Edith Atwater

Edith Atwater (April 22, 1911 – March 14, 1986) was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across more than five decades. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she became a prominent presence on Broadway before expanding her work into Hollywood productions and television series.

Atwater made her Broadway debut in 1931 with Springtime for Henry and continued performing on the New York stage through 1951. Her Broadway career encompassed a wide range of productions, including Brittle Heaven (1934), Are You Decent (1934), This Our House (1935), The Country Wife (1936), The Masque of Kings (1937), and Susan and God (1937). In 1939 she took on a starring role in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and the following year appeared in Retreat to Pleasure. The year 1942 brought three Broadway productions: R.U.R., Broken Journey, and Johnny on a Spot. She continued through the decade with State of the Union (1945), Parlor Story (1947), The Gentleman From Athens (1947), Metropole (1949), and King Lear (1950), before closing her Broadway career with Flahooley in 1951. Beyond her stage work, Atwater served as a member of the governing board of Actors' Equity Association. Her likeness was drawn in caricature by Alex Gard for Sardi's, the theatre-district restaurant in New York City, and that image is now held in the collection of the New York Public Library.

Her film work began in the mid-1940s and continued for more than three decades. She appeared 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).

On television, Atwater appeared in the series Peyton Place from 1964 to 1965, playing Grace Morton, wife of Dr. Robert Morton. The role of Dr. Morton was portrayed by Kent Smith, who was her husband in real life. During the 1966–1967 season she appeared in Love on a Rooftop, and she was a series regular on Kaz during the 1978–1979 season. Her additional television credits included appearances on The Rockford Files, Hazel, and Knots Landing, among other series.

In her personal life, Atwater married actor Hugh Marlowe in November 1941; the two divorced in 1946. She married actor Kent Smith in 1962, and they remained together until his death in 1985. Atwater had no children. She died of cancer on March 14, 1986, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at the age of 74.