Jacqueline Scott

Jacqueline Sue Scott was born on June 25, 1931, in Sikeston, Missouri, the daughter of John and Maxine Scott. She grew up in Neosho, Missouri, where she completed her secondary education at Neosho High School in 1949. Scott subsequently moved to New York City and enrolled at Hunter College. Her earliest stage experience came through a tent show circuit in Missouri before she transitioned to professional theater.

Scott made her Broadway debut in 1955, appearing in two productions that year. She portrayed Susan Dennison in the comedy The Wooden Dish and took on the role of Rachel Brown in Inherit the Wind, the latter running through 1957. Both productions marked her as a presence on the New York stage before she shifted her focus primarily to screen work.

Her film career began with William Castle's Macabre in 1958. During the production of that film in 1957, she met actor Gene Lesser, whom she married a few months later. Subsequent film roles included the wife of James Stewart's character in Firecreek (1968) and the role of an outlaw's wife opposite Walter Matthau in Charley Varrick (1973).

Television became the dominant medium of Scott's career, with more than 100 guest appearances across various programs. She began in live television, appearing alongside performers such as Helen Hayes. Between 1958 and 1960, she made three separate appearances on Perry Mason, playing Amelia Armitage in "The Case of the Daring Decoy" (1958), Sally Wilson in "The Case of the Glittering Goldfish" (1959), and Kathi Beecher in "The Case of the Violent Village" (1960). In 1963, she appeared in "The Galaxy Being," the first episode of The Outer Limits, playing the wife of the central character. Her most sustained television role came on The Fugitive, where she played the sister of Dr. Richard Kimble, portrayed by David Janssen, in five episodes broadcast between 1964 and 1967. Those appearances included the two-part series finale, which at the time ranked as the highest-rated program in television history.

Scott died on July 23, 2020, at her home in Los Angeles from lung cancer. Her husband of 62 years, Gene Lesser, had died one month earlier on June 23, 2020.