Meg Wyllie
{{short description|American actress (1917–2002)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Meg Wyllie
| image = Meg Wyllie in Beauty and the Beast trailer.jpg
| image_size = 220px
| caption = Wyllie in 1962
| birth_name = Margaret Gillespie Wyllie
| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|2|15}}
| birth_place = Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|1|1|1917|2|15}}
| death_place = Glendale, California, U.S.
| other_names = Meg Wylie
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1952–1995
}}
Margaret Gillespie Wyllie (February 15, 1917{{Citation needed |date=January 2023}} – January 1, 2002) was an American actress who appeared primarily on television. She portrayed Mrs. Kissel in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964).
Early years
Born in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, Wyllie grew up in the Philippines, where her father worked as an engineer in sugar plantations on Negros Island near Bacolod. She attended the Brent School in Baguio for grammar school and high school then moved to New York City in the 1940s.p. 140 in: Halsema, James J. Bishop Brent's Baguio School: The First 75 Years. Brent School, Baguio, Philippines 247pp. {{OCLC|20331617}}
Stage
Wyllie acted with the Pasadena Playhouse, in Visit to a Small Planet (1958),{{cite news|title=Ticket Sale Begins at Playhouse|newspaper=Covina Argus |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5099470/covina_argus/|agency=Covina Argus|date=September 18, 1958|location=California, Covina|page=9|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 28, 2016}} {{Open access}} Two on an Island (1940) and All the Comforts of Home (1941).{{cite news|title=Comedy Will Be Chaffey Event|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5099203/the_san_bernardino_county_sun/|agency=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=March 15, 1941|location=California, San Bernardino|page=15|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}} She had previously appeared in Dear Brutus and Morning Glory there.{{cite news|title=Elmer Rice Play To Open in Pasadena|newspaper=Santa Ana Register |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5099162/santa_ana_register/|agency=Santa Ana Register|date=October 28, 1940|location=California, Santa Ana|page=10|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}}
Wyllie was in the original production of The Glass Menagerie. On Broadway, she performed in Norman Ginsbury's historic play The First Gentleman.{{cite web|title=Meg Wyllie|url=http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&people=on&theatres=on&search-module=Meg+Wyllie&qasset=00000150-ac83-d16d-a550-ecbfacab0004|website=Playbill|accessdate=30 April 2016}}
Television
Wyllie "appeared on nearly every popular TV series of the late 1950s and much of the 1960s."
In 1960, Wyllie appeared as a grandmother in the "Bullets and Ballet" episode of Tightrope!,{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|newspaper=Daily Independent Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5099767/daily_independent_journal/|agency=Daily Independent Journal|date=May 28, 1960|location=California, San Rafael|page=33|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}} as Mrs. Blowers in Wagon Train in the episode "The Ricky & Laurie Bell Story" and in The Twilight Zone episode "The Night of the Meek".{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|newspaper=Daily Independent Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5102161/daily_independent_journal/|agency=Daily Independent Journal|date=December 17, 1960|location=California, San Rafael|page=42|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}} That same year, she was cast as Mrs. Shafer in the episode "The Captain's Dilemma" of the CBS military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper as a United States Navy physician and Abby Dalton as nurse Martha Hale.
Between 1962 and 1966 Wyllie made four guest appearances on Perry Mason. Her most substantial role of these was as Ninevah Stone in the episode, "The Case of the Nebulous Nephew"{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=The Salem News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5102511/the_salem_news/|agency=The Salem News|date=August 27, 1966|location=Ohio, Salem|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}} (1963). She also played Marguerite Keith, the owner of a home in the path of a road, in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Ruinous Road".{{cite news|title=TV Previews|newspaper=The Daily Reporter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5102454/the_daily_reporter/|agency=The Daily Reporter|date=December 31, 1964|location=Ohio, Dover|page=14|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}}
In the 1963–1964 season, Wyllie had a recurring role as Mrs. Kissel{{cite news|title=Indians Block Trail on Video Show|newspaper=The Daily Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5102398/the_daily_herald/|agency=The Daily Herald|date=September 16, 1963|location=Utah, Provo|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = April 29, 2016}} {{Open access}} in 18 episodes of ABC's family western series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. Mark Allen played Matt Kissel, her husband, in nineteen episodes. In nine episodes, four of The Osmonds were cast as the singing sons of the Kissel family, all with given names of books of the Old Testament, Micah, Deuteronomy, Lamentations, and Leviticus.{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}} She played the first-ever villain in Star Trek, the Talosian "Keeper" in the pilot episode, "The Cage" (1964). Not broadcast in its original form for many years, this material was used in the two-parter, "The Menagerie" (1966). She also appeared in Batman alongside Tallulah Bankhead in one episode “Black Widow Strikes Again” (1967)
Wyllie appeared on ABC's General Hospital as three different characters-Nurse Doris Roach (1974) who revealed to Lesley Faulkner that her daughter (Laura Vining) was still alive; Antique shop proprietor Hester Frumpkin (1982) who worked for Laura's kidnapper, David Gray; and a brief replacement for Anna Lee as Lila Quartermaine (1994).{{cite news|last1=Reichardt|first1=Nancy M.|title='General Hospital' Update: Lila's Back To Her Former Self|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-25-tv-42586-story.html|access-date=30 April 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 25, 1994}} She also played several different characters on both The Golden Girls and Designing Women.
Death
Wyllie died on January 1, 2002, at the age of 84 in Glendale, California, from heart failure. She was survived by a cousin.{{cite news|last1=Galloway|first1=Doug|title=Meg Wyllie|url=https://variety.com/2002/scene/people-news/meg-wyllie-1117860484/|accessdate=30 April 2016|agency=Variety|date=February 10, 2002}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable unsortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| rowspan=2|1961
| Helen Cooper | |
| The Children's Hour
| Wells’ Maid | Uncredited |
| 1962
| Woman | |
| 1964
| Marnie | Mrs. Turpin | |
| 1967
| Saleswoman | rowspan=2|Uncredited |
| 1971
| Police Dispatcher |
| 1974
| Our Time | Nurse | |
| 1976
| Lipstick | Sister Margaret | |
| rowspan=2|1983
| Mrs. Gardner | |
| Cracking Up
| Anti-Smoking Enforcer | Uncredited |
| 1984
| The Last Starfighter || Granny Gordon || |
| 1986
| Nothing in Common || Grandma on Commercial Set || |
| 1987
| Dragnet || Mrs. Gannon || |
| 1989
| Granny | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable unsortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1960
| The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) | Sister Florence | S2:E11, "The Night of the Meek" |
| 1962
| Matilda | S6:E5, "The John Augustus Story{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0743153/characters/nm0943816?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t8 | title="Wagon Train" the John Augustus Story (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb | website=IMDb }}" |
| 1966
| Star Trek: The Original Series | The Keeper | S1:E11-E12, "The Menagerie" |
| 1967
| Batman | Grandma | S2:E55, “Black Widow Strikes Again” |
| 1977
| Sister #1 | S1:E10: "Dear Beverly; Strike; Special Delivery" |
| 1987
| Stewardess | S3:E5: "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself" |
| 1991
| Millicent Kennedy | S7:E6, "Mother Load" |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0943816}}
{{Memory Alpha}}
- {{IBDB name|108068}}
{{Portal bar|Hawaii|Philippines|New York (state)|California|Television}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyllie, Meg}}
Category:American expatriates in the Philippines
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Actresses from Hawaii
Category:Actresses from Honolulu