Judy Nugent: Farewell to a Golden Age Hollywood Star
Synopsis
Judy Nugent starred in Douglas Sirk's 'Magnificent Obsession' and 'There's Always Tomorrow,' and as Annette Funicello's farm friend in a 'Mickey Mouse Club' serial.
By The Feed
Judy Nugent, who played one of the twins on The Ruggles and a girl who flies around the world in the arms of Superman in a wonderful Adventures of Superman episode, has died. She was 83 years old.
Nugent, the younger daughter of an MGM prop man, also appeared in two films directed by Douglas Sirk: Magnificent Obsession (1954) as a wise-cracking tomboy who tries to wake up a blinded widow (Jane Wyman) and There's Always Tomorrow (1956) as one of Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett's characters.
On the 1958 serial Annette, which ran during third-season episodes of ABC's The Mickey Mouse Club, Nugent played Annette Funicello's pal Jet Maypen.
Nugent was selected at the age of nine to play Donna Ruggles alongside Jimmy Hawkins (It's a Wonderful Life) as her brother Donald on The Ruggles, which broadcast live from 1949 to 1952 on ABC as one of the first TV sitcoms to originate in Hollywood rather than New York.
She was best known for her role as Ann Carson, a blind girl who enters and wins a Daily Planet contest, in the episode "Around the World With Superman," which aired on March 13, 1954, as the syndicated series' second-season finale (and last black-and-white instalment). Superman (George Reeves) discovers a shard of glass lodged in her optic nerve after an operation restores her sight! — While being transported about by a superhero, Ann gets an incredible bird's eye perspective of the earth.
Judy Ann Nugent was born on August 22, 1940, in Los Angeles. Carl Nugent, who played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (1939), was her father.
Lucille, her mother, then oversaw her daughters' acting careers.
She and her sister appeared together again in Here Comes the Groom (1951), starring Wyman and Bing Crosby, and then as siblings in Charles Lamont's Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954).
When original Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie was pulled from Lamont's Annette, which also starred Tim Considine, Nugent stepped in as ranch girl Jet. (Nugent described herself as a tomboy who loved to ride horses and later in her career did some stunt work.)
She also worked on The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley (in which she played another blind girl in a reunion with Hawkins), The Life of Riley, Lassie, The Danny Thomas Show, Sugarfoot, The Millionaire, 77 Sunset Strip, Rawhide, and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
Ans. August 22, 1940
Q2: What was Judy Nugent's most memorable role?
Ans. One of her most noteworthy performances was in "Around the World With Superman," a 1954 episode of Adventures of Superman in which she played a blind girl who enters and wins a Daily Planet contest and gets her eyesight restored by the Man of Steel before being taken around the world.
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Nugent died on Thursday October 26, "surrounded by family at her Montana ranch after a short battle with cancer," according to a family statement released by her daughter-in-law, Battlestar Galactica and Chicago Fire actress Anne Lockhart. Nugent, the younger daughter of an MGM prop man, also appeared in two films directed by Douglas Sirk: Magnificent Obsession (1954) as a wise-cracking tomboy who tries to wake up a blinded widow (Jane Wyman) and There's Always Tomorrow (1956) as one of Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett's characters.
On the 1958 serial Annette, which ran during third-season episodes of ABC's The Mickey Mouse Club, Nugent played Annette Funicello's pal Jet Maypen.
Nugent was selected at the age of nine to play Donna Ruggles alongside Jimmy Hawkins (It's a Wonderful Life) as her brother Donald on The Ruggles, which broadcast live from 1949 to 1952 on ABC as one of the first TV sitcoms to originate in Hollywood rather than New York.
She was best known for her role as Ann Carson, a blind girl who enters and wins a Daily Planet contest, in the episode "Around the World With Superman," which aired on March 13, 1954, as the syndicated series' second-season finale (and last black-and-white instalment). Superman (George Reeves) discovers a shard of glass lodged in her optic nerve after an operation restores her sight! — While being transported about by a superhero, Ann gets an incredible bird's eye perspective of the earth.
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Judy Ann Nugent was born on August 22, 1940, in Los Angeles. Carl Nugent, who played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (1939), was her father.
Lucille, her mother, then oversaw her daughters' acting careers.
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She and her sister appeared together again in Here Comes the Groom (1951), starring Wyman and Bing Crosby, and then as siblings in Charles Lamont's Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954).
When original Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie was pulled from Lamont's Annette, which also starred Tim Considine, Nugent stepped in as ranch girl Jet. (Nugent described herself as a tomboy who loved to ride horses and later in her career did some stunt work.)
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She also worked on The Lone Ranger, Annie Oakley (in which she played another blind girl in a reunion with Hawkins), The Life of Riley, Lassie, The Danny Thomas Show, Sugarfoot, The Millionaire, 77 Sunset Strip, Rawhide, and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.
FAQs:
Q1: When was Judy Nugent born?Ans. August 22, 1940
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Q2: What was Judy Nugent's most memorable role?
Ans. One of her most noteworthy performances was in "Around the World With Superman," a 1954 episode of Adventures of Superman in which she played a blind girl who enters and wins a Daily Planet contest and gets her eyesight restored by the Man of Steel before being taken around the world.
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
