Leora Thatcher
{{short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|05|12}}
| birth_place = Logan, Utah, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|03|05|1894|05|12}}
| death_place = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
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| occupation = Actress, teacher
| alma_mater = University of Utah
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Leora Thatcher (May 12, 1894 – March 5, 1984) was an American actress on stage, film, and television, and a teacher.
Early years
Thatcher was born in Logan, Utah, on May 12, 1894, the daughter of Sarah Catherine Hopkins and Moses Thatcher, Jr. She had a brother and two sisters.{{cite news |title=Leora Thatcher Home for First Vacation in Four Years |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93061312/leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=August 8, 1941 |page=20|via = Newspapers.com}} She attended Brigham Young College, Utah State Agricultural College, and the University of Utah (UU), from which she graduated in 1921. At UU, she studied speech and theater under Maud May Babcock. She taught speech at Logan High School for two years before she became an actress.{{cite web |title=Leora Thatcher |url=https://historytogo.utah.gov/thatcher-leora/ |website=History to Go |publisher=Utah Division of State History |access-date=January 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016231641/https://historytogo.utah.gov/thatcher-leora/ |archive-date=October 16, 2020}}
Career
Thatcher's career began with her acting with the KSL Players in Utah.{{cite news |title=U. 'Music Man' Signs Leora Thatcher |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93053205/leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=June 14, 1962 |page=23|via = Newspapers.com}} She joined the Moroni Olsen Players in 1923 and spent eight years performing with that touring repertory company. For eight years she played Ada Jester in Tobacco Road on Broadway, after which she continued in that role in the play's touring company. Her other Broadway credits included One Bright Day (1952), The Male Animal (1952), The Children's Hour (1952), The Music Man (1957), and J.B. (1958),{{cite web |title=Leora Thatcher |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/leora-thatcher-94751 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=January 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122222206/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/leora-thatcher-94751 |archive-date=January 22, 2022 |url-status=bot: unknown }}
Films in which Thatcher appeared included Counsel for Crime (1937), Theodora Goes Wild (1936),{{cite news |title=Leora Thatcher Applied Make-Up To Appear Homely — Not Beautiful! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93056376/leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=The Herald-Journal |date=July 30, 1941 |location=Utah, Logan |page=3|via = Newspapers.com}} and a series of comedies starring Andy Clyde.{{cite news |title=Screen and Radio Star Coming Here in 'Tobacco Road' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93062587/leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=St. Louis Globe-Democrat |date=February 25, 1938 |page=22|via = Newspapers.com}} On radio, Thatcher portrayed Marge Mulvaney on Lora Lawton{{cite news |title=Production |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-04-05-BC.pdf#page=94 |access-date=January 22, 2022 |work=Broadcasting |date=April 5, 1948 |page=90}} and Mrs. Kramer on The Right to Happiness{{r|dunningota|page1=447}} and was a supporting player on The Mel Blanc Show.{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=John|title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-19-507678-3|page=447|edition=Revised}} She also was heard on Aunt Jenny's Stories, Ellen Randolph, Good Neighbors, and Second Husband, and she directed some radio programs. Television programs on which Thatcher appeared included I Remember Mama, Kraft Theatre, NBC Matinee Theater, Robert Montgomery Presents, and Studio One.
In 1943, while her parents were ill, Thatcher taught a play production class at USAC.{{cite news |title=Noted Actress Teaches Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93065561/leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=Cache American |date=October 22, 1943 |location=Utah, Logan |page=1|via = Newspapers.com}}
Thatcher was inducted into the Pioneer State Theatre Hall of Fame in 1976.
Death
Thatcher died on March 5, 1984, in Salt Lake City, aged 89.{{cite news |title=Actress Leora Thatcher, 89, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93064471/obituary-for-actress-leora-thatcher/ |access-date=January 20, 2022 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=March 8, 1984 |page=D 7|via = Newspapers.com}}
Photographs
The Leora Thatcher Photograph Collection is housed at the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah. It contains 36 photographs, most of which are of Thatcher and her relatives.{{cite web |title=The Leora Thatcher Photograph Collection, 1977 |url=https://history.utah.gov/finding-aids/data/C00232/c0232.html |website=Utah State Historical Society |access-date=January 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119205639/https://history.utah.gov/finding-aids/data/C00232/c0232.html |archive-date=January 19, 2022}}
References
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Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:American radio actresses
Category:American soap opera actresses
Category:American stage actresses