Mary Jackson (actress)
Mary Jackson was an American character actress whose nearly fifty-year career began in 1950 and was spent almost entirely in television. She is best known for the role of the lovelorn Emily Baldwin in The Waltons and was the original choice to play Alice Horton in the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives, playing the part in the unaired pilot. The role was instead given to Frances Reid.
Biography
Jackson was born in the village of Milford, Michigan on November 22, 1910. She graduated from Western Michigan University with a bachelor's degree 1932.
She worked for one year as a schoolteacher during the Great Depression before pursuing her interest in theatre.
She returned to college, enrolling in Michigan State University's fine arts program and subsequently beginning her performing career in summer stock theatre in Chicago. She embarked on a television career in New York City in the 1950s, during the first Golden Age of Television, before beginning work in Hollywood in the 1960s.
Jackson appeared on Broadway in such hits as “Kiss and Tell” and “Eastward in Eden,” was standby for Wendy Hiller in “Flowering Cherry” on Broadway, playing the role twice. She toured nationally in “Apple of His Eye” with Edward Arnold, and in “The Heiress” with Basil Rathbone. Jackson was a member of the Chicago company of Tennessee Williams' “Garden District” and also toured with the play; was featured with Shirley Booth in Chicago in “The Desk Set.” Her many stock engagements included the Ann Arbor Spring Festival, Bucks County Playhouse, Ogunquit Playhouse, Alley Theatre in Houston. For the 1962 and 1963 Summer stock seasons she performed at the Elitch Theatre.
Always close to her Michigan roots, Jackson was a charter member of the Milford Historical Society. In 1988, Jackson was instrumental in raising money to rebuild the Oak Grove Cemetery Bridge over the Huron River - a bridge that connects her hometown of Milford to its oldest burial grounds. Jackson was buried there following her death from Parkinson's disease in Los Angeles, two and a half weeks after her 95th birthday. She was survived by her husband of 68 years, Griffin Bancroft Jr., to whom she was married since July 4, 1937.
Select filmography
1950s
The Philco Television Playhouse as Aunt EdnaRobert Montgomery Presents as Mrs. GrossAlfred Hitchcock Presents as Mrs. J. Wilson
1960s
General Electric Theater as Phyllis BartonThe Barbara Stanwyck Show as Mrs. KriegerRoute 66 as Judge Mary LindstromHazel as Flora DuncanMy Three Sons as Irene / Selena BaileyStoney Burke as Mrs. CarrolThe Twilight Zone as Miss Pepper The Andy Griffith Show as Miss Vogel / Mrs. Parnell RigsbyThe Outer Limits as Mrs. McCraeThe Fugitive as Carolyn Fletcher / Nurse Oberhansly / Ellie ParkerPlease Don't Eat the Daisies as Mrs. MacIntyreThe F.B.I. as Ruth Mason / Nurse / Mrs. Dreiser / Mrs. Corman / Mrs. Howard / Mrs. Otto FoshayDo Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night as Mrs. StoneInsight The Second Hundred Years as Mother SuperiorThe Invaders as Hattie Willis / NurseTargets as Charlotte ThompsonLancer as Harpy / Maude Bigelow
1970s
Airport as Sister FeliceMary Tyler Moore as Mrs. ArnellThe Name of the Game as Jaimie WhiteWild Rovers as Sada's MotherCannon as Mrs. WellsThe Failing of Raymond as Latin TeacherReturn to Peyton Place as Nell Abernathy The Trial of the Catonsville Nine as WitnessThe Waltons as Emily BaldwinKid Blue as Mrs. EvansBlume in Love as LouiseBarnaby Jones as Mary Jackson / Hilda Forbes / Karen's LandladyOur Time as Miss MoranThe Rookies as Mrs. Callender / WomanFun with Dick and Jane as Jane's MotherAudrey Rose as Mother VeronicaThe Bionic Woman as MarthaComing Home as Fleta WilsonLetters from Frank as Edna MillerThe Rockford Files as Postal Supervisor
1980s
A Small Killing as RoseHart to Hart as Phony GrandmaA Wedding on Walton's Mountain as Emily BaldwinQuincy The Flight of the Nightingale as Mrs. ShanleyBetween Two Brothers as Eddy FrazerSome Kind of Hero as FrancesA Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain as Emily BaldwinFamily Ties as EdnaMagnum, P.I. as Grandmother MacKenzieHardcastle and McCormick as Sarah WicksThe Snow Queen as GrandmotherSpace as FrankieScarecrow and Mrs. King as Lois MendelsonThe Jeffersons as Mrs. DonahueMy Town as Mrs. McDanielHighway to Heaven as RoseHill Street Blues Hunter as ClaraBig Top Pee-wee as Mrs. DillL.A. Law as Mrs. Weedon
1990s
Parenthood as Great Grandma GreenwellSkinned Alive as CrawldaddyThe Exorcist III as Mrs. CleliaCriminal Behavior as Mrs. ClineLeap of Faith as Emma SchlarpA Walton Thanksgiving Reunion as Emily BaldwinChristy as Aunt Polly TeagueA Walton Wedding as Emily BaldwinOzone as Cleaning LadyA Family Thing as CarrieA Walton Easter as Emily Baldwin