Georgann Johnson

Georgann Johnson, born Georgia Anne Johnson on August 15, 1926, in Decorah, Iowa, was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television across more than six decades. The daughter of George and Helene (Hjerleid) Johnson, she pursued her education at Decorah High School, Luther College, and Northwestern University before beginning her professional acting career in 1952. She died on June 4, 2018, in Los Angeles at the age of 91.

Johnson made her Broadway debut in 1953, appearing in a revival of Room Service alongside Jack Lemmon and actor Stanley Prager, whom she would marry in 1954. The two remained together until Prager's death in 1972. Her additional Broadway credits include Reclining Figure (1954), the comedy Drink to Me Only (1958), and Critic's Choice (1960). Prager left acting after testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1955, and Johnson later appeared in two films directed by Martin Ritt, himself a victim of the Hollywood blacklist: The Front (1976) and Murphy's Romance (1985).

Her film work included roles in Short Cut to Hell (1957), Midnight Cowboy (1969), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973), Health (1980), The Day After (1983), The Slugger's Wife (1985), and Quicksilver (1986). On television, Johnson began her career in commercials before accumulating an extensive list of series credits. She played Marge Weskitt on Mister Peepers, and appeared in two separate roles on The Fugitive, portraying Lois Carter in 1965 and Laura Craig in 1967. She also appeared in an episode of The Millionaire as a blind woman whose sight is restored through surgery paid for by Charles Bronson's character, and played Doreen Selvy in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Night of the Execution."

During the 1970s, Johnson took on the recurring role of Ellen Grant in the daytime serial Another World and its spinoff Somerset, as well as the role of Jane Spencer on As the World Turns. Her other series credits include Alice Snowden in Archie Bunker's Place, Dorothy Jarvis in Cutter to Houston, Katherine McKay in Our Family Honor, and a regular role on The Larry Storch Show. She played the mother of Jack Tripper in an episode of Three's Company and later portrayed Charlotte O'Neill, mother of the title character, in The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. In November 1993, during its second season, Johnson joined the CBS drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as Mrs. Elizabeth Quinn, a role she continued for the remainder of the series and into several subsequent television films.

In 1981, Johnson married Jack Tenner, and the two remained married until his death in 2008.