Georgann Johnson

Georgann Johnson

Intelligent, attractive, low-profile leading lady Georgann Johnson's first major role was as Marge Weskit, wife of wise-guy high-school teacher Harvey Weskit (Tony Randall) in the popular early-TV sitcom Mr. Peepers. For her film debut, she played the lead in James Cagney's only directorial effort, A Short Cut to Hell (1958). By the 1960s, Johnson was firmly established as a dependable second lead and character actress. The sizes of her screen and TV roles have fluctuated from meaty to miniscule: for example, while she is afforded generous screen time as James Garner's small-town lady friend in Murphy's Romance (1985), her supporting role as Martin Ritt's wife in The Slugger's Wife (1988) is dispensed within a single longshot. On TV, she was featured as Dr. Waverly in The Colbys (1984), Katherine McCay in Our Family Honor (1986), and star Sharon Gless' mother in The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990). Georgann Johnson is the widow of writer/director Stanley Prager, and the mother of actress Sally Prager. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide