Edith Atwater
Quick Facts
Biography
Edith Atwater (April 22, 1911 – March 14, 1986) was an American stage, film and television actress.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Atwater made her Broadway debut in 1933. In 1939 she starred in The Man Who Came to Dinner. Her film career included roles in The Body Snatcher (1945), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), Strait-Jacket (1964), Strange Bedfellows (1965), True Grit (1969), The Love Machine (1971), Die Sister, Die! (1972), Mackintosh and T.J. (1975) and Family Plot (1976).
From 1964 to 1965, Atwater appeared in several episodes of the television series Peyton Place in the role of Grace Morton, wife of Dr. Robert Morton, who was played by her real-life husband Kent Smith. During the 1966–67 television season, she appeared in the series Love on a Rooftop. She was also a regular on the television series Kaz during the 1978–1979 season. Her other television work included appearances on The Rockford Files, Hazel, Knots Landing and numerous other series.
Atwater was married to actor Hugh Marlowe from 1941 to 1946. She was married to actor Kent Smith from 1962 until his death in 1985, a year before her own death from cancer in 1986, at age 74. She had no children.
Legacy
Atwater's likeness was drawn in caricature by Alex Gard for Sardi's, the New York City theatre district restaurant. The picture is now part of the collection of the New York Public Library.