Susan Oliver (February 13, 1932 – May 10, 1990),
stage nameA stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
of
Charlotte Gercke, was an Emmy-nominated
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress, television director and
aviatorAn aviator is a person who flies aircraft for pleasure or as a profession. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887 as a variation of the French 'aviation', from the latin 'avis', coined 1863 by G. de la Landelle in "Aviation ou Navigation Aérienne"...
.
Early life and family
Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and
astrologyAstrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer...
practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child. In June 1949, Oliver joined her mother in
Southern CaliforniaSouthern California, or SoCal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers around three major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area with over 12 million inhabitants, the San Bernardino-Riverside...
, where Ruth Hale Oliver was in the process of becoming a well-known Hollywood astrologer. Oliver made a decision to embark upon a career as an actress and chose the stage name Susan Oliver.
Early career 1955-1958
By September 1949, using her new name, Oliver returned to the
East CoastThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the "Eastern Seaboard" or "Atlantic Seaboard", refers to the easternmost coastal states in the central and northern United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada...
to begin drama studies at
Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, followed by professional training at the
Neighborhood PlayhouseThe Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
in New York City. After working in
summer stockFor the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is an MGM musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
, regional theater and in unbilled bits in daytime and primetime TV shows and commercials, she made her first major television appearance playing a supporting role in the July 31, 1955 episode of the live drama series
Goodyear TV Playhouse, and quickly progressed to leading parts in other shows.
Broadway
In 1957, Oliver did numerous TV shows and a starring role in a movie. She began the year with an important
ingenueThe Ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome....
part, as the daughter of an 18th century
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
family, in her first Broadway play,
Small War on Murray Hill, a
Robert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was the son of the prominent American portrait artist Rosina Emmet Sherwood...
comedy.
Also in 1957, Oliver replaced
Mary UreEileen Mary Ure was a Scottish actress of stage and film.-Early life:Born in Glasgow where she studied at the School of Drama, Ure was the daughter of civil engineer Colin McGregor Ure and Edith Swinburne...
as the female lead in the Broadway production of
John OsborneJohn James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of The Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than 40 years, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and TV...
's play,
Look Back in AngerLook Back in Anger is a John Osborne play and 1958 movie about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
.
Television and films
The play's short run was immediately followed by larger roles in live TV plays on
Kaiser Aluminum Hour,
The United States Steel HourThe United States Steel Hour is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation.-Radio:...
and
Matinee Theater. Oliver then went to Hollywood, where she appeared in the November 14, 1957 episode of
Climax!Climax! is a television show that ran on the American network CBS from 1954 to 1958. An hour-long anthology suspense/mystery drama, the series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa...
, one of the few live drama series based on the
West CoastThe "West Coast", "Western Seaboard", or "Pacific Coastline" are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. It most often comprises California, Oregon and Washington...
, as well as in a number of filmed shows, including the October 30, 1957
Wagon TrainWagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957-1962 and then on ABC from 1962-1965...
and the title role of "Country Cousin," an installment of
Father Knows BestFather Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
broadcast on March 5, 1958. She also appeared in an episode of
John CassavetesJohn Nicholas Cassavetes was an American actor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He appeared in many Hollywood films. He is most notable as an influential pioneer of independent film...
's 1959-1960
detectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators...
series,
Johnny StaccatoJohnny Staccato is an American private detective series which ran for twenty-seven episodes on NBC from September 10, 1959 through March 24, 1960.-Synopsis:...
.
In July, 1957, Oliver was chosen for the title role in her first motion picture,
The Green-Eyed Blonde, a low-budget
independentAn independent film, or indie film, is a film that is produced outside of any major film studio. Originally, this term denoted independence from Paramount Pictures, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., RKO, Universal Pictures, United Artists, and Columbia Pictures, the 8 major studio entities...
melodramaThe theatrical genre of melodrama uses theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama" . While the use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in most cases it is used within a fairly rigid structure...
released by Warner Brothers in December on the bottom half of a double bill. It is the only motion picture on which Oliver received top billing.
At the close of the year, Oliver returned to New York, appearing in
Robert Alan AurthurRobert Alan Arthur was an American screenwriter, director and TV producer.-Television:In the early years of television, he wrote for Studio One and then moved on to write episodes of Mister Peepers...
's "The Thundering Wave," the December 12, 1957 broadcast of the prestigious live drama series
Playhouse 90Playhouse 90 is a 90-minute dramatic television anthology series, telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1961 for a total of 133 episodes. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of...
. Her performance in the
John FrankenheimerJohn Michael Frankenheimer was an American filmmaker. He is known for making The Manchurian Candidate , Birdman of Alcatraz , The Train, and Seven Days in May ....
-directed teleplay was well-received and she was invited to
Playhouse 90 two more times, March 26, 1959 and January 21, 1960.
As the next year began, Oliver continued to be a part of the
Golden Age of TV DramaThe Golden Age of Television is the period in the United States between the late 1940s and the early 1960s, a time when many hour-long anthology drama series received critical acclaim....
, acting in the February 26, 1958 episode of
Kraft Television Theatre and "The Woman Who Turned to Salt", the June 16, 1958 installment of
Suspicion, an hour-long suspense anthology series produced by
Alfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British filmmaker and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
. Oliver's entry, directed by
Robert StevensRobert Stevens was a director, sometimes confused with the better-known director Robert Stevenson.Between 1955-1962, he directed 42 episodes of the TV Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
, also starred
Michael RennieMichael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still.-Early years:...
along with Hitchcock's daughter,
PatriciaPatricia Hitchcock O'Connell is a British-born American actress and producer.She is the only child of the film director Alfred Hitchcock and film editor Alma Reville. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, in March 1939....
.
Patate
In mid-1958, Oliver began rehearsals for a co-starring role in
Patate, her second Broadway play. Its seven-performance run was even shorter than that of
Small War on Murray Hill but won Oliver a
Theatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
for "outstanding breakout performance." It was her last Broadway appearance.
West Coast career 1959-1980
Oliver spent the remainder of her career in Hollywood, going on to play in more than 100 television shows, five
made-for-TV moviesA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
, as well as 12 theatrical features. She appeared in three more episodes of
Wagon TrainWagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957-1962 and then on ABC from 1962-1965...
, four episodes of
The VirginianThe Virginian is a western-themed television series which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. It was the first western to air in 90-minute installments each week...
, three episodes each of
Adventures in ParadiseAdventures in Paradise is an American television series which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962. It starred Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure...
,
Route 66Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
and
Dr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show...
as well as "Never Wave Goodbye," a critically praised October 8 – October 15, 1963 two-part episode of
The FugitiveThe Fugitive is an American television series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen starred as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the...
. On April 12, 1961 she appeared in an episode of
The Naked CityThe Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge and the Whitehall Building in Manhattan. William H...
, "A Memory of Crying." That same year, she guest starred in the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
anthology series,
The Barbara Stanwyck ShowThe Barbara Stanwyck Show was a lavishly-produced anthology drama television series which ran on NBC in 1960 and 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential programs which...
.
She was fourth-billed in her second theatrical feature, 1959's
The Gene Krupa StoryThe Gene Krupa Story is a 1959 biopic of American drummer and bandleader Gene Krupa. The conflict in the film centers around Krupa's rise to success and his corresponding use of marijuana.-Plot Synopses:...
. Her next movie was the 1960
Elizabeth TaylorDame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE , also known as Liz Taylor, is an English-born British-American actress. Known for her acting skills and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, including many marriages...
vehicle
Butterfield 8BUtterfield 8 is a 1935 novel written by John O'Hara in the wake of the success of his critically acclaimed Appointment in Samarra. The popular novel was adapted into a 1960 MGM film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey...
.
The subsequent three-year period between 1960 and 1963 saw Oliver do more than 30 guest-star appearances in primetime series as well as a fourth feature film in the role of psychiatric nurse Cathy Clark in Warner Brothers 1963 hospital melodrama
The CaretakersThe Caretakers is a United Artists feature film starring Joan Crawford and Robert Stack in a story about a mental hospital. The screenplay was adapted by Henry F. Greenberg from a story by Hall Bartlett and Jerry Paris based on the 1959 novel The Caretakers by Dariel Telfer. The film was produced...
.
Robert StackRobert Langford Modini Stack was an American actor. He was perhaps best known for his film acting as well as his role in the television series The Untouchables and as host of Unsolved Mysteries. He starred in more than 40 films.-Early life:Stack was born in Los Angeles, California but spent his...
,
Polly BergenPolly Bergen is an American Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and entrepreneur.-Career:...
and
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925...
were top-billed, along with two stars of the studio's 1960-62 TV detective series
Surfside 6Surfside 6 is an ABC television series about a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat, featuring Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II, Van Williams as Kenny Madison , and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...
,
Diane McBainDiane McBain is an American actress who, as a Warner Brothers contract player, reached a brief peak of popularity during the early 1960s...
and
Van WilliamsVan Zandt Williams is a former actor best known for his brief yet world-famous television role as "Britt Reid"...
. In the film's tangential plotline, however, Williams' doctor character is drawn to Oliver, as evidenced by their only scene together, a brief dinner sequence.
In 1963, Oliver guest starred on the Aaron Spelling series "Burke's Law" where she played Janet Fielding, the secretary of a murdered psychologist. She was lured from her desk by a phone call indicating her mother was involved in a car accident, which proved to be false.
At the end of 1963, Oliver filmed a guest-starring spot on the
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
western
The Travels of Jaimie McPheetersThe Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is a 26-episode western television series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Robert Lewis Taylor. The show aired in the 1963-1965 television season and was produced by MGM Television....
, which featured 12-year-old
Kurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. He started acting as a child in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has continued appearing in a wide variety of films since, including Follow Me, Boys!, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Barefoot Executive, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China,...
in the title role. The 26-episode series about a westward-bound wagon train originally focused on the relationship between the boy and his free-spirited
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
physician father (
Dan O'HerlihyDaniel O'Herlihy was an Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford and married Elsie Bennett in 1945. He was the brother of director Michael O'Herlihy and the father of actor Gavan O'Herlihy, visual artist Olwen O'Herlihy, and architect Lorcan O'Herlihy...
). The 13th episode, however, introduced the new wagonmaster Linc Murdock, played by
Charles BronsonCharles Bronson was an American actor best known for his "tough guy" image, who starred in such classic films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, The Evil That Men Do and the popular Death Wish series...
who, along with Russell's Jaimie, became the focus of the remaining storylines.
"The Day of the Reckoning", shown on March 15, 1964 as the show's final installment, presented Oliver as Maria, Murdock's former love. With an eye towards expanding it, the filming was done on color stock and additional scenes were lensed to bring the running time to 75 minutes, the pre-commercial length of a 90-minute TV "movie of the week". Entitled
Guns of DiabloGuns of Diablo is a Guns of Diablo is a Guns of Diablo is a (Metrocolor 1964 Western directed by Boris Sagal, starring Charles Bronson, Susan Oliver and Kurt Russell. Charles Bronson is a wagon scout (Linc Murdock), who runs into difficulties when he meets old flame Maria (Susan Oliver), now...
the "movie" has a cast composed of familiar TV faces from the 1960s and further betrays its origins by including the prominent commercial break fade-ins and outs typical of TV product from that era.
By January 1965, the film, with Bronson billed first, Oliver second and Russell third above the title, already had showings in
West GermanWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
cinemas and was later released to theaters in other parts of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
as well as
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
,
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
and
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
to capitalize on Bronson's eventual worldwide popularity.
In addition to six TV shows in 1964, Oliver had major roles in three features —
Looking for Love ,
The Disorderly OrderlyThe Disorderly Orderly is a Paramount Pictures feature film starring Jerry Lewis in a story about a clumsy hospital orderly with a psychosomatic problem. The film was produced by Paul Jones with a screenplay by the film's director Frank Tashlin based upon a story by Norm Liebermann and Ed Haas...
and, most prominently,
Your Cheatin' Heart"Your Cheatin' Heart" is a song written and recorded by the American country music singer and songwriter Hank Williams in 1952, but released after his death in 1953. It is often considered one of his greatest songs, and one of the great songs of country music...
, in which she was second-billed as Audrey Williams, wife of
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
legend Hank Williams, portrayed by
George HamiltonGeorge Stevens Hamilton is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Hamilton was the eldest son of society band leader George "Spike" Hamilton and his first wife, Ann Stevens . He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in Bytheville, Arkansas, until the age of 12...
. Hamilton, along with a number of other guest stars, also popped up in a cameo appearance in
Looking for Love, a
Connie FrancisConcetta Rosa Maria Franconero , known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer best known for several international hit songs including "Who's Sorry Now?," "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Where the Boys Are", and "Stupid Cupid." She topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on...
vehicle, with Oliver in support as Connie's friend.
The
Frank TashlinFrank Tashlin was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director. He was 6'2" tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds....
-directed
Disorderly Orderly was another entry in the then-popular
Jerry LewisJerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director, singer and humanitarian. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in stage, screen, television, radio, recording and is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the...
theatrical series. Amidst the wild slapstick, Oliver was cast in an oddly serious role as a beautiful former cheerleader from Lewis's high school days.
The Andy Griffith Show
One of Oliver's 1964 TV appearances was an infrequent outing on a sitcom. As in
The Disorderly Orderly, her handful of comedy acting turns were played relatively straight, including an episode of
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
' top-rated
The Andy Griffith ShowThe Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in a fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
called "Prisoner of Love." The storyline plays out almost entirely in the holding cell area of the Mayberry town jail.
The Twilight Zone
In the
Rod SerlingRodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. He was known in the more secular community as being an atheist despite converting to Unitarianism...
-scripted "
People Are Alike All Over"People Are Alike All Over" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.-Part one:-Part two:-Plot:...
", the last of three entries helmed for the series by veteran movie director
Mitchell LeisenMitchell Leisen was an American director, art director, and costume designer...
,
Roddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English-born actor and photographer. He is known for beginning his long career as a child actor. His best known role is in the "Planet of the Apes" films and TV series from 1968-1974.-Early life and career:McDowall was born in Herne Hill,...
stars as Sam Conrad, an astronaut who lands on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
, which he finds to be inhabited by a seemingly-human race, one of whom was played by Oliver. She is the romantic interest of McDowall's character, but as is often the case in TZ episodes true love is foiled by a last minute twist in the story.
Star Trek
Four years later Oliver was cast in a storyline which evoked similar themes, "The Cage", the unsold 1964 pilot episode of
Star TrekStar Trek is a science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 to September 2, 1969. Though the original series was titled simply Star Trek, it has acquired the retronym Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish it from the spinoffs that...
. In what could have been a pivotal role of her career, she portrays Vina, the lone survivor of a long-ago crash landing on the distant planet
Talos IVIn the fictional Star Trek universe, the Talosians were a race of humanoids who inhabited the planet Talos IV The Talosians were highly evolved, with impressively large crania to accommodate their enormous brains...
, whose idealized image becomes the irresistible fulfillment of love for Captain
Christopher PikeChristopher Pike is a character in the Star Trek franchise. He was portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter in the original Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage", as captain of the USS Enterprise. The pilot was rejected, and the character was dropped during development of the second pilot when Hunter decided that...
(
Jeffrey HunterJeffrey Hunter was a film and television actor.-Early life:Hunter was born Henry Herman McKinnies, Jr., in New Orleans, Louisiana, but raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1930 onward, where he graduated from Whitefish Bay High School. He began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens...
). Although the network executives saw no fault with the ensemble cast, "The Cage" is believed to have been deemed "too cerebral" and, in a rare move, NBC asked for a revised pilot, made a year later with
William ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor and novelist. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, captain of the starship USS Enterprise, in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series and in seven of the...
as Captain Kirk.
Seen ten weeks after Star Treks September premiere, the November 17 – November 24, 1966 two-part episode "
The Menagerie"The Menagerie" is the only two-part episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is episodes #11 and 12, production #16. Part one of the episode was broadcast on November 17, 1966 with the second part broadcast a week later on November 24, 1966. NBC repeated the two shows on May 18 and 25, 1967...
" incorporated, in re-edited form, about 80 percent of "The Cage"'s footage. "The Menagerie" was well-received by the science-fiction community and garnered a
Hugo AwardThe Hugo Awards are given every year for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories...
for dramatic presentation, although Oliver and Hunter were not recalled to film any additional revised scenes. Twenty-two years later, less than two years before Oliver's death (Jeffrey Hunter died in 1969), "The Cage" was finally telecast to a new generation of fans as a 1988 syndicated special, hosted by
Gene RoddenberryEugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American screenwriter and producer. He created the American science-fiction series Star Trek, an accomplishment for which he was sometimes referred to as the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" due to the show's influence on popular culture. He was one of the first...
. Finally, in the end-credit still images seen in early episodes of Star Trek
, fans also take note of a striking visual of Oliver as the archetypal green-skinned "Orion Slave Girl". It is her portrayal that created a fair standard for other actresses in this type of Star Trek
role.
Additional genre performances
Remaining with the genre, Oliver was seen in two episodes of Quinn MartinQuinn Martin , born Irwin Martin Cohn, was one of the most successful American television producers. He had at least one series running in prime time for 21 straight years , an industry record....
's Larry Cohen- Biography :Cohen was born in Kingston, New York, USA. Cohen moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx at an early age, eventually majoring in film at the City College of New York. He started his career in television, writing on many shows and creating the cult classics Branded and The Invaders....
-created alien-impostors-on-Earth series, The InvadersThe Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
, "The Ivy Curtain" (March 21, 1967) and "Inquisition" (March 26, 1968), as well as playing the unreliable associate of dwarf-like recurring villain mastermind Miguelito Loveless (Michael DunnMichael Dunn was an American actor and singer who shunned the usual "cute" typecasting of dwarf actors and sought serious roles requiring dramatic skill...
) in "The Night Dr. Loveless Died", the September 29, 1967 episode of The Wild Wild WestThe Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
. She also appeared in non-genre episodes of ThrillerThriller is an anthology television series that aired from 1960-1962 on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers. Thriller ran at 9 p.m...
("Choose a Victim", January 24, 1961, directed by Richard Carlson, the star of a number of 1950s sci-fi films, such as It Came from Outer SpaceIt Came from Outer Space is a 1953 Science fiction 3-D film directed by Jack Arnold, and starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, and Charles Drake.- Plot :...
) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
(in the title role of "Annabel", November 1, 1962, scripted by Psychos
Robert BlochRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction.Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over twenty novels, usually crime fiction, science fiction and, perhaps most influentially, horror fiction . He was one of the youngest members of the...
from the novel by
Patricia HighsmithPatricia Highsmith was an American crime writer known for her psychological thrillers, which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Strangers on a Train has been adapted for the screen three times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
, and directed by another actor,
Paul HenreidPaul Henreid , whose birthname was Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter von Wassel-Waldingau, was an Austrian actor and film director.-Early life:...
.
In a brief footnote, twelve years after her
Twilight Zone performance, Oliver was seen in one of the stories on the January 5, 1972 episode of the Rod Serling-hosted
Night GalleryNight Gallery is Rod Serling’s follow-up series to The Twilight Zone that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973. Serling functioned both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although he did not have the same control of content and tone as he did on The Twilight...
. In the 15-minute ghost tale "The Tune in Dan's Cafe", she is the unhappily-married wife of
Pernell RobertsPernell Elvin Roberts is an American television actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza , and as chief surgeon, Dr. Trapper John MacIntyre, the title character on Trapper John, M.D....
, as the couple experiences an emotional epiphany, triggered by the single song ("
If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry"If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry" is a song made famous by country music singer Jerry Wallace. Originally released in 1972, the song became the only number-one song during Wallace's recording career....
", sung by
Jerry WallaceJerry Wallace was an American country and popular music singer.-Biography:Wallace was born in Guilford, Missouri...
) emanating from a cafeteria
jukeboxA jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media. The traditional jukebox is rather large with a rounded top and has colored lighting on the front of the machine on its vertical sides...
.
Final theatrical films
Oliver spent most of 1966 in the continuing role of the tragic Ann Howard on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's prime-time serial
Peyton PlacePeyton Place is an American prime time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964 to June 2, 1969.Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. A total of 514 episodes were broadcast, in...
, and in 1967 had her a role in one of the first movies to portray the newly emerging
countercultureCounterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition...
,
The Love-Ins. In the independently produced film,
Richard ToddRichard Todd OBE is an Irish-born British stage and film actor and former soldier.-Early life:He was born Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. Todd's father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and also notably an International Irish Rugby player who gained three...
starred as a
Timothy LearyDr. Timothy Francis Leary was an American writer, psychologist, futurist, advocate of psychedelic drug research, and one of the first people whose remains have been sent into space. An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic, spiritual and emotional...
-like professor who promotes himself into an
LSDLysergic acid diethylamide, LSD-25, LSD, formerly lysergide, commonly known as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family...
-advocating media star. He lures Oliver's character into his hallucinogenic world, impregnates and rebuffs her, causing her to suffer a breakdown. In response, her former lover,
underground publisherThe phrase underground press is most often used to refer to the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations...
James MacArthurJames Gordon MacArthur is an American actor best known for the role of Dan "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O, a role which won him fans all over the world.- Early life :He was adopted as an infant by Charles MacArthur and...
, who has been supporting the demagogue in his paper, assassinates him at one of his mass rallies. Oliver's most memorable scene depicts her LSD "
tripA psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ordinary restraints. Psychedelic states are one of the stations on the spectrum of experiences elicited by sensory deprivation as...
" in which she visualizes herself as "Alice in Wonderland". At the scene's abrupt conclusion, the image disintegrates as she tears off the remnants of her clothing. The sensational nature of the film caused it to be banned in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
.
Oliver co-starred in three medium- to low-budget features released from 1968-69. She was one of two female leads in
A Man Called Gannon, a
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
with
Anthony FranciosaAnthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career....
, which was a little-noticed remake of the 1955
Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas is an American actor and film producer recognized for his prominent cleft chin, his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as the kinds of characters Douglas himself once described as "sons of bitches". He is the father of Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas...
vehicle
Man Without a StarMan Without a Star is a 1955 western film starring Kirk Douglas as a wanderer who gets dragged into a range war. It was based on the novel of the same name by Dee Linford.-Plot:...
. It received spotty local distribution at the end of 1968 and into 1969.
The remaining two films,
Change of Mind and
The Monitors may be considered science fiction, although neither fits into the traditional definition of the genre.
Change of Mind was filmed in
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
by
Robert StevensRobert Stevens was a director, sometimes confused with the better-known director Robert Stevenson.Between 1955-1962, he directed 42 episodes of the TV Series Alfred Hitchcock Presents...
, who had directed Oliver eleven years earlier in the episode of
Suspicion. Despite the recently-found freedom of cinematic subject matter, the specter of implied
miscegenationMiscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups, that is, marrying, cohabiting, having sexual relations and having children with a partner from outside one's racially or ethnically defined group....
was still reflected in the prejudices of the period, thus consigning
Mind to exploitation
grindhouseA grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theatres located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease used to be on the bill.- History :...
s upon its release on October 1, 1969.
Monitors, the last of the three titles, was released a week later, on October 8, 1969. The independently made, poorly distributed satire was filmed in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
by
The Second CityThe Second City is a long-running improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
troupe and depicted derby-wearing, slogan-chanting aliens who pacify Earth "for its own good" by negating human emotions and turning America into a passive nation, which spends its time watching brainwashed celebrities appear in TV ads designed to perpetuate the regime.
Guy StockwellGuy Stockwell was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes.Stockwell was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Nina Olivette , an actress and dancer, and Harry Bayless Stockwell, or Harry Stockwell, an actor and singer...
and Oliver starred as the leaders of an opposition underground dedicated to the overthrow of the ostensibly benevolent alien dictatorship. The numerous familiar faces in the film included
Sherry JacksonSherry Jackson is an American actress and former child star. She made her film debut at seven years old in the musical You're My Everything, starring Anne Baxter...
,
Larry StorchLawrence Samuel "Larry" Storch is an American actor best known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for top cartoon shows, including Mr...
,
Avery SchreiberAvery Lawrence Schreiber was an American comedian and actor. He was a veteran of stage, TV and film.-Biography:...
,
Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor and member of a well-known show-business family. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade as an actor.-Early life and career:...
,
Ed BegleyEdward James Begley, Sr. was an American actor.-Biography:Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Begley began his career as radio actor while in his teens. He later acted in roles as Sgt. O'Hara in the radio show The Fat Man. Begley then progressed to Broadway. His radio work included a stint as Charlie...
and
Peter BoylePeter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....
, with "alien TV" cameo appearances by
Alan ArkinAlan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, and musician. He is best-known for starring in such films as: Catch-22; The In-Laws; Edward Scissorhands; The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming; Glengarry Glen Ross; and Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won an Academy Award for Best...
,
Adam ArkinAdam Arkin is an American television, film, and stage actor and director. He is best known for playing neurosurgeon Aaron Shutt on Chicago Hope. He is also one of the three actors to portray Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck on Monk. he stars in the NBC drama Life...
,
Xavier CugatXavier Cugat, born Francesc d'Asís Xavier Cugat Mingall de Bru i Deulofeu was an American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a...
,
Stubby KayeStubby Kaye was an American comic actor. He was born Bernard Kotzin in New York City on West 114th Street in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan to first generation Jewish-Americans originally from Russia and Austria...
,
Jackie VernonJackie Vernon was an American stand-up comedian, actor and voice artist.Born Ralph Verrone, Vernon was known for his gentle, low-key delivery and self-deprecating humor. He has been hailed as "The King of Deadpan." He was obviously a major influence on current sardonic stand-up comedians such as...
and even the gravelly voiced U.S. Senator
Everett DirksenEverett McKinley Dirksen was a Republican U.S. Congressman and Senator from Pekin, Illinois. As Republican Senate leader he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s, including helping to write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Open Housing Act of 1968, both...
, who died a month before the film's release.
Carter's Army
At the start of the following decade, Oliver appeared in the first of her five made-for-TV-movies, all of which placed her in supporting roles.
Carter's Army, co-scripted by
Aaron SpellingAaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's company holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits.-Early life:...
, premiered January 27, 1970 as one of the entries on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's Tuesday night 90-minute
Movie of the Week. Oliver, as the sole female member of the cast, appears in a 10-minute role as Anna, a war widow in 1944
GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
, helping captain Beau Carter (
Stephen BoydStephen Boyd , born William Millar, was an Irish-born actor from Glengormley, Northern Ireland, who appeared in 60 films, most notably in the role of Messala in the 1959 film Ben-Hur.-Biography:...
), a racially insensitive
SouthernerThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, and his all-black platoon capture a vital roadway over a dam. Following Oliver's controversial turn in
Change of Mind,
Carter's Army again (briefly) raises the flag of "forbidden" romance as Anna kisses the second-in-command, African-American lieutenant Wallace (
Robert HooksRobert Dean "Bobby" Hooks is an American actor of film, television and stage. With a career as a producer and political activist to his credit, he is most recognizable to the public for his over 100 roles in film and television...
). Michael Weldon in his
Psychotronic Video GuidePsychotronic Video was a film magazine originally started by publisher/editor Michael J. Weldon in 1980 in New York City as a hand-written and photocopied weekly fanzine entitled Psychotronic TV. It was then relaunched by Weldon under its more commonly known name as an offset quarterly in 1989...
write-up of the film's video version,
Black Brigade, credits Oliver with "TV's first interracial kiss".
Third-billed in
Carter's Army (after Boyd and Hooks), a year later Oliver fell to sixth (after
Gene Barry-Early life:Barry was born Eugene Klass in New York City, New York, the son of Eva and Martin Klass; all of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. He exhibited early skills with his singing and violin playing.-Career:...
,
Lloyd BridgesLloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor. Bridges starred in television series, and appeared in more than 150 films.-Early life:...
,
Diane BakerDiane Carol Baker is an American actress who has appeared in motion pictures and on television since 1959.-Early life:...
,
Joseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. He is best remembered for his association with Orson Welles, which led to appearances in Journey into Fear, which Cotten wrote, Citizen Kane, The Third Man, and The Magnificent Ambersons.Cotten first achieved prominence on Broadway,...
and
Sidney BlackmerSidney Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. As a young man in his late teens, he went to New York City looking for acting work in the theater...
) in her second made-for-TV film, NBC's
Do You Take This Stranger?. The two-hour identity-switch suspenser, broadcast January 18, 1971, gave Oliver three scenes, but left most of the dramatics to the other cast members.
Emmy nomination
During 1975-76 she was a regular cast member of the soap opera
Days of our LivesDays of our Lives is an American soap opera which has aired nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965 on the NBC network in the United States, and has since been syndicated to many countries around the world. It also broadcasts on SOAPnet weeknights at 11PM ET/PT...
and received her only
EmmyThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
nomination (for "Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress") in the 3-hour October 25, 1976
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
made-for-TV movie,
Amelia Earhart. Playing
AmeliaAmelia Mary Earhart ; was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
's (
Susan ClarkSusan Clark is a Canadian actress, known for her role as Katherine Papadapolis on the TV sitcom Webster.-Personal life:...
) friend and mentor, aviatrix
Neta SnookNeta Snook Southern , was a pioneer aviator who achieved a long list of firsts. She was the first woman aviator in Iowa, first woman student accepted at the Curtiss Flying School in Virginia, first woman "aviatrix" to run her own aviation business and first woman to run a commercial airfield...
, was a natural for Oliver, a genuine flying enthusiast who piloted her own aircraft. The two were further connected by a near-birthdate — "Snookie" (as she is called in the film), 80 years old at the time of production, was born on February 14 (1896) to Oliver's February 13. Neta Snook, who ultimately continued past her 95th birthday, died on March 23, 1991, outlived Oliver by ten-and-a-half months.
Oliver's final three theatrical features were dispersed between 1974 and 1979. In the first, 1974's
Ginger in the Morning, she appeared with another rarely-seen black hairdo (apparently not a wig, since her hair stylist received a separate credit).
Monte MarkhamMonte Markham is an American character actor. During his career, Markham has appeared in film, in television, and on Broadway....
was billed first and Oliver second, but audiences first saw her 45 minutes into the 90-minute film, which gave its real star fourth billing: "and
Sissy SpacekMary Elizabeth "Sissy" Spacek is an American actress and singer. Her screen debut was in the 1972 film Prime Cut co-starring Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman....
as Ginger."
Three years later, Oliver had a supporting role in a theatrical movie, an obscure
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
-made item entitled
Nido de viudas, which was barely shown in
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
in December 1977 as
Widow's Nest. Despite a cast which included Oscar winners
Patricia NealPatricia Neal is an American actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal, in Packard, Whitley County, Kentucky...
and
Lila KedrovaLila Kedrova was a Russian-born French actress.-Biography:Though born in Petrograd, Russia, Kedrova spent most of her life in France....
, the film quickly disappeared and has remained obscure.
At the end of the 1970s, Oliver appeared in her last theatrically released motion picture. It was a reunion with her old friend
Jerry LewisJerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director, singer and humanitarian. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in stage, screen, television, radio, recording and is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the...
in his self-directed comeback vehicle,
Hardly WorkingHardly Working is a comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was filmed in 1979, and released in the United States on April 3, 1981 by 20th Century Fox.-Plot:...
, in which she was second-billed as Jerry's long-suffering sister. Following the pattern of her earlier dramatic turn in
The Disorderly Orderly, this role was a straight one, as the better part of an unhappy comedy which sat on the shelf for over two years before receiving a perfunctory release in 1980-81.
Director
By the late 1970s, with acting assignments becoming scarcer, Oliver turned to part-time directing. In 1977, twenty-eight years after her early experiences in Japan, she wrote and directed
Cowboysan, a short film which presents the fantasy scenario of a Japanese actor and actress playing leads in an American
westernThe Western is a fiction genre seen in film, television, radio, literature, painting and other visual arts. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in what became the Western United States , but also in Western Canada, Mexico , Alaska The Western...
.
Oliver also directed several TV episodes, including the October 25, 1982 installment of
M*A*S*HM*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH . The series is a medical drama/black comedy that was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS...
and the December 4, 1983 entry of one of its sequel series,
Trapper John, M.D.Trapper John, M.D. is an American television medical drama and spin-off of the film MASH, about a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986....
, whose title character was her former
Night Gallery co-star Pernell Roberts.
Late career
Oliver continued to act through the 1980s, playing
supporting rolesA supporting actor performs roles in a play or movie other than that of protagonist. A female who performs these roles is usually referred to as a supporting actress....
in her final two films,
Tomorrow's Child and
International Airport, both
TV moviesA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
made for
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
. "Child," broadcast on March 22, 1982, was the second of two consecutive TV films about the then-sensational topic of surrogate motherhood (the first one, CBS'
The Gift of Life was seen on March 16). "Airport," shown on May 25, 1985, was an all-star unsold
pilotA television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. It is an early step in the development of a television series, much like pilot lights or pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity, or pilot holes prepare the way for larger holes. Networks use pilots to...
integrating
multiple storiesDramatic structure is the structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film. Many scholars have analyzed dramatic structure, beginning with Aristotle in his Poetics...
and
charactersA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
into a
plot-drivenA plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
mix of suspense and danger at a giant airport. Produced by
Aaron SpellingAaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's company holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits.-Early life:...
, it had most of the multi-star elements typical of his successful shows
Fantasy Island This article is about the television series. For the amusement park, see Martin's Fantasy Island or Fantasy Island UKFantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:Before it became a...
and
The Love BoatThe Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24, 1977 until May 24, 1986. The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain, who encourages his customers to find romance...
, which had already hosted Oliver in its January 24, 1981 episode.
In Oliver's last fully active year, she also appeared in the February 21, 1985 episode of
Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television show starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
and two episodes of
Murder, She WroteMurder, She Wrote was an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for twelve seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series, The Law & Harry McGraw...
, March 31 and December 1. The February 12, 1987 episode of
Simon and Simon
The January 10, 1988 episode of the
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
domestic drama
Our House and the November 6, 1988 episode of the syndicated horror anthology
Freddy's Nightmares. In the "Nightmares" hour-long entry "Judy Miller, Come on Down," she appears in the second half-hour as a mysteriously gloomy maid who arrives at the young title character's home and reveals herself to "Judy" as seemingly her own gray-haired future self. In Oliver's final scene, she turns away from "Judy" and leaves the house, disappearing into the fog.
Aviator and author
After surviving a 1966 plane crash which almost took her life, Oliver co-piloted her
Piper ComancheThe Piper PA-24 Comanche is a four-seat, low-wing, all-metal, light aircraft of monocoque construction with retractable landing gear that was first flown in May 1956 according to a Piper Aircraft Company press release...
to victory in 1970 in the 2760-mile transcontinental race known as the "
Powder Puff DerbyThe Powder Puff Derby was the name given to a transcontinental air race for women pilots inaugurated in 1947. For the next two years it was named the "Jacqueline Cochran All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race"...
", which resulted in her being named Pilot of the Year.
In 1967 she became the fourth woman to fly a single-engined aircraft solo across the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
and the second to do it from
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. She was attempting to fly to
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
, her odyssey ended in
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
after the government of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
denied her permission to enter its air space. Oliver wrote about her aviation exploits and philosophy of life in an autobiography published in 1983 as
Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey.
Death
A heavy smoker, Susan Oliver died from
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
in Woodland Hills, California, on May 10, 1990.
Her age at death would appear to have been 58, but in the city of her birth, the
New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
obituary stated that she was 61 years old. Virtually all older editions of printed reference works have perpetuated outdated biographical details, giving her birth year as 1936 or 1937 although, according to the (relatively minor)
TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
obit, the actual year would have to be 1929.
As of the 2000s, the majority of biographical references have accepted 1932 as the most likely year. Additional details have been provided by the passenger manifest of the USAT General Daniel I. Sultan and Swarthmore College registration records. The manifest listed Charlotte Gercke as departing Yokohama, Japan, on May 28, 1949, and arriving in San Francisco on June 7. Her age on the manifest was given as 17, confirming the birth year as 1932.
Swarthmore records indicate that a student named Susan Oliver, born February 13, 1932, attended classes from September 1949 to May 1950.
External links