Actor's Spotlight: Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead.  American.  Born December 6, 1900.  Died April 30, 1974.  Star of radio, film, stage and TV.  Emmy award winner (Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama, 1965).  Golden Globe winner (Best Supporting Actress, 1944, 1964).  Academy Award Nominee. 

Radio program(s) featured: The Shadow, The War of the Worlds, Suspense


IMDB biography
Wikipedia biography

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Without a doubt, Agnes Moorehead is one of my all-time favourite actresses of radio and film.  She was the original Margo Lane (sidekick and love interest of The Shadow).  She worked alongside such greats as Orson Welles, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Vincent Price.

Most often, people remember her as Endora, She-of-the-Lofty-Eyebrows, the archetypal mother-in-law in the '60s & '70s TV sitcom Bewitched.  Radiophiles may also remember her in Suspense, especially from her outstanding performance in a story entitled "Sorry, Wrong Number."

Among her many other credits, Moorehead was cast in three of Orson Welles most (in)famous productions:  The War of the Worlds, The Magnificent Ambersons and Citizen Kane.

 Moorehead in How the West Was Won,  1962

As Margo Lane, she had a dulcet voice.  When I hear her soft and lively words, I imagine a high society woman in a tight-fitting wool skirt-suit and a broad but elaborate hat pinned at the perfect, most flirtatious angle.  She had a wonderfully expressive voice.  Sometimes I imagine her unable to hold a script while she acted, because she would act with her whole body, whether she had a visible audience or not.

In "Sorry, Wrong Number," she used a breathy, whiny, nasal voice.  If "The Man In Black" hadn't announced her name, I would never have guessed it was her.  What strikes me most about this performance is not her flawless delivery, but rather the way she stumbles, stutters and gasps - as an emotionally distraught woman might.  The only reason why I don't like this episode is because I used to work on the phones in a call centre for a major telecommunications company, and the annoying call backs, the disconnects and the frantic clientele - it just strikes too close to home.  It stressed me out!

Despite her lovely singing voice and softer tones, as you'll hear in the 1959 B-Movie The Bat she often adopted a reedy, tough, old-woman voice, with deep declarations of "Oh, that's ridiculous" and soaring exclamations of "Well!"  And say what you will about The Bat, Moorehead is funny as heck when she wants to be, especially when playing against Lenita Lane (who plays her maid).  Agnes Moorehead, playing the role of a funny murder mystery author, and it has Vincent Price in it?  Come on, what more could I ask for?

(Though I want to know, in what world does a mystery author earn enough in royalties to afford a city apartment, a car, a house in the country, a maid of twenty years, a housekeeper, a butler, a cook and an upstairs maid?  A famous movie/radio/TV/stage actress can maybe afford all that, but a mystery writer?)

Versatile, visually and vocally.  (Hush...Hush, Sweet Caroline, 1964)  And I don't think she believes anybody can pull in that kind of income off royalties, either!

And yes, maybe she was prone to melodrama from time to time - but that was the style of the time, and she does it well, especially in comedy.  Her expressive mannerisms - visual and vocal - have always been entertaining.  Agnes Moorehead was the very essence of the leading lady in the Golden Age of Radio.

But I never liked her with pink hair...

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Radio Spotlight #1.  The Shadow:  "Death House Rescue."  Aired September 26, 1937.  This is the first full-length episode of The Shadow, and it stars both Agnes Moorehead and Orson Welles.  All content courtesy of Internet Archive.  For more information on The Shadow or for more episodes, please visit Internet Archive.





 


Radio Spotlight #2.  Suspense:  "Sorry, Wrong Number."  First Aired May 25, 1943.  All content courtesy of Internet Archive.  For more Suspense, visit Internet Archive.







Movie Spotlight:  The Bat.  1959.  All content courtesy of Internet Archive.


RR(1900-12-06)v

Actor's Spotlight: Edmond O'Brien

Edmond O'Brien.  American.  Born September 10, 1915.  Died May 9, 1985.  Star of radio, film, stage and TV.  Academy Award Winner (Best Supporting Actor, 1954).

Radio program(s) featured:  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

IMDB biography
Wikipedia biography

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I could have started with any legendary artist of the Golden Age of Radio, but that's where everybody starts.  Everybody has a story about Orson Welles or Agnes Moorehead, Frank Sinatra or Humphrey Bogart - and in days to come, I probably will too.

But why not start off learning about someone you've never heard of before, one who was a great star and familiar face - and voice - in his day.


"...Edmond O'Brien in another adventure of the man with the action-packed expense account, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator...'Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.'"

O'Brien was the second of several actors to play the role of Johnny Dollar.  He was born in NYC, and you can really hear that distinctive accent in his voice when he plays this character.  Sometimes, actors reprising the role of the hard-boiled detective tend to lower their voices and stay in a narrow vocal range, but O'Brien mixes it up.  To compare, Jack Webb of Dragnet fame was very much monotone (deliberately), on screen and on the radio, to the point where I just want to grab him by the lapels and shake him; but O'Brien keeps a level voice without being monotone - a voice befitting lawyers, cops and private detectives as portrayed in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

But on the downside, I find that his gruff accent isn't enough to distinguish his voice from others on the radio; in fact, in his efforts to be hard-boiled, he sounds villainous.  There are no visual queues that help the audience distinguish one character from the other; voice, word choice and diction are the only three clues to who is speaking, so sometimes it's hard to tell who's winning, the good guy with the tough accent or the bad guy with the criminal drawl.

He can also play the part of a mouth breather, as he did in Julius Caesar (1953).

But regardless, O'Brien was a consummate actor, as you can see in the two biographies posted above.  As you'll see in the video below, acting as a young lawyer O'Brien has a nice, understated, nuanced style, with subtle facial expressions and posture that compliment his otherwise level voice.  This is captured very nicely between 13:05-15:44 and again 1:16:18-1:16:46.  Now, if you were to listen to 13:05-15:44 without looking at the screen, you might not actually hear the difference between one subtle emotion and the next; but when you watch him, you can see the caliber of his performance. I love his versatility in terms of voice and accent, too.  When I compare the character of Johnny Dollar against the character of David Douglas, I can hardly imagine the voice is coming from the same man.

1984 (1956 - confusing, I know, but that's the title of the movie, 1984)

So in my humble opinion, I like O'Brien's work better in a visual medium than on the radio, but I still very much enjoy his style.

Radio spotlight: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.  "The Byron Hayes Matter."  Aired March 24, 1951.  This episode has lapsed into the public domain. All content Courtesy of Internet Archive.  For more information, or to listen to more episodes of Johnny Dollar, visit Internet Archive.




Movie spotlight:  An Act of Murder (1948).  This movie has lapsed into the public domain.  I especially enjoyed this movie; even though it's a bit of a courtroom drama, I loved the story.  All content Courtesy of Internet Archive.