Mary Grace Canfield

Mary Grace Canfield (September 3, 1924[1] – February 15, 2014) was an American theatre, film and television actress.

Mary Grace Canfield
Born	(1924-09-03)September 3, 1924 Rochester, New York, U.S.
Died	February 15, 2014(2014-02-15) (aged 89) Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–1993
Spouse(s)	Charles Carey (divorced; 2 children) John Bischof (1984–2014; her death)

Early life and career

Mary Grace Canfield was born in Rochester, New York,[2] the second child of Hildegard (née Jacobson) and Hubert Canfield. She grew up in Pittsford, New York. She had a sister, Constance, who was two years older than her.[3]

Acting mostly in small theatre companies and regional theatre between 1952 and 1964, she appeared in several Broadway plays, but most ran for no more than a month. Her Broadway credits include The Waltz of the Toreadors and The Frogs of Spring.[4][5]

Canfield's first credited performance on television was in March 1954 when she portrayed Frances in the episode "Native Dancer" on Goodyear Playhouse. After making additional television appearances, she played housekeeper Amanda Allison on the sitcom The Hathaways during the 1961-1962 season. As Thelma Lou's "ugly" cousin in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, she had an arranged blind date with Gomer Pyle, played by Jim Nabors. Her name on this episode was her actual name, Mary Grace. The episode was originally scheduled to air on November 25, 1963, but it was preempted by the coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy three days earlier.

Green Acres

Canfield was best known for her recurring role on the hit comedy series Green Acres as Ralph Monroe, the all-thumbs carpenter who greeted her fellow Hootervillians with her signature "Howdy Doody!" She appeared in more than 40 episodes of the show during its six-season run from 1965 to 1971.[2] She reprised the role in the 1990 TV movie Return to Green Acres.[4] Recalling the Ralph character in a 2006 interview, she said "To be remembered for Ralph kind of upsets me—only in the sense that it was so easy and undemanding." She added "It's being known for something easy to do instead of something you worked hard to achieve."[6]

Other roles

She guest starred on The Eleventh Hour. In 1966, Canfield played Abner Kravitz's sister Harriet on four episodes of Bewitched. Actress Alice Pearce, who played Abner's wife, Gladys Kravitz, had died from ovarian cancer, and her successor as Mrs. Kravitz (Sandra Gould) had yet to be hired. During the early 1970s, Canfield and actress Lucille Wall shared the role of Lucille March on General Hospital. Canfield appeared in feature films such as Pollyanna (as "Angelica"),[7] The St. Valentine's Day Massacre[8] and Something Wicked This Way Comes.[9]

Later life and death

Canfield made her last public appearance in 2005 when she attended Eddie Albert's funeral with Green Acres co-stars Sid Melton and Frank Cady. Canfield died at age 89 from lung cancer on February 15, 2014 in Santa Barbara, California.[10]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	That Kind of Woman	WAC on Train	Uncredited
1960	Pollyanna	Angelica
1962	The Interns	Pharmacy Nurse	Uncredited
1963	Come Blow Your Horn	Mildred - Looking for JFK at Party	Uncredited
1967	Don't Make Waves	Seamstress
1967	The St. Valentine's Day Massacre	Mrs. Doody	Uncredited
1975	Half a House	Thelma
1983	Something Wicked This Way Comes	Miss Foley
1988	South of Reno	Motel Manager
1993	Young Goodman Brown	Goody Cloyse	(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1954	Goodyear Television Playhouse	Frances	Episode: "Native Dancer"
1955	The Best of Broadway	Liesl	Episode: "The Guardsman"
1956	Robert Montgomery Presents	Abigail Lewis	Episode: "Goodbye, Grey Flannel"
1959	The Play of the Week	Sidonia	Episode: "The Waltz of the Toreadors"
1961	Thriller	Celia Perry	Episode: "A Good Imagination"
1961–1962	The Hathaways	Amanda Allison	Episodes: "Elinor's Guilt", "TV or Not TV", "The Paint Job", "A Man for Amanda"
1962	Thriller	Ally Rose	Episode: "The Hollow Watcher"
1962	Hazel	Miss Simmons	Episode: "Rock-A-Bye Baby"
1962	Poor Mr. Campbell	Grindl	TV movie
1963	The Joey Bishop Show	Mrs. Bennett	Episode: "The Baby Formula"
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Mrs. Dobkin	Episode: "The Middle Child Gets All the Aches"
1963	The Andy Griffith Show	Mary Grace Gossage	Episode: "A Date for Gomer"
1964	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Juliet	Episode: "Wake Up, Darling"
1965–1971	Green Acres	Ralph Monroe	Recurring role (41 episodes)
1966	The Farmer's Daughter	Alice Goodall	Episode: "Twelve Angry Women"
1966	Bewitched	Harriet Kravitz	Episodes: "Follow That Witch: Parts 1 & 2", "A Bum Raps", "Man's Best Friend"
1967	Vacation Playhouse	Mildred	Episode: "Heaven Help Us"
1970	Adam-12	Susie Fisher	Episode: "Log 135: Arson"
1973	Love, American Style	Bridgette	Episode: "Love and the Games People Play"
1973	General Hospital	Lucille March	TV series, replacement for Lucille Wall
1976	Family	Mrs. Hanley	Episodes: "Coming Apart", "Home Movie"
1978	Tabitha	Dr. Morrison	Episode: "Paul Goes to New York"
1984	Burning Rage	Nettie McFadden	TV movie
1985	Alice	Ruthie	Episode: "The Night They Raided Debbie's"
1990	Return to Green Acres	Ralph Monroe	TV movie
1993	The Jackie Thomas Show	Jane	Episode: "Aloha, Io-wahu"

References

1. Was born in 1924 not 1926 as per Intelius and the 1930 US census Year of birth per ancestry.com; accessed February 20, 2014.
2. The People of Hooterville
3. Hubert H Canfield, "United States Census, 1930"
4. Funny Ladies - Michael Karol - Google Books
5. Mary Grace Canfield Theatre Credits
6. "Mary Grace Canfield dies at 89; character actress was on 'Green Acres'", Los Angeles Times
7. Nissen, Axel (2013). The Films of Agnes Moorehead. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810891371. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
8. Naha, Ed; Corman, Roger (1982). The Films of Roger Corman: Brilliance on a Budget. Arco Pub. ISBN 978-0668053082. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
9. Muir, John Kenneth (2013). Horror Films of the 1980s. McFarland. p. 258. ISBN 978-0786455010. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
10. "Actress Mary Grace Canfield Dies", abcnews.go.com; accessed February 18, 2014.

External links

• Mary Grace Canfield on IMDb
• Mary Grace Canfield at the Internet Broadway Database