Margaret Field (née Margaret Joy Morlan;[1] May 10, 1922 – November 6, 2011) was an American film actress[2] usually billed as Maggie Mahoney after her marriage to actor Jock Mahoney. The mother of actress Sally Field,[1] she was best known for her work in two science-fiction films, The Man from Planet X (1951) and Captive Women (1952)[3] and played dozens of roles in various television series.
Early years
Margaret Joy Morlan was born on May 10, 1922, in Houston, Texas,[3] the daughter of Joy Beatrice (née Bickeley) and Wallace Miller Morlan.[4] Late in the 1930s, her family and she moved to Pasadena, California.[5]
Career
Field was discovered at the Pasadena Playhouse[6] by talent scout Milton Lewis for Paramount Pictures. Following a successful screen test, she was offered an 18-month contract. She then attended Pasadena Junior College, studying voice training and acting, while acting in films.[6] Early in her career, she acted in a series of Musical Paradeshort films for Paramount and had small roles in 26 full-length films from 1946 to 1953.[3]
In 1942, Field married Richard Dryden Field, an Army officer,[3] and had two children with him: television and film actress Sally Field and physicist Richard D. Field.[8][9]
On January 21, 1952, Field married actor Jock Mahoney in Tijuana, Mexico,[6] thereafter billed in her acting work as "Maggie Mahoney". Together they had a daughter, Princess, a director of television shows including ER and Shameless. Field and Mahoney divorced in June 1968. Around 1968, when her elder daughter Sally turned 22, Field virtually ended her acting career to focus on her family.[5]
Death
Field, aged 89, died of cancer at her home in Malibu, California, on November 6, 2011,[3] which was her daughter Sally Field's 65th birthday.[10]
^ abcParla, Paul; Mitchell, Charles P. (2000). Screen sirens scream! : interviews with 20 actresses from science fiction, horror, film noir, and mystery movies, 1930s to 1960s. McFarland. pp. 95–101. ISBN0-7864-0701-8.
^"There were satisfactory performances by Jock Mahoney and Margaret Field. The 20-Mule Team Borax commercials were fairly good."Morse, Leon (February 18, 1956). "Death Valley Days (TV film)". Billboard , Inc. p. 13, Col. 2.