Aneta Corsaut#
{{Short description|American actress (1933–1995)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Aneta Corsaut
| image = Aneta Corsaut Mayberry RFD 1969 (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Aneta Corsaut in Mayberry RFD (1969)
| alt =
| birth_name = Aneta Louise Corsaut
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|11|03|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Hutchinson, Kansas, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1995|11|06|1933|11|03|mf=yes}}
| death_place = Studio City, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| resting_place = Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
| other_names = Anita Corsault
Aneta Corseaut
| occupation = Actress, writer
| years_active = 1955–1992
| known_for =
}}
Aneta Louise Corsaut{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}} (November 3, 1933{{spaced ndash}}November 6, 1995) was an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith Show (1963–1968), Judge Cynthia Justin on Matlock (1991–1992), and Jane in The Blob (1958).
Early life
Born in Hutchinson, Kansas,{{cite book|last=Lentz|first=Harris M. |title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts|year=1995|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=0-786-40253-9|page=42}} Corsaut was the daughter of Jesse Harrison and Opal J. (née Swarens) Corsaut. She majored in drama at Northwestern University and studied acting with Lee Strasberg.{{cite book|last=Kaplan|title=Variety: Who's Who In Show Business|year=1986|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=95}} During her junior year, Corsaut dropped out to pursue a career in acting, although during the run of The Andy Griffith Show, Corsaut took courses at UCLA with plans to earn her degree.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19670529&id=m-BOAAAAIBAJ&pg=7132,4592909|title=One More Year For Andy Griffith|last=Witbeck|first=Charles|date=May 29, 1967|work=Toledo Blade|page=31|access-date=July 2, 2014}}
Career
She began acting in New York City in the mid-1950s.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-10-mn-1722-story.html|title=Aneta Corsaut; Helen Crump on 'Andy Griffith Show'|date=November 10, 1995|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 2, 2014}} In 1958, Corsaut and Steve McQueen made their film debuts in the independent cult horror film The Blob.{{cite book|last=Murdico|first=Suzanne J.|title=Meet the Blob|year=2004|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=1-404-20271-4|page=22}} On television, in 1961–1962, she portrayed Irma Howell on the CBS sitcom Mrs. G. Goes to College.
Corsaut first appeared on the long-running Griffith show in 1963 as schoolteacher Helen Crump, who later became the Mayberry sheriff's wife on the first episode of the spinoff Mayberry R.F.D. In 1965, she was also cast as Kathy McLennan, the young widow of a rancher, in the episode "Paid in Full" on the syndicated Western anthology series Death Valley Days.{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0556694/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl|title=Paid in Full on Death Valley Days|publisher=Internet Movie Database|access-date=September 17, 2018}} Corsaut later had a continuing role as policeman Bumper Morgan's pawn-shop-owner friend on the 1975–1976 series The Blue Knight. In the series Adam-12, Corsaut portrayed Officer Pete Malloy's girlfriend Judy. She had a supporting role as Head Nurse Bradley in the 1980s sitcom House Calls, and she appeared in several episodes of Matlock with star Andy Griffith.Murdico 2004 p.23 In addition, Corsaut played the role of nurse Jesse Brewer in 1977 on the long-running ABC soap opera General Hospital when long-time portrayer Emily McLaughlin was too ill to work.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19770203&id=O9IwAAAAIBAJ&pg=7183,706912|title=Actress Does a 'Double' Take|last=Reed|first=Jon-Michael|date=February 3, 1977|work=Ocala Star-Banner|page=9A|access-date=July 2, 2014}}
She returned to the role of Helen Crump in the reunion shows Return to Mayberry in 1986 and The Andy Griffith Show Reunion in 1993.
As a writer, she coauthored The Mystery Reader's Quiz Book.Corsaut, Aneta; Singer, Muff; Wagner, Robert, The Mystery Reader's Quiz Book, M Evans & Co (December 1981), 0871313510
Personal life
Corsaut neither married nor had children.{{Cite web |title=FamilySearch.org |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LKYZ-H6Y/aneta-louise-corsaut-1933-1995 |access-date=2024-02-25 |website=ancestors.familysearch.org}}
According to the 2015 book Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, Corsaut and the married Andy Griffith had an ongoing affair throughout their five years together on The Andy Griffith Show; the affair was an open secret among the cast and crew.{{cite book |title=Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show |first=Daniel |last=De Visé |year=2015 |pages=146–147 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4767-4773-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/andydonmakingoff0000devi/page/146/mode/2up?q=affair |access-date=2023-05-14 |via=Internet Archive text collection |url-access=limited}}
Death
On November 6, 1995, Corsaut died of cancer in Los Angeles, California. She was interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in nearby North Hollywood.{{cite book|last=Ellenberger|first=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|year=2001|publisher=McFarland & Company Incorporated|isbn=0-786-40983-5|page=202}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1958
|{{sortname|The|Blob}} |Jane Martin |Credited as Aneta Corseaut |
| 1964
|Fran |Uncredited |
| 1965
|{{sortname|A|Rage to Live}} |Mary |Uncredited |
| 1974
|Tourist Mother |Uncredited |
| 1978
|{{sortname|The|Toolbox Murders}} |Joanne Ballard | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1955
| |"The Fourposter" |
| 1955
| |"Man Lost" |
| 1959
|Mary Warren |"Client: Peter Warren" |
| 1960
|Unsolved |Gloria |TV movie |
| 1960
|Lettie Frome |"Black Harvest" |
| 1960
|Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre |Amy |"Ransom" |
| 1960
|Mrs. Bennet |"Bab's Mother" |
| 1960
|{{sortname|The|Detectives|The Detectives (1959 TV series)}} |Ruth Shaley |"Longshot" |
| 1960
|Lydia Starkweather |"Cap'n Pegleg" |
| 1960
|{{sortname|The|Law and Mr. Jones}} |Berger's Daughter |"No Sale" |
| 1961
|{{sortname|The|Law and Mr. Jones}} |Mary Clover |"One for the Money" |
| 1961
|Mrs. Vaughn |"The Specialist" |
| 1961
|Jeannie |"Lady Godiva" |
| 1961
|Susan Fenton |"The Man Who Wouldn't Stay Dead" |
| 1961–1962
|Irma Howell |Regular role |
| 1962
|{{sortname|The|Detectives|The Detectives (1959 TV series)}} |Mae Banks |"The Fourth Commandment" |
| 1962
|Emilie Reed |"Suzie" |
| 1962
|Ellie |"A Shame for the Diamond Wedding" |
| 1963
|Rebecca Kaufman |"The Way of Aaron" |
| 1963
|{{sortname|The|Real McCoys}} |Karen |"The McCoy Hex" |
| 1963–1968
|{{sortname|The|Andy Griffith Show}} |Recurring role |
| 1964
|{{sortname|The|Eleventh Hour|The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)}} |Marian |"The Secret in the Stone" |
| 1965
|Hanna Berger |"Where Does the Boomerang Go?" |
| 1965
|Kathy McLennan / Sarah Howard / Emma Donaldson |"Paid in Full", "Dry Water Sailors", "The Red Shawl" |
| 1965
|{{sortname|The|Farmer's Daughter|The Farmer's Daughter (TV series)}} |Alice |"Katy by Moonlight" |
| 1965
|Lydia Newman |"I'll Cry at My Wedding" |
| 1965
|Eleanor Starkey |"Twenty Miles from Dodge" |
| 1967
|Sister Ruth |"Ladies from St. Louis" |
| 1968–1969
|Helen Crump Taylor |"Andy and Helen Get Married", "Andy's Baby" |
| 1970
|Me and Benjie | |TV movie |
| 1970
|Dr. Neilson |"My Son, the Sitter" |
| 1973
|Jenny Bailey |"Gemini Descending" |
| 1973
|Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law |Ethel Palmer |"Why Is a Crooked Letter" |
| 1973
|Nurse Morgan |"A Stitch in Crime" |
| 1974
|Mrs. Matthews |TV movie |
| 1974
|Helena Hartley |"Propinquity", "Surprise", "Inventions" |
| 1975
|Sheila |"Simple Adjustment" |
| 1975
|Hotel Desk Clerk |"Love, Honor and Swindle" |
| 1975
|Judy |"Ladies' Night", "Something Worth Dying For: Part 2" |
| 1975
|{{sortname|The|Blue Knight|The Blue Knight (TV series)}} |Vera |"Triple Threat" |
| 1976
|Miss Erdlatz |"Part I: Chapters 1 & 2" |
| 1976
|Brenda Tillerman |"The Highest Mountain" |
| 1979
|{{sortname|The|Runaways|The Runaways (TV series)}} |Shirley Grady |"Street of Terror: Part 2" |
| 1980–81
|Head Nurse Bradley |Recurring role |
| 1983
|Dorothy Smith |"Pandora Has Wings" |
| 1984
|Blanche Dailey |TV series |
| 1986
|Mrs. Weaver |"Hearts Divided" |
| 1986
|Helen Crump Taylor |TV movie |
| 1987
|Mrs. Ida Stillman |"The Network" |
| 1990
|Sarah Richards |"The Mother" |
| 1991–1992
|Judge Cynthia Justin |Recurring role, (final appearance) |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0181080|name=Aneta Corsaut}}
- {{Find a Grave|8449}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corsaut, Aneta}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Kansas
Category:American film actresses
Category:American soap opera actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Category:Deaths from cancer in California
Category:Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Category:People from Hutchinson, Kansas
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:20th-century American women writers