Trivia

Has played Charlton Heston's mother twice - in Ben-Hur (1959) and The Ten Commandments (1956) and his wife twice on stage.

Was offered the role of Mary Hatch Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) after Jean Arthur turned it down, but she also turned down the role. Donna Reed was cast instead and this went on to be one of her most famous performances.

Unusually, she was not a part of the Memorial Tribute at The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004), even though she was a member of the Academy and was also a previous nominee in 1940.

Received her Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1934).

She had previously played Charlton Heston's wife in a rather less celebrated period drama, a play called "Design for a Stained-Glass Window". She was hired for Ben-Hur (1959), at Heston's suggestion, when the original actress was sacked. A couple of years later a similar situation occurred when Heston was due to appear in the play "The Tumbler". The actress hired to play his wife was sacked and Heston again suggested Scott. "I could vouch for her absolutely, both as actress and pro," he said in his memoirs.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6126 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 23, 1993.

Formed a partnership with actors Robert Ryan and Henry Fonda in 1968. They co-founded the theatrical production company Plumstead Playhouse in New York, later called the Plumstead Theatre Society. They co-produced the Broadway production of "First Monday in October" starring Fonda and Jane Alexander, as well as the movie version (First Monday in October (1981)) with Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh. She also produced an L.A. production of "Twelve Angry Men" in 1985.

Although she played John Carradine's mother in The Ten Commandments (1956), she was six years his junior in real life.

Her mother - Letha McKinley Scott - was a second cousin to President William McKinley.

She was a very active member of both the Hollywood Democratic Committee and the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League and donated her time and money to many liberal causes (such as the creation of the United Nations and the Civil Rights Movement) and political candidates (including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Wallace, Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Al Gore) during her lifetime.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Michigan in 1934, she appeared in plays by William Shakespeare at the 1933-1934 Chicago World's Fair before coming to New York.

Her second husband was a protege of Benny Goodman, and singer Peggy Lee is godmother to their first daughter.

Was in six Oscar Best Picture nominees: Our Town (1940), One Foot in Heaven (1941), The Ten Commandments (1956), Sayonara (1957), Ben-Hur (1959) and The Turning Point (1977). Ben-Hur is the only winner.

Martha Ellen Scott passed away on May 28, 2003, four months away from what would have been her 91st birthday on September 22.

First husband Carlton Alsop was a radio and film producer. She had one son, Carleton Scott Alsop, and later had two daughters with her second husband, composer Mel Powell -- Mary and Kathleen.

She was the second actress cast in the Broadway role of "Emily Webb" after the actress initially cast was dropped by producer/director Jed Harris for not making the difficult transition in character after Emily dies in childbirth. The role made Martha a theatre star. Ironically, when she took her part to film, the last act was rewritten to include a happier ending wherein Emily does not die. It was a huge misjudgment on the part of the producers and for this almost sacrilegious flaw, the film version, Our Town (1940), is not considered the classic it should be, even though it is beautifully rendered and interpreted in every other way.

Her first husband, Carlton Alsop, was previously married to another movie star, Sylvia Sidney.

She is survived by her brother, Charles Scott, her son, Carleton Scott Alsop, and two daughters, Mary Powell Harper and Kathleen Powell.

Following her death, she was interred with her husband Mel Powell at Masonic Cemetery in Jamesport, Missouri.

Although she played Charlton Heston's mother in The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1959), she was only eleven years his senior in real life.

Although she played Olive Deering's mother The Ten Commandments (1956), she was only six years her senior in real life.

She was a member of Delta Gamma women's fraternity (Xi-Michigan chapter).