by Barbara F.
Member since:
August 24, 2006

Jane Wyatt~No longer with us...Do you remember?

October 23, 2006 11:01 AM EDT (Updated: October 23, 2006 12:21 PM EDT)
views: 26 | rating: 9.7/10 (9 votes) | comments: 23

I just read on one of the news sites that Jane Wyatt passed away...

I don't know why that  made me so sad, perhaps because she was so much a part of my TV life growing up watching her on TV...The perfect mom, the perfect wife, part of a perfect family...but in reality it's come out that all that perfection wasn't at all true in the lives of those actors who played her children...Drug addiction played a part in the lives of two of them, and unhappiness seemed the follow the others..Robert Young even fought alcoholism..though we never really heard anything negative about Jane Wyatt.

But, when on the air, they personified the "Happy Life" of "Father Knows Best"...Life is  much different now in families but at the time it made me forget the problems I had as a teenager, the fact that my mother wasn't home baking cookies in a spotlessly clean house, wearing a dress and high heels, that my dad didn't come home in  suit and tie looking like the most successful man alive, when in fact life for me was just the opposite..But it did  make me happy to watch the show and for that I am grateful

There was more to Jane Wyatts life though as she was a successful movie actress... I will never forget her in the wonderful old movie, Lost Horizon...Too bad she couldn't find that paradise in  real life and stay young forever....too bad we all can't find that Utopia.

 

 
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Comments: 23

Joe T. Oct 23, 2006, 11:04am EDT
Life wasn't "Father knows best" even in the 50s and 60s. But, it was great entertainment for the times. I am sad at Jane Wyatt's passing.
Bill Allin Oct 23, 2006, 11:19am EDT
"Father Knows Best" really revolved around the Jane Wyatt character. She brought it all together. The father was a bit of a dufus at the best of times, except that in a sexist society he took the credit for having a good and well-rounded family.
Barbara, if we want that kind of utopia, we need to asses the values that the program taught and ensure that the same values are taught to our children.
Obviously the values taught in the program were not reinforced at home in the families of the actors. Too much "acting."
Barbara F. Oct 23, 2006, 11:26am EDT
actually I was talking about a different kind of Utopia...not that unreal family kind...a utopia of the world so to speak..yes, unrealistic but then Utopia is unreal, except in our minds I guess
Lori (Dr Devience) Leidig Oct 23, 2006, 11:31am EDT
Damn Barb... yer old!


(ducks and runs...)
Susan A. Oct 23, 2006, 12:10pm EDT
Ah, one of thoses strange families I just couldn't figure out...I liked the Addms Family
so very sad at the passing of Jane wyatt, I loved that show. If only life was as perfect now as it was in that show the world would be a much better place.
Barbara F. Oct 23, 2006, 12:24pm EDT
Lori...thats what I've been telling you...;)

Susie, the Adams family doesn't surprise me..that you enjoyed it, I mean...*grin*

Stephanie...that's what I was saying..yes it's too bad...
Jude Cowell Oct 23, 2006, 12:32pm EDT
Barbara,

Thanks for the news--I'd not heard of Jane Wyatt's passing. I, too, watched Father Knows Best every day--wouldn't miss it and loved every minute of it.

Although I adored Eleanor Donahue's character, I realized I was more "Kitten" at heart--and in age. But I aspired to the 'ideal' teen model, poodle skirts, ponytails, and all.

Thanks for spurring my recollections on this one! Jane Wyatt was a beautiful lady plus, wasn't she the actress who was Ronald Reagan's first wife? Or am I thinking of someone else? (A senior moment just got hold o'me! Help!)
Barbara F. Oct 23, 2006, 12:49pm EDT
Jude, Reagons wife was Jane Wyman I think.... I just hate those senior moments..

And isn't it incredible to think of Kitten as a heroin user...
Life certainly didn't imitate art in that regard..shame..

Thanks for stopping by...;)
Charles M. Oct 23, 2006, 1:07pm EDT
You are correct, Barbara. Jane Wyman was Reagan's first wife. I was actually going to ask the same question as Jude regarding Wyatt and then I had to look it up. And then I realized she played Spock's mom on the Star Trek series. That's how I remembered her name. :)
Jude Cowell Oct 23, 2006, 1:40pm EDT
Yes, that was the name I was gojng for--Wyman. Thanks! (but Senior Moment continues...)
Barbara F. Oct 23, 2006, 2:51pm EDT
Hi remember Phillis Kirk...another good one gone..
Sad
Anne B. Grote Oct 23, 2006, 3:55pm EDT
yes, she was a wonderful mother role model!
Susan *. Oct 23, 2006, 3:59pm EDT
...this is sad news indeed...I liked her and her sunny smile. She seemed to be so "together" something I as a mother aspire someday to be! :-)
Sonia M. Oct 23, 2006, 4:21pm EDT
I didn't watch the program much, but thought it entertaining. I too enjoyed her in Lost Horizons........great movie (I also enjoyed the musical version back in the early 80's, but then I enjoyed Burt Bacharach music at the time)

Sad to hear she's gone....
Barbara F. Oct 23, 2006, 4:44pm EDT
yes, I remember her on Star trek as Spocks mother..;)
William M. Oct 23, 2006, 9:24pm EDT
It is too bad when we loose the actors and actresses who meant so much too us.
Carol R. Oct 24, 2006, 1:18am EDT
I was sorry to hear of her passing away. My mother was the Black version of her character on Father Knows Best!!! No kidding...it really distorted my reality.
Amanda "middle of nowhere" C. Oct 24, 2006, 9:45pm EDT
They don't make actresses like her or t.v. shows like "Father Knows Best" anymore.
Louise C. Oct 24, 2006, 11:04pm EDT
I used to see Jane walking in the park in Los Angeles. She always appeared content, and together.

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