Louise Latham obit

Louise Latham, Tippi Hedren’s Mother in Hitchcock’s ‘Marnie,’ Dies at 95

She was 42 and late for her audition when she got her first movie role, one that changed her career.

She was not on the list.

Louise Latham, the actress who made her big-screen debut by portraying the manipulative mother of Tippi Hedren’s character in Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense thriller Marnie, has died. She was 95.

Latham died Feb. 12 in a retirement home in Montecito, California, it was announced.

On television, Latham showed up as Olivia’s (Michael Learned) Aunt Kate on a 1977 episode of The Waltons, and she portrayed Perky, the mother of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter and Delta Burke, respectively) in 1986 on Designing Women.

She also appeared on the first episode of Family Affair as Aunt Fran in 1966 and in the final, highly rated installment of The Fugitive a year later.

Latham was 42, just eight years older than Hedren, when she portrayed Bernice Edgar, a former prostitute who years earlier had a rough time with a drunken sailor (Bruce Dern), in Marnie (1964). (She was made up to look as if she were about 24 in the movie’s revealing flashback scene.)

Before that high-profile gig, the native of Hamilton, Texas, had worked primarily on the stage, at the Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas and on Broadway in a revival of Major Barbara and for a week in the Isle of Children, directed by Jules Dassin.

After Latham couldn’t find a taxi during her first visit to Los Angeles and arrived a half-hour late at Universal for her Marnie audition, she spotted Hitchcock leaving the studio in a limousine and ran over to him, she recalled in Tony Lee Moral’s 2002 book, Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie.

The director invited her into the car, and during their 20-minute drive he said, “You’re supposed to be older.” She replied, “Believe me, I’ve just aged 10 years.” She got the part.

“Marnie changed my life, that’s all,” Latham said in 1965. “All I want from acting is to satisfy my soul; now I want some more of the same.”

She went on to appear in other movies like Firecreek (1968) with James Stewart and Henry Fonda; White Lightning (1973) with Burt Reynolds; The Sugarland Express (1974) in Steven Spielberg’s first feature; Mass Appeal (1984) with Jack Lemmon; Paradise (1991) with Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson; and Love Field (1992) with Michelle Pfeiffer.

Latham’s TV résumé also included guest shots on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; Bonanza; Gunsmoke; The F.B.I.; Kojak; Hawaii Five-O; Ironside; Columbo; Rhoda; The Streets of San Francisco; Murder, She Wrote and, in her final onscreen appearance, The X-Files in 2000.

Filmography

Film

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1964      Marnie Bernice Edgar   

1967      Johnny Belinda Mrs. McKee        TV movie

1968      Firecreek             Dulcie   

1969      Hail, Hero!           Miss Mirabel     

1970      Adam at 6 A.M.                 Mrs. Hopper      

1971      Making It             Mrs. Wilson       

Sweet, Sweet Rachel      Lillian Piper         TV movie

The Harness       Emma Randall    TV movie

1972      Invitation to a March      Lily Brown           TV movie

1973      Savage Marian Stern      TV movie

White Lightning                Martha Culpepper          

Dying Room Only              Vi            TV movie

1974      Tell Me Where It Hurts Louise   TV movie

The Sugarland Express   Mrs. Looby         

Winter Kill           Doris      TV movie

1975      Shell Game         Constance Margolin        TV movie

92 in the Shade Mrs. Skelton      

1976      Territorial Men Martha Higgins TV movie

33 Hours in the Life of God           Nurse Levitt        TV movie

1977      Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? Mrs. Schroeder TV movie

The Ghost of Cypress Swamp      Ma Landers         TV movie

In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan          Sister Mary Luke               TV movie

1979      Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill                 Fanny    TV movie

1980      The Ghosts of Buxley Hall             Bettina Buxley   TV movie

1981      Thin Ice                Mrs. McCormick               TV movie

1982      Pray TV                 Mrs. Oakes          TV movie

Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal     Pat Kinsman       TV movie

1984      The Philadelphia Experiment       Pamela

Obsessive Love Mrs. Foster         TV movie

Mass Appeal       Margaret            

1985      Love Lives On     Nana     TV movie

Toughlove           Mrs. Griffin         TV movie, Uncredited

1987      Stillwatch            Lila Thatcher      TV movie

1989      Settle the Score                Helen Whately TV movie

1991      The Haunted      Mary Smurl         TV movie

Crazy from the Heart      Mae Esther         TV movie

Paradise               Catherine Reston Lee    

1992      Love Field            Mrs. Enright      

1994      In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness           Delores Lynch    TV movie

1996      Mary & Tim        Forbsie TV movie

Television

Year       Title       Role       Notes

1961      Armstrong Circle Theatre              Faye       Episode: "The Fortune Tellers"

1965      The Doctors and the Nurses         Mrs. Franks         Episode: "Night of the Witch"

The F.B.I.             Mrs. Collier         Episode: "How to Murder an Iron Horse"

Alfred Hitchcock Presents             Maude Isles        Episode: "An Unlocked Window"

The Rogues         Catherine DeMontrachet              Episode: "The Laughing Lady of Luxor"

Mr. Novak           Adele    Episode: "And Then I Wrote"

Perry Mason       Shirley Logan     Episode: "The Case of the Cheating Chancellor"

Ben Casey            Ellen Carter         Episode: "If You Play Your Cards Right, You Too Can Be a Loser"

1966      A Man Called Shenandoah           Cora Eldridge     Episode: "The Death of Matthew Eldridge"

The F.B.I.             Ethel Wallace     Episode: "The Price of Death"

Run for Your Life               Claire Burden     Episode: "The Last Safari"

Bonanza               Willie Mae Rikeman        Episode: "A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town"

1966-1968          Family Affair       Fran Heiger         Recurring role

1967      The Invaders      Joan Corman      Episode: "Genesis"

The Fugitive        Betsy Chandler Episode: "The Judgment: Part II"

The F.B.I.             Barbara Griswold             Episode: "By Force and Violence"

1968      NET Playhouse                  Episode: "Home"

The Outsider      Frances Dustin   Episode: "A Wide Place in the Road"

CBS Playhouse   Mrs. Meridan     Episode: "Saturday Adoption"

Gunsmoke          Polly Cade           Episode: "Waco"

1969      The F.B.I.             Edith Bender      Episode: "The Attorney"

Judd, for the Defense     Claire Beeton     Episode: "Between the Dark and the Daylight"

The Young Lawyers          Maria Cannon    Episode: "The Young Lawyers"

Ironside                Wanda Episode: "Poole's Paradise"

Gunsmoke          Louise Driscoll   Episode: "The Mark of Cain"

Phoebe Clifford                 Episode: "Hawk"

Emilie Sadler      Episode: "Roots of Fear"

1970      Claire Gentry      Episode: "Gentry's Law"

The Name of the Game Miss Digby          Episode: "The King of Denmark"

1971      Helen Bigelow   Episode: "LA 2017"

Bonanza               Mrs. Harriet Clinton        Episode: "The Silent Killer"

Medical Center Mrs. Whitlock    Episode: "Suspected"

Ironside                Martha Gordon                 Episode: "The Priest Killer"

McCloud              Emily Cantrell    Episode: "Encounter with Aries"

Longstreet          Maxine Bailey    Episode: "Spell Legacy Like Death"

1972      Cannon                 Mrs. Bolinger     Episode: "A Deadly Quiet Town"

Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law             Frances Fisher   Episode: "A Question of Degree"

The Sixth Sense                 Mrs. Bennett      Episode: "Eye of the Haunted"

Hawaii Five-O    Mrs. Klein            Episode: "Pig in a Blanket"

The Streets of San Francisco        Harriet Sensibaugh          Episode: "In the Midst of Strangers"

Young Dr. Kildare             Mrs. Field            Episode: "The Legacy"

1973      Hec Ramsey        Willa Hollister    Episode: "The Mystery of Chalk Hill"

Kojak     Madge Donnelly               Episode: "Requiem for a Cop"

Columbo              Mrs. Norris          Episode: "Double Exposure"

1974      Gunsmoke          Joan Shepherd Episode: "To Ride a Yeller Horse"

The Wide World of Mystery         Anne     Episode: "The Book of Murder"

Rhoda   Louise Shattner                 Episode: "The Lady in Red"

Medical Center Mrs. Tully            Episode: "Heel of the Tyrant"

Lucas Tanner      Mrs. Gibbons     Episode: "Cheers"

1975      The Six Million Dollar Man            Ms. Hallaway     Episode: "Clark Templeton O'Flaherty"

1976      McNaughton's Daughter               Cassy Garnett    Miniseries

Sara       Martha Higgins Recurring role

Great Performances       Mrs. Winemiller                Episode: "Eccentricities of a Nightingale"

Good Heavens   Bertha Salnick    Episode: "The Queen's Rook Club"

1977      Visions Mary Blakemore               Episode: "All I Could See from Where I Stood"

The Waltons       Aunt Kate Grover Daly    2 episodes

Disneyland          Ma Landers         Episode: "The Ghost of Cypress Swamp"

1977-1979          Eight Is Enough Katherine Mitchell           Recurring role

1978      Quincy, M.E.       Nurse Katherine Lowry Episode: "Matters of Life and Death"

The Awakening Land       Jary Luckett        Episode: "The Trees"

1979      Backstairs at the White House    Housekeeper Nesbitt     Miniseries

Big Shamus, Little Shamus            Eleanor                 Episode: "The Canary"

1980      Scruples               Mary Ann Evans                Miniseries

CHiPs     Lucy Kenton       Episode: "Nightingale"

The Contender Alma Captor       Miniseries

Family   Elaine Hogan      Episode: "The Ties That Bind"

Disneyland          Bettina Buxley   Episode: "The Ghosts of Buxley Hall"

1986      Highway to Heaven         Mildred Kelsey Episode: "Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind"

Dress Gray          Mrs. Loerna Tutwiler      Miniseries

Hotel     Jenny Lucas        Episode: "Double Jeopardy"

Fresno Ethel Duke          Miniseries

Designing Women           Mrs. Perky Sugarbaker   Episode: "Perky's Visit"

1988      CBS Summer Playhouse Mrs. Harding      Episode: "My Africa"

Hothouse            Louise Dougherty             Recurring role

Hunter Emily Hill              Episode: "No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished"

1989      Falcon Crest        Irene     Episode: "Ties That Bind"

1991      Roc         Mrs. Hope           Episode: "A Home, a Loan"

1992      Cruel Doubt        Polly Bates          Miniseries

Murder, She Wrote         Mrs. Oates          Episode: "The Classic Murder"

1993      Against the Grain             Hilda      Episode: "A House Is Not a Home"

1995      Earth 2 Old Lydia             Episode: "Natural Born Grendlers"

1996      In Cold Blood     Eunice Hickock Miniseries

1997      ER           Mrs. Cupertino Episode: "Faith"

Total Security     Zoe Gareth          Episode: "Wet Side Story"

2000      The X-Files          Marjorie Butters               Episode: "En Ami"