Martha Scott (September 22, 1912 - May 28, 2003)

Martha Scott started out on Broadway originating the role of Emily Webb in the play "Our Town." In 1940, she reprised the role in the film version. She would go on to appear in several more films over the next twenty-five years. She played Charlton Heston's mother in both "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur." She would later play his wife in two seperate stage productions. On August 19, 1948 she appeared on the radio drama series "Suspense" as a woman who contimplates killing her infant child out of fear that he will grow up to become a tyrant. Scott also made more than her fair share of television guest appearances. Among her credits are "Robert Montgomery Presents", "Your Show of Shows", "Toast of the Town", "Suspense", "The Colgate Comedy Hour", "Playhouse 90", "Pantomime Quiz", "The F.B.I.", "Ironside", "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", "The Bob Newhart Show", "The Mod Squad", "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Police Woman", "The Bionic Woman", "The Love Boat", "Magnum P.I.", "Hotel", and "Highway to Heaven" In 1979 she appeared in three episodes of "Dallas" as Sue Ellen Ewing's snobbish mother, Patricia Shepard. She reprised the role in 1985 for thirteen more episodes. In 1987, she guest starred in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" reprising her role of Georgia Wilson, the same character she played in the 1949 movie "Strange Bargain." The episode featured other members of the original cast and Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) helps to solve the mystery that began thirty-eight years before. Flashbacks shown in the episode were actual clips from the original movie. From J.R. Ewing's mother-in-law, Dr. Bob Hartley's mother and the Bionic Woman's mother Martha Scott carved her own place in television's history.