# Martha Scott
**Martha Scott** (born Martha Ellen Scott; September 22, 1914 – May 28, 2003) was an American actress best known for originating the role of Emily Webb in the 1938 Broadway production of [Thornton Wilder](https://www.edgepedia.org/thornton-wilder)'s *Our Town* and for repeating the role in the 1940 film version, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) Over a career spanning films, television, and the stage, she also appeared in *The Ten Commandments* (1956), *Ben-Hur* (1959), and *Airport 1975* (1974), and worked as a theatrical producer.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | September 22, 1914, Jamesport, Missouri; May 28, 2003, Van Nuys, California, of natural causes, aged 88[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) • [3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) |
| Signature role | Emily Webb in *Our Town*, Broadway premiere February 1938, selected at the last moment by producer Jed Harris[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) |
| Film debut | *Our Town* (1940), directed by Sam Wood; Oscar nomination for Best Actress; the film received six Academy Award nominations including Outstanding Production[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) • [4](https://www.atogt.com/askoscar/display-film.php?id=13043&var=0) |
| Other honors | 1940 National Board of Review Best Acting award; New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress nominee; Hollywood Walk of Fame star (Live Performance), April 23, 1993, at 6126 Hollywood Blvd[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549/awards/) |
| Notable films | *The Howards of Virginia* (1940), *Cheers for Miss Bishop* (1941), *The Desperate Hours* (1955), *The Ten Commandments* (1956), *Sayonara* (1957), *Ben-Hur* (1959), *Charlotte's Web* (1973), *Airport 1975* (1974)[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) |
| Producing | Co-founder of the Plumstead Playhouse (1968) with Henry Fonda and Robert Ryan; co-produced the Broadway (1978) and film (1981) versions of *First Monday in October*[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-21-ca-961-story.html) • [7](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/martha-scott/) |
| Marriages | Carleton Alsop, September 16, 1940 (divorced 1946); composer and pianist Mel Powell, 1946, until his death in 1998[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) |
## Early life and training
Scott was born in Jamesport, Missouri, to Letha (McKinley) and Walter Alva Scott, an engineer and garage owner, and was raised in Kansas City, where a high school teacher encouraged her interest in acting.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549) Her parents disapproved of acting, and a sympathetic aunt lent her the money to pay for a drama degree course at the University of Michigan.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) After graduating in 1934, she joined The Globe Theatre Troupe, a stock company that performed truncated Shakespeare at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933–34, then moved to New York, where she found work in radio and stock.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) • [3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003)
## Our Town on stage
*Our Town* was first performed at the McCarter Theatre in [Princeton, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/princeton-new-jersey), on January 22, 1938, with Frank Craven as the Stage Manager and Scott as Emily Webb; the first New York performance followed at [Henry Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-miller)'s Theatre on February 4, 1938, in a production staged by Jed Harris.[9](https://shop.concordtheatricals.com/api/v1/product/document/105905) Scott was the second actress cast as Emily; the first was fired by Harris for not fully capturing the character's shift in the last act, and Harris auditioned Scott shortly before the New Haven opening, telling her after a brief look at her face that she had the part.[10](https://playbill.com/article/martha-scott-original-emily-in-our-town-dead-at-88-com-113472) The Guardian obituary places her selection at age 26, while Playbill gives her age as 23 at the audition; the two accounts differ on this point.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) • [10](https://playbill.com/article/martha-scott-original-emily-in-our-town-dead-at-88-com-113472)
The road to Broadway was rough. After the Princeton tryout the company moved to Boston for a two-week run, where the critics disliked the scenery-free staging; the Shuberts, Broadway's leading producers and theater owners, refused Harris any of their New York houses, and the play instead transferred to the Morosco Theatre.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-13-ca-18559-story.html) Scott recalled that "it wasn't a big draw. There wasn't much of an audience."[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-13-ca-18559-story.html) Once open, the play succeeded: it won Wilder the 1938 [Pulitzer Prize for Drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize-for-drama), and Scott received glowing reviews. Brooks Atkinson, in the New York Times, described some of her scenes as "lovely past all enduring."[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) Emily, the girl-next-door in Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, marries her high school sweetheart, dies, and relives a single day back on Earth.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) Scott returned to the role in a 1944 City Center revival that ran 24 performances, with [Montgomery Clift](https://www.edgepedia.org/montgomery-clift) as George Gibbs.[12](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549/otherworks/)
## Hollywood career
Scott's path to the screen ran through a rejection. She failed a screen test for the role of Melanie in *Gone With the Wind*, and publicity materials for the *Our Town* film note that she was initially not considered for the film because of that poor test.[13](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4334-OUR-TOWN) She made her screen debut anyway in the 1940 film version of *Our Town*, playing opposite [William Holden](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-holden) in a cast that also included Frank Craven, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter, Guy Kibbee, and [Beulah Bondi](https://www.edgepedia.org/beulah-bondi).[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-21-ca-961-story.html) The film received six Academy Award nominations, including Outstanding Production and Best Actress for Scott.[4](https://www.atogt.com/askoscar/display-film.php?id=13043&var=0) She won the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review)'s Best Acting award for 1940 and was nominated for the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Actress.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549/awards/) The film added a happy ending that the stage play does not have; the Guardian's obituarist judged that this subtracted a facet of tragedy from her role.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries)
Her early 1940s films included *The Howards of Virginia* (1940) opposite [Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant), *Cheers for Miss Bishop* (1941), in which she aged from 17 to 85, and *One Foot in Heaven* (1941).[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) According to TCM, her maturity and sensitivity ran against the glamour-girl persona popular in the 1940s, and her film appearances were few and far between for the remainder of the decade.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) In the British-made *So Well Remembered* (1947) she played the wife of [John Mills](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-mills).[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries)
**Matronly typecasting.** In the 1950s she found roles in major productions, including a suburban wife held hostage in [William Wyler](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-wyler)'s *The Desperate Hours* (1955) and a prim general's wife in *Sayonara* (1957).[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) • [1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) She played [Charlton Heston](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlton-heston)'s mother twice, as Yochabel in [Cecil B. DeMille](https://www.edgepedia.org/cecil-b-demille)'s *The Ten Commandments* (1956) and as Miriam in Wyler's *Ben-Hur* (1959), although she was only 11 years his senior.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) Later film work included the voice role of Mrs. Arable in the animated *Charlotte's Web* (1973), Sister Beatrice in *Airport 1975* (1974), and Adelaide in *The Turning Point* (1977).[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549)
## Television and producing
On television Scott played [Bob Newhart](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-newhart)'s mother on *The Bob Newhart Show* and Sue Ellen Ewing's mother on *Dallas*, and she was the narrator and host of the daytime series *Modern Romances* from 1954 to 1957.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) • [3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003)
In 1968 she joined [Henry Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-fonda) and Robert Ryan in forming the Plumstead Playhouse, a theatrical production company staging classic revivals with all-star casts; its premiere production was a revival of *Our Town* with Fonda as the Stage Manager.[6](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-21-ca-961-story.html) Through this work she co-produced the 1978 Broadway production and the 1981 film of *First Monday in October*, a comedy-drama about the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court.[7](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/martha-scott/) • [1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) Her last role was as Goody Nurse in Arthur Miller's *The Crucible* in 1991.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries)
## Personal life and death
Scott married Carleton Alsop, a radio and film producer, on September 16, 1940; they divorced in 1946, when she married the composer and pianist Mel Powell, a relationship that lasted until his death in 1998.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) She had a son from her first marriage and two daughters from her second.[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) She died on May 28, 2003, at a hospital in Van Nuys, California, of natural causes.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) She had apparently rehearsed the third act of *Our Town* in the cemetery in Jamesport, where she asked to be buried.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries)
## Date discrepancies
Sources disagree on Scott's birth date. The Guardian and Encyclopedia.com give September 22, 1914,[1](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries) • [2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003) TCM gives September 24, 1914,[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003) and IMDb gives September 22, 1912, with an age of 90 at death.[8](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549) The obituaries published at her death, which state she was 88, are consistent with a 1914 birth year.
## References
1. [Martha Scott, obituary by Ronald Bergan, The Guardian (June 3, 2003)](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries)
2. [Scott, Martha (1914–2003), Dictionary of Women Worldwide via Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/scott-martha-1914-2003)
3. [Martha Scott, 1914–2003, by Michael T. Toole, Turner Classic Movies (June 10, 2003)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/30323/martha-scott-1914-2003)
4. [Our Town (1940), Academy Award Film Data](https://www.atogt.com/askoscar/display-film.php?id=13043&var=0)
5. [Martha Scott – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549/awards/)
6. [Martha Scott Travels From 'Our Town' to Tinseltown, by Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times (September 21, 1989)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-21-ca-961-story.html)
7. [Martha Scott, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/martha-scott/)
8. [Martha Scott, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549)
9. [Our Town licensing document with original cast list, Concord Theatricals](https://shop.concordtheatricals.com/api/v1/product/document/105905)
10. [Martha Scott, Original Emily in Our Town, Dead at 88, by Robert Simonson, Playbill (May 31, 2003)](https://playbill.com/article/martha-scott-original-emily-in-our-town-dead-at-88-com-113472)
11. [A Landmark's Bumpy Road to Success, by Jan Herman, Los Angeles Times (February 13, 1998)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-feb-13-ca-18559-story.html)
12. [Martha Scott – Other works, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779549/otherworks/)
13. [Our Town (1940), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/4334-OUR-TOWN)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames Q to St*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license