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Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900
– April 30, 1974) was an United
States|American character actor|actress. She was
born in Clinton, Massachusetts, the only child of
a Presbyterian minister, although she later shaved
6 years off her age by claiming to have been born
in 1906. She grew up in St. Louis, Missouri.

Moorehead was a graduate of Muskingum College in
New Concord, Ohio.  She was also part of Orson
Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air radio program
in the 1930s and appeared in a Broadway
theatre|Broadway production of Don Juan in Hell in
1950.

While never a headlining star in films, Mooreheads
skill at character development and range earned
her one Emmy, two Golden Globes, and four Academy
Award|Oscar nominations and six Emmy nominations. 
Moorehead transitioned to television, and again
won acclaim and accolades for her work in drama
and in comedy.

Moorehead died in Rochester, Minnesota from lung
cancer, at the age of 73.  While never confirmed,
many suspect that Moorehead’s cancer was a
result of having been exposed to radiation while
filming The Conqueror in the Utah desert because
almost all the other actors on the film and the
director Dick Powell died of cancer, as well.
Moorehead herself believed her cancer was related
to this exposure, commenting in an interview
shortly before her death, "I wish I'd never done
that damn movie". However, Moorehead, along with
co-stars Susan Hayward and John Wayne, was a
lifelong chain smoker.

Though widely believed to be a lesbian, Moorehead
married actor John Griffith Lee in 1930 and they
divorced in 1952; they adopted one son, Sean, in
1949, but it remains unclear whether the adoption
was legal, although Moorehead did raise the child
until he ran away from home. In 1953, she married
actor Robert Gist, and they later divorced in
1958. The actress was also a devout Presbyterian
and, in interviews, often spoke of her
relationship with God.

Moorehead willed her 1965 Emmy for The Wild, Wild
West, her Academy Award|Oscar nominations and her
private papers to Muskingum College, including her
home in Rix Mills, Ohio.

She is interred at Dayton Memorial Park in Dayton,
Ohio.

==Notable roles==
:Mary Kane, Citizen Kane, 1941
:Fanny, The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942, New York
Film Critics Circle Award, Academy Award
nomination
:Aspasia Conti, Mrs Parkington, 1944, Golden
Globe, Academy Award nomination
:Aggie McDonald, Johnny Belinda, 1948, Academy
Award nomination
:Mrs Snow, Pollyanna, 1960,
:The woman, The Twilight Zone episode: "The
Invaders (The Twilight Zone)|The Invaders" (1961)
:Endora, Bewitched, 1964-1972, six Emmy
nominations
:Velma Cruther, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte,
1964, Golden Globe, Academy Award nomination

==External links==
* imdb name|id=0001547|name=Agnes Moorhead
* http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_016.html
Article about the radioactive film set (from The
Straight Dope)