Louise Latham

• Name — Louise Latham • Birth Name — Johnie Louise Latham • Born — 23 September 1922 • Birthplace — Hamilton, Texas, U.S. • Died — 12 February 2018 • Place of death — Montecito, California, U.S. • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1961–2000

Latham was born on September 23, 1922, in Hamilton, Texas. She came from a long line of ranchers, mostly around San Saba and Mason counties. Latham attended the Hockaday School in Dallas, where one of her classmates was future screenwriter Jay Presson Allen.

Most of Latham's work was on television. In 1965, she made two appearances on Perry Mason: Matilda Shore in "The Case of the Careless Kitten" and Shirley Logan in "The Case of the Cheating Chancellor". She made an appearance on The Waltons, playing Olivia's Aunt Kate, who consoles Olivia through her ordeal with menopause. She also appeared in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Columbo, Quincy, M.E., Rhoda, Murder, She Wrote, and The Streets of San Francisco. On Family Affair, she appeared as Aunt Fran, who leaves Buffy (Anissa Jones) in the care of Uncle Bill (Brian Keith) in the show's first episode. On Bonanza in the 1966 episode "A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town", she was Willie Mae Rikeman, and in the 1971 episode "The Silent Killer", she was Mrs. Harriet Clinton). She appeared on Designing Women as Perky, the mother of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker, The X-Files, and The Invaders in the 1967 episode "Genesis". Latham's character (Betsy Chandler) was the first to learn the real circumstances of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife's death (Helen) in the final episode of The Fugitive (1967). She was a regular in the cast of the short-lived 1976 CBS series Sara.

Latham's Broadway credits include the 1956 revival of Major Barbara, Invitation to a March (1960), and Isle of Children (1962). Her other stage performances included work "under the personal direction of Margo Jones" in Theater '54 in Dallas, Texas. In 1958, she was in a touring company that performed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Latham was married twice, first to Raymond Pittman and then to TV producer Paul Picard (both unions ending in divorce). She died on February 12, 2018, at Casa Dorinda, a retirement community in Montecito, California, at the age of 95.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1961 — Armstrong Circle Theatre — Faye — Episode: "The Fortune Tellers" • 1965 — The Doctors and the Nurses — Mrs. Franks — Episode: "Night of the Witch" • The F.B.I. — Mrs. Collier — Episode: "How to Murder an Iron Horse" • Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Maude Isles — Episode: "An Unlocked Window" • The Rogues — Catherine DeMontrachet — Episode: "The Laughing Lady of Luxor" • Mr. Novak — Adele — Episode: "And Then I Wrote" • Perry Mason — Shirley Logan — Episode: "The Case of the Cheating Chancellor" • Ben Casey — Ellen Carter — Episode: "If You Play Your Cards Right, You Too Can Be a Loser" • 1966 — A Man Called Shenandoah — Cora Eldridge — Episode: "The Death of Matthew Eldridge" • The F.B.I. — Ethel Wallace — Episode: "The Price of Death" • Run for Your Life — Claire Burden — Episode: "The Last Safari" • Bonanza — Willie Mae Rikeman — Episode: "A Real Nice, Friendly Little Town" • 1966–1968 — Family Affair — Fran Heiger — Recurring role • 1967 — The Invaders — Joan Corman — Episode: "Genesis" • The Fugitive — Betsy Chandler — Episode: "The Judgment: Part II" • The F.B.I. — Barbara Griswold — Episode: "By Force and Violence" • 1968 — NET Playhouse — Episode: "Home" • The Outsider — Frances Dustin — Episode: "A Wide Place in the Road" • CBS Playhouse — Mrs. Meridan — Episode: "Saturday Adoption" • Gunsmoke — Polly Cade — Episode: "Waco" • 1969 — The F.B.I. — Edith Bender — Episode: "The Attorney" • Judd, for the Defense — Claire Beeton — Episode: "Between the Dark and the Daylight" • The Young Lawyers — Maria Cannon — Episode: "The Young Lawyers" • Ironside — Wanda — Episode: "Poole's Paradise" • Gunsmoke — Louise Driscoll — Episode: "The Mark of Cain" • Phoebe Clifford — Episode: "Hawk" • Emilie Sadler — Episode: "Roots of Fear" • 1970 — Claire Gentry — Episode: "Gentry's Law" • The Name of the Game — Miss Digby — Episode: "The King of Denmark" • 1971 — Helen Bigelow — Episode: "LA 2017" • Bonanza — Mrs. Harriet Clinton — Episode: "The Silent Killer" • Medical Center — Mrs. Whitlock — Episode: "Suspected" • Ironside — Martha Gordon — Episode: "The Priest Killer" • McCloud — Emily Cantrell — Episode: "Encounter with Aries" • Longstreet — Maxine Bailey — Episode: "Spell Legacy Like Death" • 1972 — Cannon — Mrs. Bolinger — Episode: "A Deadly Quiet Town" • Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law — Frances Fisher — Episode: "A Question of Degree" • The Sixth Sense — Mrs. Bennett — Episode: "Eye of the Haunted" • Hawaii Five-O — Mrs. Klein — Episode: "Pig in a Blanket" • The Streets of San Francisco — Harriet Sensibaugh — Episode: "In the Midst of Strangers" • Young Dr. Kildare — Mrs. Field — Episode: "The Legacy" • 1973 — Hec Ramsey — Willa Hollister — Episode: "The Mystery of Chalk Hill" • Kojak — Madge Donnelly — Episode: "Requiem for a Cop" • Columbo — Mrs. Norris — Episode: "Double Exposure" • 1974 — Gunsmoke — Joan Shepherd — Episode: "To Ride a Yeller Horse" • The Wide World of Mystery — Anne — Episode: "The Book of Murder" • Rhoda — Louise Shattner — Episode: "The Lady in Red" • Medical Center — Mrs. Tully — Episode: "Heel of the Tyrant" • Lucas Tanner — Mrs. Gibbons — Episode: "Cheers" • 1975 — The Six Million Dollar Man — Ms. Hallaway — Episode: "Clark Templeton O'Flaherty" • 1976 — McNaughton's Daughter — Cassy Garnett — Miniseries • Sara — Martha Higgins — Recurring role • Great Performances — Mrs. Winemiller — Episode: "Eccentricities of a Nightingale" • Good Heavens — Bertha Salnick — Episode: "The Queen's Rook Club" • 1977 — Visions — Mary Blakemore — Episode: "All I Could See from Where I Stood" • The Waltons — Aunt Kate Grover Daly — 2 episodes • Disneyland — Ma Landers — Episode: "The Ghost of Cypress Swamp" • 1977–1979 — Eight Is Enough — Katherine Mitchell — Recurring role • 1978 — Quincy, M.E. — Nurse Katherine Lowry — Episode: "Matters of Life and Death" • The Awakening Land — Jary Luckett — Episode: "The Trees" • 1979 — Backstairs at the White House — Housekeeper Nesbitt — Miniseries • Big Shamus, Little Shamus — Eleanor — Episode: "The Canary" • 1980 — Scruples — Mary Ann Evans — Miniseries • CHiPs — Lucy Kenton — Episode: "Nightingale" • The Contender — Alma Captor — Miniseries • Family — Elaine Hogan — Episode: "The Ties That Bind" • Disneyland — Bettina Buxley — Episode: "The Ghosts of Buxley Hall" • 1986 — Highway to Heaven — Mildred Kelsey — Episode: "Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind" • Dress Gray — Mrs. Loerna Tutwiler — Miniseries • Hotel — Jenny Lucas — Episode: "Double Jeopardy" • Fresno — Ethel Duke — Miniseries • Designing Women — Mrs. Perky Sugarbaker — Episode: "Perky's Visit" • 1988 — CBS Summer Playhouse — Mrs. Harding — Episode: "My Africa" • Hothouse — Louise Dougherty — Recurring role • Hunter — Emily Hill — Episode: "No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished" • 1989 — Falcon Crest — Irene — Episode: "Ties That Bind" • 1991 — Roc — Mrs. Hope — Episode: "A Home, a Loan" • 1992 — Cruel Doubt — Polly Bates — Miniseries • Murder, She Wrote — Mrs. Oates — Episode: "The Classic Murder" • 1993 — Against the Grain — Hilda — Episode: "A House Is Not a Home" • 1995 — Earth 2 — Old Lydia — Episode: "Natural Born Grendlers" • 1996 — In Cold Blood — Eunice Hickock — Miniseries • 1997 — ER — Mrs. Cupertino — Episode: "Faith" • Total Security — Zoe Gareth — Episode: "Wet Side Story" • 2000 — The X-Files — Marjorie Butters — Episode: "En Ami"

Latham's role in Marnie (1964), her film debut, proved to be a turning point in her career. A newspaper's photo caption in 1965 noted: A stage actress, Louise now leans to making films because "Marnie changed my life, satisfied my soul," she says, "now I want some more of the same." She also appeared in such films as Firecreek (1968), Adam at 6 A.M. (1970), White Lightning (1973), The Sugarland Express (1974), Winter Kill (1974), Mass Appeal (1984), The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), Paradise (1991), and Love Field (1992).

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1964 — Marnie — Bernice Edgar • 1967 — Johnny Belinda — Mrs. McKee — TV movie • 1968 — Firecreek — Dulcie • 1969 — Hail, Hero! — Miss Mirabel • 1970 — Adam at 6 A.M. — Mrs. Hopper • 1971 — Making It — Mrs. Wilson • Sweet, Sweet Rachel — Lillian Piper — TV movie • The Harness — Emma Randall — TV movie • 1972 — Invitation to a March — Lily Brown — TV movie • 1973 — Savage — Marian Stern — TV movie • White Lightning — Martha Culpepper • Dying Room Only — Vi — TV movie • 1974 — Tell Me Where It Hurts — Louise — TV movie • The Sugarland Express — Mrs. Looby • Winter Kill — Doris — TV movie • 1975 — Shell Game — Constance Margolin — TV movie • 92 in the Shade — Mrs. Skelton • 1976 — Territorial Men — Martha Higgins — TV movie • 33 Hours in the Life of God — Nurse Levitt — TV movie • 1977 — Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model? — Mrs. Schroeder — TV movie • The Ghost of Cypress Swamp — Ma Landers — TV movie • In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan — Sister Mary Luke — TV movie • 1979 — Amateur Night at the Dixie Bar and Grill — Fanny — TV movie • 1980 — The Ghosts of Buxley Hall — Bettina Buxley — TV movie • 1981 — Thin Ice — Mrs. McCormick — TV movie • 1982 — Pray TV — Mrs. Oakes — TV movie • Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal — Pat Kinsman — TV movie • 1984 — The Philadelphia Experiment — Pamela • Obsessive Love — Mrs. Foster — TV movie • Mass Appeal — Margaret • 1985 — Love Lives On — Nana — TV movie • Toughlove — Mrs. Griffin — TV movie, Uncredited • 1987 — Stillwatch — Lila Thatcher — TV movie • 1989 — Settle the Score — Helen Whately — TV movie • 1991 — The Haunted — Mary Smurl — TV movie • Crazy from the Heart — Mae Esther — TV movie • Paradise — Catherine Reston Lee • 1992 — Love Field — Mrs. Enright • 1994 — In the Best of Families: Marriage, Pride & Madness — Delores Lynch — TV movie • 1996 — Mary & Tim — Forbsie — TV movie