Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) Her grandfather, Major Sidney W. Thaxter, was awarded the Medal of Honor during the American Civil War.
Career
Before appearing in films, Thaxter was on the stage. When Dorothy McGuire went to Hollywood, Thaxter replaced her in the Broadway play Claudia. Although the illness did not impact her pregnancy, it proved sufficiently serious to all but end Thaxter's film career when, the following month, columnist Hedda Hopper reported that the actress's contract with Warner Brothers had, "by mutual agreement", been "quietly washed up".
Thaxter appeared in television series such as Rawhide, portraying Pauline Cushman in the episode "The Blue Spy" (1961), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, portraying a paralyzed wife being terrorized by her husband in the episode "The Long Silence" (1963), Wagon Train ("The Christine Elliott Story" and "The Vivian Carter Story"), The Twilight Zone ("Young Man's Fancy"), and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
She returned to Broadway, appearing in Take Her, She's Mine at the Biltmore in 1961.<!-- https://californiabirthindex.org/birth/james_watson_aubrey_born_1953_4836307 --> The couple divorced in 1962.
In 1962, Thaxter married Gilbert Lea. They were married for 46 years until his death on May 4, 2008. During her time of residency in California, she was a member of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, where she additionally held the wedding of her first marriage in November 1944.
Death
Thaxter died on August 14, 2012, aged 92, in Longwood, Florida after an eight-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
|1944 || Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo ||Ellen Lawson
|-
|rowspan=2|1945|| Bewitched|| Joan Alris Ellis
|-
| Week-End at the Waldorf || Cynthia Drew
|-
|rowspan=2|1947|| The Sea of Grass || Sara Beth Brewton
|-
| Living in a Big Way || Peggy Randall
|-
|rowspan=4|1948 || Tenth Avenue Angel || Helen Mills
|-
| The Sign of the Ram ||Sherida Binyon
|-
| Blood on the Moon || Carol Lufton
|-
| Act of Violence || Ann
|-
|rowspan=2|1950 || No Man of Her Own ||Patrice Harkness
|-
| The Breaking Point|| Lucy Morgan
|-
|rowspan=3|1951 || Fort Worth|| Flora Talbot
|-
| Jim Thorpe – All-American || Margaret Miller
|-
| Come Fill the Cup || Paula Copeland
|-
|rowspan=3|1952 || She's Working Her Way Through College|| Helen Palmer
|-
| Springfield Rifle || Erin Kearney
|-
| Operation Secret || Maria Corbet
|-
|1955 || Women's Prison||Helene Jensen
|-
|1957 || Man Afraid||Lisa Collins
|-
|1964 || The World of Henry Orient || Mrs. Avis Gilbert
|-
|1978 || Superman || Martha "Ma" Kent (née Clark)
|}
Selected television appearances
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1953-1956 || Lux Video Theatre ||various characters || Season 3 Episode 42: "Wind on the Way" as Diana Forbes (1953)
Season 4 Episode 5: "Anniversary" as Fran (1953)
Season 4 Episode 30: "The Girl Who Couldn't Cry" as Anne (1954)
Season 5 Episode 21: "Penny Serenade" as Julie (1955)
Season 5 Episode 40: "Thunder on the Hill" as Sister Mary (1955)
Season 6 Episode 13: "Holiday Affair" as Connie Ennis (1955)
Season 6 Episode 33: "The Night of January Sixteenth" as Karen (1956)
|-
|1954 || The Motorola Television Hour|| Gladys Mitchell ||Episode: "Atomic Attack"
|-
|1955|| Stage 7 || Muriel Blandings|| Episode: "The Hayfield"
|-
|1956-1960 || Alfred Hitchcock Presents || various characters || Season 1 Episode 30: "Never Again" as Karen Sewart (1956)
Season 2 Episode 2: "Fog Closing In" as Mary Summers (1956)
Season 2 Episode 20: "Malice Domestic" as Annette Borden (1957)
Season 3 Episode 11: "The Deadly" as Margot Brenner (1957)
Season 4 Episode 9: "Murder Me Twice" as Lucy Pryor (1958)
Season 6 Episode 5: "The Five-Forty-Eight" as Miss Dent (1960)
|-
|1957 || Studio One || Laura Morgan|| Episode: "The Dark Corner"
|-
|1958 || The Frank Sinatra Show || Jean Armstrong|| Episode: "The Seedling Doubt"
|-
|1959-1960 || Wagon Train|| various characters || Season 2 Episode 23: "The Vivian Carter Story" as Vivian Carter (1959)
Season 3 Episode 24: "The Christine Elliot Story" as Christine Elliot (1960)
|-
|1961 || Rawhide || Pauline Cushman ||Episode: "The Blue Spy"
|-
|1962 || The Twilight Zone ||Virginia Lane Walker ||Episode: "Young Man's Fancy"
|-
|1963-1964 ||The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ||various characters ||Season 1 Episode 25: "The Long Silence" as Nora Cory Manson (1963)
Season 2 Episode 6: "Nothing Ever Happens in Linvale" as Mrs. Logan (1963)
Season 3 Episode 2: "Change of Address" as Elsa Hollands (1964)
|-
|1964 || The Fugitive || Enid Langer ||Episode: "Detour on a Road Going Nowhere"
|-
|1967 ||Coronet Blue || Eleanor Barclay||Episode: "Faces"
|-
|1968 || The Invaders || Sarah Concannon ||Episode: "The Peacemaker"
|-
|1969 || Bonanza ||Ruth Manning ||Episode: "The Clarion"
|-
|1970 || Medical Center ||Celia Jennings ||Episode: "Junkie"
|-
|1971 ||Incident in San Francisco|| Lois Harmon || TV movie
|-
|1972 || The Longest Night ||Norma Chambers || TV movie
|-
|1974 ||Marcus Welby, M.D. || Kate Tannahill||Episode: "A Full Life"
|-
|1975 || Barnaby Jones ||Aunt Meg Catlin || Episode: "Murder Once Removed"
|-
|1976 ||Once an Eagle ||Alma Caldwell||
|-
|1985 || American Playhouse || Rebecca Nurse || 3 episodes
|-
|1992 || Murder, She Wrote ||Emily Weymouth|| Episode: "Family Secrets"
|}
Radio appearances
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Program !! Episode/source
|-
| 1952|| Stars in the Air || Christmas in Connecticut
|}