Mary Grace Canfield

Mary Grace Canfield (September 3, 1924^[1] – February 15, 2014) was an American theatre, film and television actress.

Early life and career

Mary Grace Canfield was born in Rochester, New York,^[2] the second child of Hildegard (née Jacobson) and Hubert Canfield. She grew up in Pittsford, New York. She had an elder sister, Constance, who was two years older.^[3]

Acting mostly in small theatre companies and regional theatre, between 1952 and 1964 she appeared in several Broadway plays, although most ran for no more than a month. Her Broadway credits include The Waltz of the Toreadors and The Frogs of Spring.^[4][5]

Canfield's first credited performance on television was in March 1954, when she portrayed Frances in the episode "Native Dancer" on Goodyear Playhouse. After making additional television appearances, she played a housekeeper, Amanda Allison, in the ABC sitcom The Hathaways during the 1961-62 season. As Thelma Lou's "plain" cousin in an episode of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show, she had an arranged blind date with Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. Her name on that episode was her actual name, Mary Grace.

Green Acres

Canfield was best known for her recurring role on the hit CBS comedy series Green Acres as Ralph Monroe, the all-thumbs carpenter who greeted her fellow Hootervillians with her signature "Howdy Doody!" She appeared in more than 40 episodes of the show during its six-season run from 1965 to 1971.^[2] She reprised the role in the 1990 TV movie Return to Green Acres.^[4] Recalling the Ralph character in a 2006 interview, she stated, "To be remembered for Ralph kind of upsets me—only in the sense that it was so easy and undemanding." She added, "It's being known for something easy to do instead of something you worked hard to achieve."^[6]

Other roles

She guest starred on the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. In 1966, Canfield played Abner Kravitz's sister, Harriet, on four episodes of Bewitched. Actress Alice Pearce, who played Abner's wife, Gladys Kravitz, had died from ovarian cancer, and her successor as Mrs. Kravitz (Sandra Gould) had yet to be hired. During the early 1970s, Canfield and actress Lucille Wall shared the role of Lucille March on General Hospital. Canfield appeared in such feature films as Pollyanna (as "Angelica"),^[7] The St. Valentine's Day Massacre^[8] and Something Wicked This Way Comes.^[9]

Later life and death

Canfield made her last public appearance in 2005, when she attended Eddie Albert's funeral along with Green Acres co-stars Sid Melton and Frank Cady.

Canfield died at age 89 from lung cancer on February 15, 2014 in Santa Barbara, California.^[10]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. ↑ Was born in 1924 not 1926 as per Intelius and the 1930 US census Year of birth per ancestry.com; accessed February 20, 2014.
2. 1 2 The People of Hooterville
3. ↑ Hubert H Canfield, "United States Census, 1930"
4. 1 2 Funny Ladies - Michael Karol - Google Books
5. ↑ Mary Grace Canfield Theatre Credits
6. ↑ "Mary Grace Canfield dies at 89; character actress was on 'Green Acres'"
7. ↑ Nissen, Axel (2013). The Films of Agnes Moorehead. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810891371. Retrieved 2014-02-18. 
8. ↑ Naha, Ed; Corman, Roger (1982). The Films of Roger Corman: Brilliance on a Budget. Arco Pub. ISBN 978-0668053082. Retrieved 2014-02-18. 
9. ↑ Muir, John Kenneth (2013). Horror Films of the 1980s. McFarland. p. 258. ISBN 978-0786455010. Retrieved 2014-02-18. 
10. ↑ "Actress Mary Grace Canfield Dies", abcnews.go.com; accessed February 18, 2014.

External links

• Mary Grace Canfield at the Internet Movie Database
• Mary Grace Canfield at the Internet Broadway Database