Louise Lorimer

Louise Lorimer, born Louise Knapp Pinkham on July 14, 1898, in Newton, Massachusetts, was an American actress whose career in theater, film, and television spanned more than six decades. She attended Newton High School and trained in drama at the Leland Powers School in Boston before adopting the stage name Louise Lorimer. She died on August 12, 1995, at her home in Newton, Massachusetts, at the age of 97.

Lorimer's Broadway career ran from 1925 to 1944 and encompassed a range of productions across genres. Her stage credits include the comedy Take It as It Comes, the comedy Feathers in a Gale, the play Maya, and the play Rapid Transit. She returned to Broadway in 1944 with a role in I Remember Mama, a production that also marked Marlon Brando's debut on the stage. During World War II, she performed with the USO in the Pacific theater before resuming her work in New York.

Her film work began in the 1930s with small roles in pictures including To Mary – with Love (1936), Gangster's Boy (1938), Manhattan Heartbeat (1940), and Flying Cadets (1941). Her screen career continued steadily into the following decades with appearances in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Once More, My Darling (1949), Father Was a Fullback (1949), The Glass Menagerie (1950), The Sun Sets at Dawn (1950), The Prowler (1951), The People Against O'Hara (1951), Japanese War Bride (1952), Young Man with Ideas (1952), Mister Cory (1957), Compulsion (1959), and -30- (1959). She also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 film Marnie.

Television occupied a significant portion of Lorimer's later career. She played Stagecoach Sal in the western series Hopalong Cassidy and appeared as the title character in the January 16, 1949, episode of The Lone Ranger, "Cannonball McKay." Her recurring and multi-episode television work included Dragnet (1955–58), Perry Mason (1958–62), Dennis the Menace (1959–61), and Window on Main Street (1961–62). She made multiple appearances on Hazel as George Baxter's mother, a role connected to her close friendship with actress Shirley Booth, who starred in that series. Lorimer also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Presents and in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica pilot, "Saga of a Star World," continuing to work in television into her eighties.