Margaret Whitton

Whitton was born on Fort Meade, Maryland, a US Army base in the suburbs of Baltimore. She spent many of her formative years in Japan; her father was an Army colonel, and her mother was a nurse. The family eventually relocated to Haddonfield, New Jersey, and then to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Whitton started acting at Northeast High School.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/movies/margaret-whitton-major-league-actress-dies-at-67.html|title=Margaret Whitton, Major League Actress, Dies at 67|last=Sandomir |first=Richard|date=December 6, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206182714/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/movies/margaret-whitton-major-league-actress-dies-at-67.html |url-status=live |archive-date=December 6, 2016}} She made her Off-Broadway debut in 1973 with Baby Goya, and her Broadway debut in 1982's Steaming.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/05/margaret-whitton-dead-major-league-dies|title=Margaret Whitton dead: Major League actress dies at 67|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|first=Will|last=Robinson|date=December 6, 2016|access-date=October 24, 2018}}

Whitton did her primary film work between 1986 and 1993. Her most visible roles were that of socialite Vera Prescott in The Secret of My Success (1987), and spiteful baseball team owner Rachel Phelps in Major League (1989), and its sequel Major League II (1994). Whitton also appeared in The Best of Times (1986) and The Man Without a Face (1993). Her other film roles included parts in National Lampoon Goes to the Movies (1982), Love Child (1982) and 9½ Weeks (1986).

Whitton worked as a television actress, with appearances in the soap operas One Life to Live and The Doctors. Her first prime time role was in the 1985 dramedy Hometown. In 1989, Whitton played a divorcee in the short-lived comedy series A Fine Romance. She later starred in the 1991 sitcom Good & Evil, which was cancelled after six episodes.

Whitton returned to the stage, appearing on Broadway in And the Apple Doesn't Fall... (1995), as Mac in Jeffrey Hatcher's The Three Viewings (1995), and in the original musical Marlene (1999).

Distribution rights to her film A Bird of the Air were acquired by Freestyle Digital Media. It was based upon the novel The Loop by Joe Coomer and was adapted for film by Roger Towne. At the time of her death, Whitton served as president of Tashtego Films, an independent-film production company, co-founded with producer Steven Tabakin.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tashtegofilms.com/|title=Tashtego Films - Independent Film, TV and Beyond|website=www.tashtegofilms.com}}

Whitton was married to Bear, Stearns & Co. executive Warren Spector from 1993 until her death in 2016.

Whitton died on December 4, 2016, four days after her 67th birthday, at her home in Florida after a brief battle with cancer.

{{reflist|refs=

{{citation | first1=John | last1=Willis | title=Screen World 1994 | volume=45 | editor1-first=Barry | editor1-last=Monush | publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation | year=1995 | isbn=1557832013 | page=302 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z8yFlYq1h7IC&pg=PA302 | postscript=. }}

{{citation | first1=K. | last1=Edgington | first2=Thomas L. | last2=Erskine | first3=James | last3=Welsh | title=Encyclopedia of Sports Films | pages=302–305 | publisher=Scarecrow Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-0810876521 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xBVtMpDYaoC&pg=PA302 | postscript=. }}

{{citation | first1=John | last1=Simon | date=April 17, 1995 | title=Funeral Parlor Games | work=New York | volume=28 | issue=16 | page=108 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UOMCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA108 | postscript=. }}

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{{citation | first1=Gregg | last1=Kilday | title=Freestyle Digital Media Takes Non-Theatrical Rights to Margaret Whitton's A Bird of the Air | date=March 26, 2012 | work=The Hollywood Reporter | url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/freestyle-margaret-whitton-bird-air-304533 | access-date=2012-05-27 | postscript=. }}

{{citation | date=September 26, 1988 | first1=Jerry | last1=Buck | work=Los Angeles Times | title=Margaret Whitton Changes Partners in Fine Romance | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-26-ca-1928-story.html | access-date=2012-05-30 | postscript=. }}

{{citation | title=ABC Drops Good & Evil, Irks Series Creator | date=October 25, 1991 | first1=Daniel | last1=Cerone | work=Los Angeles Times | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-25-ca-394-story.html | access-date=2012-05-28 | postscript=. }}

{{citation | first1=Clifford | last1=Terry | date=January 26, 1989 | title=Fine Romance Fine Mess | work=Chicago Tribune | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/01/26/fine-romance-fine-mess/ | access-date=2012-05-29 | postscript=. }}

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• {{IMDb name|id=0926592|name=Margaret Whitton}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{Iobdb name|6414|Margaret Whitton}}
• [http://www.abirdoftheair.com A Bird of the Air] official website
• {{cite web | first1=Nigel M. | last1=Smith | date=September 22, 2011 | website=IndieWire | publisher=SnagFilms Co. | title=In Her Own Words: Margaret Whitton Shares a Scene From A Bird of the Air | url=http://www.indiewire.com/article/in_her_own_words_margaret_whitton_shares_a_scene_from_a_bird_of_the_air | access-date=2012-05-28}}

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Category:1949 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:People from Fort Meade, Maryland

Category:Actresses from Maryland

Category:Actresses from Philadelphia

Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Deaths from cancer in Florida

Category:21st-century American women