-'50s. During a party, Lucy Pryor (Phyllis Thaxter) allows herself to be hypnotized by Professor Miles Farham (Tom Helmore). While in a trance, she regresses to the year 1853 and assumes the personality of a Quaker woman named Dora Evans -- and then, just as Dora Evans had done over 100 years earlier, Lucy promptly murders her husband. During her subsequent trial, Lucy undergoes hypnosis a second time to prove that she had had no control over herself when committing the murder...and the results are astonishing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Man Afraid stars George Nader as a clergyman serving a big-city slum district. He is forced to kill a young hoodlum in self-defense; the police are willing to forgive him of the killing, but the victim's psychotic father (Harold J. Stone) is not so pliable. The father threatens not only to wreak vengeance on Nader, but on Nader's family as well. The minister is torn apart by the practical necessity of protecting his family and the pacifistic edicts of his religious calling. Man Afraid is a tight, claustrophobic melodrama that was inappropriately filmed in CinemaScope; consequently, it tends to play better on TV than it did in theatres. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Nader, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
- 1957
Handsome young plumber Jack Staley (Lee Philips) supplements his income by blackmailing his female customers, threatening to tell their husbands of their "illicit" romances. But Staley's career as an extortionist comes to a formidable roadblock when he tries the same shakedown on Margot Brenner (Phyllis Thaxter). It turns out that Margot has a bit of a larcenous streak as well...and she's just a shade smarter than both Jack and her husband (played by Carl Betz). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Showing up at his doctor's office complaining of stomach troubles, Carl Borden (Ralph Meeker) is informed that there are traces of arsenic in his system. Under normal circumstances, only one conclusion could be arrived at -- Carl's wife Annette (Phyllis Thaxter) is trying to poison him. But these aren't normal circumstances, as we find out in the wryly cynical conclusion of the episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Awakening in a strange bed and suffering from a terrible headache -- not to mention the mysterious bruises all over her body -- alcoholic Karen Stewart (Phyllis Thaxter) tries to piece together the events leading up to her present condition. All she can recall at first is her most recent promise to her boyfriend Jeff (Warren Stevens) that she will stop drinking, and stop drinking for good. But Jeff had heard that song many times before, and he was in no mood to put up with her subsequent drunken binge. From this point forward, Karen's mind is a blank...but the blank will soon be filled in a horrific fashion. In light of the serious nature of the story, host Alfred Hitchcock foregoes his usual humorous epilogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Having had a premonition of disaster, Mary Summers (Phyllis Thaxter) begs her husband Arthur (Paul Langton) not to leave her home alone while he goes out of town on business. But oafish Arthur thinks that Mary is being ridiculous, and refuses her request. Sure enough, the moment Mary is alone, the house is invaded by escaped mental patient Ted Lambert (George Grizzard)...and the surprising results of this plot twist helped earn an Emmy award for the episode's scriptwriter, James Cavanagh. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
With the exception of the vastly superior Caged, Columbia's Women's Prison was the quintessential "babes behind bars" drama of the 1950s. Ida Lupino (who else?) stars as Amelia VanZant, the sadistic supervisor of the titular prison. Unable to establish any sort of relationship with a man, Amelia takes it out on her long-suffering inmates. When prison psychiatrist Clark (Howard Duff) tries to improve conditions for the women, he too is targetted for destruction by the vituperous Ms. VanZant. The cast includes such perennial "hard-boiled dames" as Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyllis Thaxter, Gertrude Michael and Mae Clarke. Not taken very seriously in the first place, Women's Prison was elevated to the level of "high camp" by youthful film buffs of the 1960s and 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, (more)
- 1952
She's Working Her Way Through College is a completely depoliticized remake of the liberal-minded comedy The Male Animal (1942). Virginia Mayo plays an exotic dancer, Angela Gardner, who decides to improve her mind; she enrolls in a college where Professor John Palmer (Ronald Reagan) teaches English. In between Angela's lively musical numbers, the film concentrates on an old rivalry between the bookish Palmer and onetime college football jock Shep Slade (Don DeFore, who'd played a bit in The Male Animal). When the college trustees oppose Angela's presence on campus, Palmer staunchly defends her right to an education. In the original Male Animal, the climactic scene involved a controversial public reading of a letter by anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti; in She's Working Her Way Through College, Palmer stands up at a public assembly to convince the populace that exotic dancers have the same rights as anyone else. Of course, Ronald Reagan could take a political stance if he wanted to...but not in this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Virginia Mayo, Ronald Reagan, (more)
- 1952
Springfield Rifle was Gary Cooper's third western in a row, released not long after the classic High Noon. Cooper plays Union army officer Lex Kearney, who undertakes a covert investigation to find out why the North's supply of horses has suddenly diminished. Because of the top-secret nature of his mission, Kearney is forced to distance himself from everyone he knows, including his wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter) and son Jamie (Michael Chapin). Heading to a remote cavalry post, he discovers that renegade soldiers have been stealing horses and selling them to the South. Someone at the post has been operating as the thieves' "inside man," and Lex, posing as a dishonorably discharged soldier, aims to ferret out the traitor. Had it not followed directly on the heels of the critical and financial success of High Noon, Springfield Rifle might have fared better with audiences and reviewers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, (more)
