Personal life

Scott was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actress Laura Straub and screenwriter Allan Scott; an uncle was the blacklisted screenwriter Adrian Scott. Scott was married from 1964 to 1983 to Lee Rich, a founding partner of Lorimar Productions, an Emmy-winning television company and the single largest provider of programming to the networks for two and a half decades. The two divorced and have two children.

Acting career

Scott attended Radcliffe and UCLA before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. Shortly after her return to the United States, she won a Theatre World Award for her 1956 Broadway debut in Child of Fortune. Scott then quickly signed a contract with Warner Bros. and made her movie debut that same year with a role in John Ford's epic The Searchers.

Scott was cast in the 1958 film As Young As We Were in the role of a new high school teacher who falls in love with the character Hank Moore, played by Robert Harland, who turns out to be a student. She also appeared as Pegeen in the 1958 movie, Auntie Mame.

She appeared as Abigail in the 1959 episode of Maverick titled "Easy Mark". In the 1959-1960 CBS television series Mr. Lucky, starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin, she had a recurring role as Maggie Shank-Rutherford, Lucky's young girlfriend. About this time, she also appeared on the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, The Alaskans.

Scott guest starred with Chuck Connors in the 1960 episode "Trial by Fear" of CBS's anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. She appeared on NBC's Outlaws series with Barton MacLane and Don Collier. She appeared in a 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone, "The Trouble With Templeton". She had a leading role in an episode of CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel, along with Werner Klemperer. She appeared on Gunsmoke in a 1961 episode titled "Indian Ford", in which she played Mary Tabor.

In "The Girl from Paradise" (January 13, 1962) of the NBC western series, The Tall Man, Scott played Anne Drake, a young woman framed for murder and ordered to the gallows. She is accompanied by Billy the Kid (Clu Gulager), who in the story line is also framed for murder. The two are handcuffed together but manage to escape and then must flee from an approaching posse.

In 1962-1963, Scott appeared in the first season of NBC's The Virginian, starring James Drury and Doug McClure. She portrayed Molly Wood, the publisher, editor, and reporter of The Medicine Bow Banner. Scott was the first cast member to leave The Virginian.

Scott made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. In 1963, she played defendant Gwynn Elston in "The Case of the Bigamous Spouse"; in 1966 she played defendant Ethel Andrews in "The Case of the Fanciful Frail." She guest starred in 1963 on the NBC modern western series, Redigo, starring Richard Egan.

In 1964, she played Captain Martin in an episode of the CBS sitcom, Gomer Pyle, entitled "Captain Ironpants".

In 1964, Scott guest starred with Eddie Albert and Claude Rains in the episode "A Time to Be Silent" of the short-lived CBS drama, The Reporter, starring Harry Guardino as a journalist for the fictitious New York Globe. She guest starred in "The Garden House", an episode of ABC's The Fugitive, starring David Janssen. In 1966, Scott played the wife of Buddy's rabbi, with whom he was thought to be having an affair, in an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, "Buddy Sorrell: Man and Boy." In 1967 she appeared in an episode of F Troop as the Widow Molly Walker with Forrest Tucker in "The Sergeant and the Kid".

Her last notable film roles were the wife of Dick Van Dyke's character in the comedy Cold Turkey (1971), and as Dabney Coleman's wife in the cult TV movie Bad Ronald (1974), although she sporadically played minor characters throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including a 1971 guest spot in the episode "Didn't You Used to Be ... Wait ... Don't Tell Me" of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She played an actress stranded in Virginia due to money problems, in a 1973 episode of CBS's The Waltons. In 1973 she also appeared in "Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star". Her last regular TV role was as nursery school teacher Maggie Hearn in the 15 episode 1976 NBC police drama "Jigsaw John" starring Jack Warden. She returned to the big screen in 2011's Footprints, for which she was nominated Best Supporting Actress at the Method Fest Independent Film Festival.

Filmography

• The Searchers (1956)
• Auntie Mame (1958)
• As Young as We Are (1958)
• My Six Loves (1963)
• The Confession (1964)
• Petulia (1968)
• Some Kind of a Nut (1969)
• Cold Turkey (1971)
• Bad Ronald (1974)
• Footprints (2011)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]