American actress (1912?1982)
Reta Shaw
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Born
| (
1912-09-13
)
September 13, 1912
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Died
| January 8, 1982
(1982-01-08)
(aged 69)
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Resting place
| Forest Lawn Memorial Park
in the
Hollywood Hills
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Occupation
| Actress
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Years active
| 1935?1975
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Spouse
| William A. Forester (divorced)
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Children
| 1
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Reta Shaw
(September 13, 1912 – January 8, 1982) was an American
character actress
known for playing strong, hard-edged, working women in film and on many of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. She may be best remembered as the housekeeper, Martha Grant, on the television series
The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
and as the cook, Mrs. Brill, in the 1964 film
Mary Poppins
.
[1]
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Reta M. Shaw was born in
South Paris, Maine
, on September 13, 1912,
[3]
to Edna M. (nee Easson) and Howard Walker Shaw. Her father was an orchestra leader. Shaw's younger sister was actress Marguerite Shaw.
[4]
The daughter and granddaughter of women who believed in
spiritualism
, Shaw reportedly once told a newspaper interviewer that she had been "brought up on a
ouija board
."
[1]
She was a graduate of the
Leland Powers School
of the Theater in Boston, Massachusetts.
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
Shaw's first credited appearance on the Broadway stage was in 1947's
It Takes Two
.
[1]
She then appeared in
Virginia Reel
and on Broadway in a comedic role as Mabel in the original production of
The Pajama Game
in 1954, as well as in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
,
Picnic
, and
Annie Get Your Gun
,
the last on tour with
Mary Martin
. She had featured roles in several motion pictures, including
Picnic
,
The Pajama Game
,
Mary Poppins
,
Pollyanna
,
The Ghost And Mr. Chicken
,
Bachelor in Paradise
and
Escape to Witch Mountain
.
[2]
She appeared in the first season (1958?1959) of
The Ann Sothern Show
in the role of Flora Macauley, the overbearing wife of Jason Macauley, played by
Ernest Truex
. She appeared in
Pollyanna
in 1960 as Tillie Langerlof. In the 1960?1961, she played the housekeeper Thelma on
The Tab Hunter Show
. She played a housekeeper in the 1961?1962 series
Ichabod and Me
[2]
and the
Wiere Brothers
′ landlady Mrs. Stansfield in
Oh! Those Bells
in 1962.
[6]
[7]
[8]
In 1961, she was cast as Cora in the episode "Uncle Paul's New Wife" of
Pete and Gladys
, starring
Harry Morgan
and
Cara Williams
. In that installment, Uncle Paul is played by
Gale Gordon
, a semi-regular on the series.
[2]
During the 1964?1965 season, she was reunited with Williams with a recurring role on
The Cara Williams Show
as Mrs. Burkhardt, the wife of a business executive.
[9]
[10]
Shaw appears in a 1962 episode of the series
Outlaws
with
Barton MacLane
. She also plays a comic role for
The Lucy Show
as a grandmother who sits on a $500 bill that Lucy lost and soon after sits on Lucy's hand in the episode "Lucy Misplaces $2,000". Thereafter, she guest starred in the CBS
anthology series
The Lloyd Bridges Show
. She appears too as the bar hostess Teeney in the 1964 episode "The Richard Bloodgood Story" of the series
Wagon Train
. Shaw's character of Bertha/Hagatha, a matronly witch, is a recurring character on TV's
Bewitched
, and she performed as Miss Gormley in an episode of
The Brian Keith Show
.
[2]
Shaw appeared twice in CBS's
The Andy Griffith Show
, as escaped convict Big Maude Tyler ("Convicts at Large") and as Eleanora Poultice, the educated voice teacher of
Barney Fife
("The Song Festers"). She guest-stars as well as Aunt Clara in the 1965 episode "Return from Outer Space") of
Lost in Space
. In the 1966 feature film
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
Shaw portrays the banker's wife and leader of the "Psychic Occult Society", Mrs. Halcyon Maxwell. In 1967, she played a THRUSH Agent, "Miss Witherspoon", in an episode of
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
[2]
On television, Shaw was also seen in
Mister Peepers
,
Armstrong Circle Theater
,
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
and
The Millionaire
. In 1965, she appeared on
The Dick Van Dyke Show
as an unemployment office worker. In 1965, she also appeared in an episode of
My Three Sons
. She played a housekeeper named Fredocia whom Steve had hired after Bub took a trip to Ireland. That particular episode was Uncle Charley's first appearance. In 1966, she appeared in a bit part on
That Girl
as a department-store organist. In 1966, she appeared as Bessie, an undercover agent, in the episode of
I Spy
titled "Lisa".
Shaw co-starred on the sitcom
The Ghost & Mrs. Muir
where she played housekeeper Martha Grant. The show took place in the fictional fishing village of Schooner Bay, Maine while Shaw was born in
South Paris, Maine
.
Shaw appeared in a season 4 episode of
I Dream of Jeannie
titled "Jeannie and the Wild Pipchicks", in which she played a strict Air Force dietician who has her innermost inhibition released (in her case a beautiful butterfly). In
The Odd Couple
, she appeared as a nanny who was a former army colonel in the episode "Maid for Each Other", which aired on November 23, 1973. In 1973 she played country nurse Ozella Peterson in the
Emergency!
episode "Snakebite". In 1974, on
Happy Days
, she played the babysitter Mrs. McCarthy in the episode titled "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do". Her final performance came in the 1975 film
Escape to Witch Mountain
in the role of Mrs. Grindley, owner of the orphanage where Tia and Tony are sent after the death of their foster parents.
[2]
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Shaw married and divorced actor William Forester. While married the couple had one child, daughter Kathryn Anne Forester.
[5]
Shaw died in 1982 at age 69 from
emphysema
in
Encino, California
.
[1]
[5]
Filmography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
Galbraith, Jane. " She also played “Big Maude Tyler” an escaped convict on The Andy Griffith show “Convicts At Large” aired 12/10/1962.
TV Servant Had Proper Spirit for Part
".
Los Angeles Times
. January 18, 1982, p.22.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Reta Shaw
at
IMDb
- ^
Cox, Stephen; Marhanka, Kevin (2008).
The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts
. Cumberland House. p. 77.
ISBN
978-1581826586
.
- ^
"Marguerite Shaw, 66; Actress and Educator"
.
The New York Times
. October 2, 1983
. Retrieved
April 1,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Reta Shaw, Was Mabel In 'The Pajama Game'
"
.
The New York Times
. January 18, 1982. p. 10, Column 3, Section D
. Retrieved
April 1,
2018
.
- ^
McNeil, Alex,
Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present
, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 614.
- ^
Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh,
The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Sixth Edition
, New York: Ballantine Books, 1995;
ISBN
0-345-39736-3
, pg. 766.
- ^
Nostalgia Central: OH! THOSE BELLS
. Accessed January 3, 2022.
- ^
McNeil, Alex,
Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition
, New York: Penguin Books, 1996;
ISBN
0 14 02 4916 8
, pp. 146?147.
- ^
Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh,
The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Ninth Edition
, New York: Ballantine Books, 2007;
ISBN
978-0-345-49773-4
, pp. 220?221.
External links
[
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]
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International
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Artists
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Other
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