Recent Obituaries, Classic Films Only

[CBHagman]

15. Actress Phyllis Thaxter, 92.

Many of her obituaries mention her comeback role in Superman, but frankly the first thing I thought of was her part in Three Sovereigns for Sarah, a harrowing and very personal TV dramatization of the Salem witch trials and their aftermath.

I'd forgotten she was John Garfield's costar in The Breaking Point, which I caught on TCM a few years ago. It's well worth seeing, and is, believe it or not, based on the same work as To Have and Have Not...and you might not know it to look at it.

From the Guardian:

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/17/phyllis-thaxter[/url]

Thaxter's theatre work led to her being offered the role of the pregnant wife of the second world war pilot played by Van Johnson in Mervyn LeRoy's excellent war drama Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). Although she had only a few scenes, Thaxter made enough impression to gain an MGM contract. According to the New York Times critic: "Phyllis Thaxter is surpassingly affecting as the wife of Captain Lawson. Her comparative newness as an actress and a wistful voice give her a rare advantage."

The role, more or less, set the pattern for her film career. However, she had a rare chance to play against her nice-girl persona in Bewitched (1945). Described on the posters as "Darling of society, Cruel love killer, She lived two amazing lives", Thaxter played a schizophrenic – both a femme fatale and a good girl, female archetypes of film noir. She is a sweet young thing, who literally hears an evil voice within her, urging her on to murder. But it was back to pure pure sweetness and light in the all-star Week-End at the Waldorf (1945), in which she wrongly believes her fiance to be in love with a film star (played by Ginger Rogers), until persuaded otherwise. In Living in a Big Way (1947), she is a pretty war widow with three children who offers comfort to unhappily married Gene Kelly, and in Tenth Avenue Angel (1948), she is the doting mother of Margaret O'Brien, the little girl who infects everyone, except the audience, with her faith and joy.

Thaxter's last movie for MGM was Fred Zinnemann's Act of Violence (1948), in which she tries to be the voice of reason to stop an embittered ex-PoW played by Robert Ryan from wreaking revenge on his commanding officer (Van Heflin), who betrayed him to the Nazis.

Before taking up a contract with Warner Bros, Thaxter appeared in Robert Wise's noir western Blood on the Moon (1948) for RKO, where she is a wealthy cattle baron's daughter, sorely used by baddie Robert Preston, who promises her marriage. Her first role for Warners, in The Breaking Point (1950), a remake of To Have and Have Not, based on the Ernest Hemingway short story, was one of her best. Made to look dowdy, she is remarkably effective as the practical wife of a charter boat captain, played by John Garfield. Trying in vain to convince him to sell his boat and make a steady living, she tells him, "Pop says you can have a job anytime on his lettuce ranch in Salinas." Worried that he might be attracted to the blonde Patricia Neal, Thaxter desperately lightens her hair.

Her IMDB credits:

[url]http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0857187/[/url]