Phyllis Thaxter

Thaxter was born in Portland, Maine, the youngest of three children of Phyllis ({{nee}} Schuyler) Thaxter, former actress, and future Maine Supreme Court justice Sidney St. Felix Thaxter; her siblings were brother, Sidney W. Thaxter, and sister, Hildegarde Schuyler Thaxter (later the wife of federal judge Edward Thaxter Gignoux).[https://www.newspapers.com/image/828353175/?clipping_id=157051164 "Mrs Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter, Hildegarde and Baby Phyllis, Portland"]. Lewiston Journal Magazine. March 12, 1921. p. 7. Retrieved October 13, 2024. "The little ones are named Sidney W., Hildegarde and Baby Phyllis."[https://www.newspapers.com/image/847922622/?clipping_id=157053407 "Announce Plans for Wedding of Miss Hildegarde Thaxter; Miss Phyllis Thaxter Will Attend Sister for Event June 30 at St. Luke's Cathedral"]. Portland Press Herald. June 5, 1938. p. C2. Retrieved October 13, 2924. "... Miss Hildegarde Schuyler Thaxter, daughter of Judge and Mrs. Sidney St. Felix Thaxter of Danforth Street and Cushing's Island, and Edward Thaxter Gignoux, son of Col. and Mrs. Frederick E. Gignoux of Cape Elizabeth, who will be married Thursday, June 30. [...] Among the boys in the Portland group will be Sidney W. Thaxter, brother of the bride-elect."[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-star-press/157056069/ "Deaths Elsewhere: Retired Federal Judge Dies"]. The Star Press. November 6, 1988. p. 44. Retrieved October 13, 2024. "Gignoux is survived by his wife of 50 years, the former Hildegarde Thaxter..." Her grandfather, Major Sidney W. Thaxter, was awarded the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War.{{cite web |title=Sidney Warren Thaxter |url=https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/sidney-w-thaxter |website=cmohs.org |publisher=Congressional Medal of Honor Society |access-date=13 January 2025}}

Before appearing in films, Thaxter was on the stage. When Dorothy McGuire went to Hollywood, Thaxter replaced her in the Broadway play Claudia. In 1944, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her movie debut was opposite Van Johnson in the 1944 wartime film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. In the 1945 film-noir Bewitched, Thaxter played Joan Alris Ellis, a woman with split personality. In 1948, she played a cattle owner's daughter in Blood on the Moon.

File:30SOT trailer 27 Ellen and Ted Lawson.JPG from the film, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo 1944]]

On August 15, 1952, Thaxter—having recently completed work on Operation Secret and Springfield Rifle, and awaiting the birth of her second child—was hospitalized with what was described as a "mild" and "non-paralytic" case of polio.Hopper, Hedda (September 4, 1952). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/157089614/ "Hollywood"]. New York Daily News. p. C14. Retrieved October 14, 2024.Byrne, John E. (August 31, 1952). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/157089614/ "Polio More Than a Word; Phyllis Thaxter Determined to Fight Dread Disease"]. Portland Press Herald. p. 2A. Retrieved October 14, 2024. Although the illness did not impact her pregnancy, it proved sufficiently serious to all but end Thaxter's film career when, the following month, columnist Hedda Hopper reported that the actress's contract with Warner Brothers had, "by mutual agreement", been "quietly washed up". Of the remaining, predominantly TV-focused four decades of Thaxter's career, the big screen portion comprised four widely spaced credits.[https://catalog.afi.com/Person/125365-Phyllis-Thaxter "Phyllis Thaxter Filmography"]. American Film Institute. Retrieved October 14, 2024.

Thaxter appeared in television series such as Rawhide, portraying Pauline Cushman in the episode "The Blue Spy" (1961), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, portraying a paralyzed wife being terrorized by her husband in the episode "The Long Silence" (1963), Wagon Train ("The Christine Elliott Story" and "The Vivian Carter Story"), The Twilight Zone ("Young Man's Fancy"), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.{{Citation |title=The Alfred Hitchcock Hour : The Long Silence (1963) - Robert Douglas {{!}} Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related {{!}} AllMovie |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-alfred-hitchcock-hour--the-long-silence-vm295957 |access-date=2024-02-21 |language=en}}

She returned to Broadway, appearing in Take Her, She's Mine at the Biltmore in 1961.

File:Mona Freeman, husband Pat Nerney, and Phyllis Thaxter, 1949.jpg, her husband Pat Nerney, and Phyllis Thaxter depicted in Photoplay, 1949]]

In 1978, Thaxter was cast with Glenn Ford as Jonathan and Martha Kent in the blockbuster film Superman. In 1992, she appeared in the season nine "Family Secrets" episode of Murder, She Wrote.

In 2003, Thaxter had a seconds long appearance in the Midsomer Murders episode "The Fisher King" (season 7, episode 3).

Patricia Bosworth, in her biography of Montgomery Clift, tells of Thaxter's close relationship with Clift in the early 1940s, writing that they "seemed so close that a great many people assumed they would eventually marry".

While at MGM, Phyllis Thaxter married James T. Aubrey Jr., who later became president of CBS-TV and MGM. They had two children.{{cite web | last=Barnes | first=Mike | title=Skye Aubrey, Actress in 'The Carey Treatment' and 'Batman,' Dies at 74 | work=The Hollywood Reporter | date=December 18, 2020 | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/skye-aubrey-actress-in-the-carey-treatment-and-batman-dies-at-74-4107392/ | access-date=December 7, 2021}} The couple divorced in 1962.{{Cite web|date=June 18, 2018|title=James T. Aubrey Jr. '41|url=https://paw.princeton.edu/memorial/james-t-aubrey-jr-41|access-date=October 28, 2020|website=Princeton Alumni Weekly|language=en}}{{cite magazine | url=http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,839404,00.html | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501095943/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839404-1,00.html | archive-date=May 1, 2008 | title=The Regency Firing | magazine=Time Magazine | date=March 12, 1965 | access-date=December 7, 2021}}

In 1962, Thaxter married Gilbert Lea. They were married for 46 years until his death on May 4, 2008.

A Republican, she supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 34, Ideal Publishers

Thaxter died on August 14, 2012, aged 92, in Longwood, Florida after an eight-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.

She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in Maine.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=September 5, 2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-7992-4 |page=741 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-DgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA741 |access-date=May 31, 2023 |language=en}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web| url=https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1930usfedcen/?name=Phyllis_Thaxter&father=Sidney_Thaxter| title=Phyllis Thaxter - 1930 United States Federal Census| website=Ancestry.com}}

{{cite news |first=Denise |last=Grady |title=Phyllis Thaxter, Actress Who Played Superman's Mother, Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/movies/phyllis-thaxter-actress-who-played-supermans-ma-kent-dies-at-92.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 18, 2012 |access-date=2012-08-22 |url-access=subscription}}

{{cite book |author=Ken Bloom |author-link=Ken Bloom (writer) |title=Broadway: Its History, People, and Places: an Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fYbYyQjHwdsC&pg=PA71 |year=2004 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-93704-7 |page=71}}

{{cite book |author=Patricia Bosworth |title=Montgomery Clift: A Biography |year=2004 |publisher=Limelight Editions |isbn=978-0879101350 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNi9ksSb92sC&pg=PA80}}

{{cite news |title=Obituary: Gilbert Lea |newspaper=Town Topics |location=Princeton, New Jersey |date=May 21, 2008 |url=http://www.towntopics.com/may2108/obits.html#obit3 |access-date=2015-10-16}}

{{cite journal |first=Mike |last=Barnes |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/actress-phyllis-thaxter-dies-superman-mother-362757 |title=Actress Phyllis Thaxter, Superman's Mom, Dies at 92 |journal=The Hollywood Reporter |date=August 15, 2012 |access-date=2015-10-15}}

{{cite news |first=Walter |last=Kirby |title=Better Radio Programs for the Week |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2470060/the_decatur_daily_review/ |newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review |date=March 16, 1952 |page=44 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2015-05-23}}

{{cite news |first=Walter |last=Kirby |title=Better Radio Programs for the Week |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2675256/the_decatur_daily_review/ |newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review |date=March 1, 1953 |page=46 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2015-06-23}}

{{cite news |first=Walter |last=Kirby |title=Better Radio Programs for the Week |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2695625/the_decatur_daily_review/ |newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review |date=May 10, 1953 |page=50 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2015-06-27}}

}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|857187}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{find a Grave|95408302}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaxter, Phyllis}}

Category:American film actresses

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:1919 births

Category:2012 deaths

Category:Actresses from Portland, Maine

Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Florida

Category:Polio survivors

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players

Category:Warner Bros. contract players

Category:Schuyler family

Category:American people of Dutch descent

Category:Maine Republicans

Category:California Republicans

Category:Florida Republicans