Jane Wyatt
Best known for her work on the enduring television sitcom "Father Knows Best" (CBS/NBC, 1954-1960), Jane Wyatt had displayed her talents in numerous stage and film productions before landing the role that brought her into millions of American living rooms each week. After earning a measure of success on Broadway in the classic farce "Dinner at Eight" (1932-33), the pretty brunette was offered a movie contract and made a splash in Frank Capra's revered fantasy "Lost Horizon" (1937). The efforts that followed included titles like "None but the Lonely Heart" (1944), "Boomerang!" (1947), and "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947), and Wyatt was usually up for the demands of her parts. Ironically, the New Jersey native's blacklisting in the early 1950s for liberal sentiments led her to concentrate on television assignments and that was likely instrumental in Wyatt joining the cast of "Father Knows Best." As one of the model TV mothers of the 1950s, she was able to embue the character with a disarming combination of cordiality and charm, and the program became a cultural touchstone of its time. While she displayed sufficient diversity, Wyatt was never a major Broadway or motion picture star, but her place in show business legend was secured by "Father Knows Best" and the conviviality she displayed as the matriarch of an idealized 1950s middle-class household.
Photos
Jane Wyatt
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
40% |
|
Amityville: The Evil Escapes | Alice Leacock (Character) | - | 1989 |
82% |
|
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | Amanda Grayson (Character) | $104.7M | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Missing Children: A Mother's Story | Judge Eloise Walker (Character) | - | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Superdome | Fay Bonelli (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story | Eleanor's Mother (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Nativity | Anna (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Father Knows Best Reunion | Margaret Anderson (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas | Margaret Anderson (Character) | - | 1977 |
No Score Yet |
|
Treasure of Matecumbe | Aunt Effie (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Amelia Earhart | Amy Earhart (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
Katherine | Emily Alman (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tom Sawyer | Aunt Polly (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | You'll Never See Me Again | Mary Alden (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Neighbors | Unknown (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Gun and the Nun | Sister Julia (Character) | - | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Weekend of Terror | Sister Frances (Character) | - | 1970 |
No Score Yet |
|
Never Too Late | Grace Kimbrough (Character) | - | 1965 |
No Score Yet |
|
See How They Run | Augusta Flanders (Character) | - | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Two Little Bears | Anne Davis (Character) | - | 1961 |
No Score Yet |
|
Interlude | Prue Stubbins (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Criminal Lawyer | Maggie Powell (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Our Very Own | Lois Macaulay (Character) | - | 1950 |
60% |
|
House by the River | Marjorie Byrne (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
My Blue Heaven | Janet Pringle (Character) | - | 1950 |
100% |
|
The Man Who Cheated Himself | Lois Frazer (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bad Boy | Mrs. Maud Brown (Character) | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet |
|
Task Force | Mary Morgan (Character) | - | 1949 |
No Score Yet |
|
Canadian Pacific | Dr. Edith Cabot (Character) | - | 1949 |
80% |
|
Pitfall | Sue Forbes (Character) | - | 1948 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | No Minor Vices | Miss Darlington (Character) | - | 1948 |
76% |
|
Boomerang! | Madge Harvey (Character) | - | 1947 |
82% |
|
Gentleman's Agreement | Jane (Character) | - | 1947 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Bachelor's Daughters | Marta Jordan (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Strange Conquest | Dr. Mary Palmer (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
None but the Lonely Heart | Aggie Hunter (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Buckskin Frontier | Vinnie Marr (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Kansan | Eleanor Sager (Character) | - | 1943 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Army Surgeon | Elizabeth "Beth" Ainsley (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Navy Comes Through | Myra Mallory (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Weekend for Three | Ellen `'Gretch'` Craig (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Kisses for Breakfast | Laura Anders (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Double Identity | Joan Bradley (Character) | - | 1941 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Girl From God's Country | Anne Webster (Character) | - | 1940 |
93% |
|
Lost Horizon | Sondra (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | We're Only Human | Sally Rogers (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Luckiest Girl in the World | Pat Duncan (Character) | - | 1936 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | One More River | Dinny Cherrell (Character) | - | 1934 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Great Expectations | Estella (Character) | - | 1934 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Baby Boom | Margaret Anderson (Guest Star) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Super Password | Guest | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hotel | Katherine Jenkins (Guest Star) | 1983 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fantasy Island | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Happy Days | Joan (Guest Star) | 1982 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gibbsville | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alias Smith and Jones | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1971 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Virginian | Mrs. Lori Kinkaid (Guest Star) | 1964 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Here Come the Brides | Emma Peak (Guest Star) | 1970 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Ghost and Mrs. Muir | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1970 |
80% | 89% | Star Trek | Amanda (Guest Star) | 1967 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Unknown (Character) | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wagon Train | Heather Mahoney (Guest Star) | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Father Knows Best | Margaret Anderson (Character) | 1954-1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What's My Line? | Guest | 1958 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Showcase 39 | Unknown (Character) | 1952 |