18. She Was Friends With A Prodigal Artist At The Time
In the 1920s, a chance meeting with a young boy with change Agnes’s life forever. She first met Orson Welles when he was just seven years old, and over a decade later, in 1937, she became an early contributor to his independent theater company, Mercury Players. This would be a major boon in her favor, as her relationship with Orson continued throughout her career.
His work on his first major film, Citizen Kane (1941), brought Agnes success by his side.
19. She Was Brought Further Into The Spotlight After Starring This Famous Film
Citizen Kane brought Agnes’s name into the film realm and showed her abilities as a performer. She was ecstatic to be able to star in Orson’s second film, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), which earned her a New York Film Critics Award and an Oscar nomination. And this was just the start of her screen appearances.
Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
20. She Was Lucky Enough To Find Love Again—Supposedly
In 1954, two years after divorcing John Griffith Lee, Agnes married actor Robert Gist—but there was a scandalous twist to their love story. Robert was 17 years younger than her, and rumors about his unfaithful behavior were common in Hollywood. Inevitably, this matchup didn’t last very long. They stayed together for only four years until they divorced in 1958.
Agnes didn’t have another important long-term relationship after this—something that was potentially related to the questions surrounding her sexuality.
Warner Bros., Dark Passage (1947)
21. She Was Excellent At Collecting Acting Credits
Agnes’s career continued growing and gaining more and more traction thanks to her immense work ethic. She starred in several different productions and played side characters in others, and through the 50s and 60s, she made many film appearances. One of the films she was in was called The Conqueror (1956)—and being on set would have dire consequences for everyone present.
22. She Was Put In Danger While Filming
Filming took place in Utah in a location surrounded by covert government nuclear test sites. The consequences were devastating. 220 cast and crew participated in the filming of The Conqueror, and almost half of them were diagnosed with a form of cancer during their lifetime. Agnes’s mother believed that working on this film is what destroyed Agnes in the end—but more on that later.
23. She Initially Said No To Her Most Famous Role
Agnes Moorehead got her major TV break in 1964, with the beloved series Bewitched (1964-1972). But her road to the role was on the unconventional side. Initially, she rejected the role of Endora, the main character’s loathsome mother who hated non-magical humans. But one surprising event changed her mind.
Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
24. She Was Coaxed To Join By A Surprising Person
After rejecting the role of Endora, Agnes thought that was the end of the story regarding Bewitched. But a chance encounter with the lead Elizabeth Montgomery brought doubt to her mind. They ran into each other at a department store, and Elizabeth asked Agnes in person if she would join the cast.
Even if Agnes might have lived to regret it, who could say no to that sort of personalized invitation?
Screen Gems, Wikimedia Commons
25. She Was Not Expecting The Show To Become So Popular
Agnes signed up for what she expected to be a short-lived project and assumed that the series wouldn’t last longer than one season. Well, she was in for a surprise. The series was on the air for almost a decade. Her character Endora was what launched her fully into the mainstream, with her name and face appearing in eight of every 12 episodes. But she had some surprising thoughts on the series.
Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
26. She Was Displeased By Playing This Character
Agnes Moorehead thought very little of Bewitched. She didn’t like playing a witch, and she thought the writing was trite, calling the scripts “hack”. Not only that, but she felt the success of the show entangled her irreparably with the role of Endora. Once she had said yes to the role, there was no more backing out after the first episode aired.
Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
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27. She Was Incredibly Successful Despite Her Distaste In The Series
Even after being awarded six Emmys, Agnes wasn’t content with her career being reduced to one breakout role. Especially since people started to recognize her as a witch. “I’ve been in movies and played theatre from coast to coast, so I was quite well known before Bewitched, and I don’t want to be identified as the witch”. Her stance on the series wouldn’t change until her last moments.
Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
28. She Was A Divisive Person To Work With
Her relationship with the other lead actors in the series were polar opposites. With Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Endora’s daughter, the relationship was lovely and Agnes even said she was fond of her. But with Dick York, who played Endora’s son-in-law, there was obvious tension. He even went so far as to call Agnes “a tough old bird”. And that wasn’t the only contentious part of her professional conduct.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
29. She Was Rumored To Not Like Men, Despite Two Marriages
One part of Agnes’s life that was heavily commented on in her career was her sexuality. The studios she worked for maintained a pristine image of her, depicting her as an ideal mother and wife. But despite this, there was still a lot of curiosity about her preferences. Rumors eventually spread that she was a lesbian, and they didn’t stop there.
30. She Was Confronted With Wild Claims By A Co-Star
Paul Lynde, a fellow actor on Bewitched, seemed to know a lot about Agnes’s relationships—and he made an utterly shocking claim. He said that Agnes and Debbie Reynolds were in a romantic relationship, which Debbie would later deny. But there was an interesting turn of events that led to even more suspicion around Agnes and Debbie’s relationship.
Screen Gems, Wikimedia Commons
31. She Was Backed Up By Her Friend—But It Was Undermined By Something Surprising
Debbie’s ex-husband Eddie Fisher said he was going to write about her and Agnes’s friendship in the autobiography he was working on. The argument stands that if the women’s relationship was merely platonic, there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. But Debbie pressured him with legal action should he expose the details of their relationship. That wasn’t the only evidence for Agnes’s supposed lesbianism.
Loew's, The Seventh Cross (1944)
32. She Was Friendly With Other Women
According to Paul, Agnes Moorehead had many “intimate lady friends” in her early career, before she became “a bit puritanical” in how she behaved. Supposedly, it was a well-kept secret by the industry. Not only that, but Paul alleges that she made a very surprising claim during a fight with one of her husbands.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
33. She Was Infuriated And Lashed Out
Apparently, after catching her husband cheating on her, Agnes yelled at him and said if he could mingle with women outside of their relationship, she could too. Rumors from Paul are difficult to substantiate, though, as he was known to spread gossip and unfounded rumors.
Strangely, many of his comments hold a lot of water.
Lester Cowan Productions, Tomorrow, the World! (1944)
34. She Was Evasive About Establishing The Truth
When writer Boze Hadleigh questioned Agnes about her sexuality in 1973, she was very coy and evasive in her answer. Boze grouped her alongside many other actors who had participated in non-heterosexual relationships, and her response was, “Yes, you’d love to put me in their excellent company! Even if I don’t belong in the same category”.
In some cases, denying or evading the truth can be even more telling than a confession.
Mercury Productions, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
35. She Wasn’t Going To Be Taken Down By A Rumor-Monger—Until His Statements Were Backed Up
Despite Paul’s claims being a little on the dubious side, there was another person who spoke in favor of his declarations. Elsa Lanchester, who was married to gay actor Charles Laughton, who himself had starred in a film with Agnes, stated that there were many “romantic relationships” that involved Agnes Moorehead and other women.
And what she revealed about Agnes’s behavior was quite surprising.
Unknown Author, Wikimedia Commons
36. She Was Drawn To A Co-Star On Her Most Dangerous Film Set
Elsa stated that Agnes was beyond private and secretive about these relations. But while working on The Conqueror, Agnes’s inclinations made a bit of a stir. Fellow actor Lee Van Cleef noticed her feelings for a co-star, Susan Hayward, were more than mere friendly affection. Susan was over a decade younger than Agnes, so she was able to pass her affections off as motherly rather than romantic.
But that doesn’t mean they weren’t noticeable to others.
Universal Pictures, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
37. She Was Faced With More Conflict With Her Foster Son
Partway through filming for Bewitched, Agnes’s foster son Sean finished high school. After graduating, Agnes expected him to go to university like she did, for him to continue learning and get a good job. Well, he had other plans in mind for his future, and none of them included schooling.
Liberty Pictures (IV), The Bat (1959)
38. She Was No Longer Forced To Balance Work And Parenting
Sean left home as soon as he graduated. His goal was to experience life out of his foster mother’s smothering embrace and away from her restrictive rules. There was so much of the world for him to see and so many ways of life he could explore. Unfortunately, none of them included Agnes Moorehead. And his decision had a chilling finality to it.
When he left, that was the last time she ever saw her foster son, even during one of the most important moments of her life.
Liberty Pictures (IV), The Bat (1959)
39. She Was Inundated With Health Issues
By the time Bewitched wrapped, Agnes’s health was worsening. But that didn’t stop her from working hard putting out several films and going on a Broadway tour. She even took a stab at voice acting and voiced Goose in Charlotte’s Web (1973). Little did she know, these would be some of her final years in the acting scene.
Mercury Productions, The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
40. She Was Forced To Quit Working
It was 1973 when Agnes’s health took a turn for the worse. At the time, she was working on the Broadway adaptation of Gigi, in which she played Aunt Alicia. Acting in musicals is physically demanding, and she participated in several musical numbers. Then, she became very sick, to the point where they had to replace her in the production.
Liberty Pictures (IV), The Bat (1959)
41. She Wasn’t Going To Beat This Illness
Agnes tried hard to work through the illness. But this sickness wasn’t something she could easily recover from, regardless of how hard she tried to fend it off. That’s when she got a devastating diagnosis. Agnes was suffering from uterine cancer that had spread to her lungs. This added her case to the rapidly increasing statistics of The Conqueror’s cast and crew who faced cancer diagnoses.
According to her friend, Debbie Reynolds, Agnes said she would survive and that she left her fate “in God’s hands”.
Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
42. She Was Outlived By A Surprisingly Important Person In Her Life
After fighting the disease in the privacy of the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Rochester Minnesota, Agnes Moorehead succumbed to her cancer on April 30, 1974, at the age of 73. Tragically, her mother outlived her, and Agnes bequeathed all her jewelry and clothing to her. But the matters of her will went even further than that.
Walter Wanger Productions, The Lost Moment (1947)
43. She Was Selectively Generous With Her Belongings
Agnes willed $25,000 to Muskingum College, along with requests to fund at least one scholarship in her name. Half her manuscripts went to this college, and she left the other half to the University of Wisconsin. She left her family’s farm and her comprehensive collection of Bibles and biblical materials to John Brown University. Despite all these posthumous appointments, one name was conspicuously left out of her will.
Liberty Pictures (IV), The Bat (1959)
44. She Was Not Going To Forgive And Forget This Conflict
Agnes Moorehead hadn’t seen her foster son since he left after high school. When Agnes’s friend Debbie Reynolds asked if she should look for Sean as Agnes was struggling with her cancer, Agnes said no. She claimed anything to do with Sean would only upset her. Because of this, he wasn’t at the hospital when her cancer took her.
Warner Bros., Dark Passage (1947)
45. She Wasn’t Going To Reward What She Saw As Bad Behavior
Not only that, but she left him nothing in her will. She claimed she didn’t have any children nor a spouse, alive or passed. With this, Sean’s name passed into obscurity alongside his role in Agnes’s life. Everything she left went to the few people around her and the previously mentioned organizations.
Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
46. She Was Well-Loved Despite Her Flaws
Agnes’s friends had many kind things to say about the actress, though some acknowledged her occasionally difficult nature. Regarding her relationship with Sean, Lucille Ball said, “She tried to be a good mother to her adopted son, but she could be too stifling as a parent”. Despite this, Agnes continued to express a sort of mentorship role to those around her.
John Springer Collection, Getty Images
47. She Was Devout In Her Teaching
Agnes’s early life followed her throughout her career. One of these things was her love of teaching, particularly regarding helping young actors hone their craft. According to her friend, producer Paul Gregory, “She ran a school for many years out of her home teaching drama. Once a teacher always a teacher”. And that wasn't the only thing that greatly shaped her life.
Liberty Pictures (IV), The Bat (1959)
48. She Was Equally Devout To Her Spirituality
Agnes’s dedication to religion and spirituality was a focal point in her life. As evidenced by the bequeathing of her religious materials, her connection to the Lord was near and dear to her heart. It could have affected Agnes’s enjoyment of life, but Charles Tranberg, who authored one of her biographies, stated that she often indulged in vices to a reasonable degree.
Agnes Moorehead as Eleanor Roosevelt, ptourist
49. She Was A Legend, And She Always Will Be
Professionally, Agnes was a contentious but well-loved character in many ways. She will forever be known as Endora from the beloved series Bewitched, regardless of how she felt about being known as a witch. The role has immortalized her entire filmography and brought her name to new generations of audiences. Though she has been lost, she has not been forgotten.
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Screen Gems Television, Bewitched (1964-72)
