Georgia Belden Backus (October 13, 1901 – September 7, 1983) was an American

character actress A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014 ...

on stage, radio and screen. She was also a writer, director and producer of radio dramas. In 1930 she was named dramatic director of the

Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, to guide the development of the new art of the

radio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

. A member of the repertory company presenting

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also r ...

radio programs, she played supporting roles in some 30 films during the 1940s and 1950s. Her first screen credit was ''

Citizen Kane ''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...

'' (1941), in which she played the severe assistant in the Thatcher library. Her career was ended by the

Hollywood blacklist The Hollywood blacklist was the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklisting, blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare#Second Red Scare (1947–1957 ...

Biography

Georgia Belden Backus was born October 13, 1901, in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

,Ancestry.com. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2000. to a theatrical family. She was named for her uncle, George Backus, a light comedic actor who performed in Florenz Ziegfeld's original stage production of ''Way Down East''. She earned a place in a local stock company at the age of 14. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, and as a student at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

she toured the state as leading lady and manager of the campus dramatic society."Georgia Backus". ''Radio Dial'', May 28, 1931, page 3. After she received her degree she chose a career in the theatre. While living in New York, Backus worked in stock theatre and on the Broadway stage and began to write plays and short stories. She was soon acting, writing and directing for radio. In 1930 CBS put Backus in charge of all of the network's dramatic presentations, to guide the development of the new art of the

."Brunet Abandons Career On Stage to Guide New Art of Radio Drama". ''The Sedalia Capital'', January 20, 1931, page 6. She put together an innovative team and announced three experimental dramas, beginning with ''Behind the Words: A Drama of Thoughts'' (December 26, 1930). She then directed a series titled ''The Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory'' (1931–32), which would lay the foundation for the historic dramatic series, the '' Columbia Workshop''. She was also an audition director for ''

The March of Time ''The March of Time'' is an American newsreel series sponsored by Time Inc. and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was based on a radio news series broadcast from 1931 to 1945 that was produced by advertising agency Batten, Barton, ...

'' and was a member of the show's prestigious ensemble cast. Backus was regularly featured on ''Arabesque'', ''Brenthouse'', '' The Eno Crime Club'' and ''The Palmolive Beauty Box Theatre'' In 1935 Backus married Harmon J. Alexander, a radio writer whose credits include ''

The Burns and Allen Show ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. Dunning, John, ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1998 In 1938 they moved to California, In 1939 she joined

repertory company on radio when production was moved to Los Angeles, performing on episodes of '' The Campbell Playhouse'' including "There's Always a Woman", "A Christmas Carol", "Come and Get It", "Theodora Goes Wild", "The Citadel", "Rabble in Arms" and "Huckleberry Finn". Welles, Orson, and

Peter Bogdanovich Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...

, edited by

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has contributed to ...

, '' This is Orson Welles''. New York:

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Publishers 1992 Her other regular roles on radio included '' A Date with Judy'', ''The Story of Holly Sloan'' and ''

NBC University Theatre ''NBC University Theater'' (also known as ''NBC University Theater of the Air'', ''NBC Theater of the Air'' or ''NBC Theater'') was a brand the National Broadcasting Co. applied to a category of radio programming. Although it was not actually a u ...

''. Backus was also playing supporting roles in motion pictures. Her first credited role was in ''

'' (1941), as Miss Anderson, the severe attendant at the library of Walter Parks Thatcher. The following year she appeared in ''

The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after '' The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fict ...

'' and ''

I Married a Witch ''I Married A Witch'' is a 1942 American romantic screwball comedy fantasy film directed by René Clair and written by Robert Pirosh and Marc Connelly. Starred by Veronica Lake as the title character witch whose plan for revenge goes comically ...

''. Her most widely noted role may have been as Mrs. Warren, the helpful neighbor with a garden in ''

Cause for Alarm! ''Cause for Alarm!'' is a 1951 melodrama suspense film directed by Tay Garnett, written by Mel Dinelli and Tom Lewis, based on a story by Larry Marcus. Ellen (Loretta Young) narrates the tale of "the most terrifying day of my life", how she was ...

'' (1951). On September 19, 1951, Backus appeared under subpoena as an uncooperative witness before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

, which was investigating Communism in the motion picture industry. At a HUAC hearing May 7, 1953, Backus was one of more than 50 people named as Communists by director-producer-writer

Robert Rossen Robert Rossen (March 16, 1908 – February 18, 1966) was an American screenwriter, film director, and producer whose film career spanned almost three decades. His 1949 film '' All the King's Men'' won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and B ...

. Her career was ended by the

. McBride, Joseph, ''What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? A Portrait of an Independent Career''. Lexington, Kentucky:

University Press of Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky (UPK) is the scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and was organized in 1969 as successor to the University of Kentucky Press. The university had sponsored scholarly publication since 1943. In 194 ...

, 2006, Georgia Backus Alexander died September 7, 1983, in Sun City, California, and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Filmography

Motion picture credits for Georgia Backus are listed by the ''

AFI Catalog of Feature Films The ''AFI Catalog of Feature Films'', also known as the ''AFI Catalog'', is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute (AFI) to catalog all commercially-made and theatrically exhibited American motion pictures from the birth of cinema i ...

''. * '' Nobody's Children'' (1940) - Mrs. Wynn (uncredited) * '' So Ends Our Night'' (1941) - Mrs. Kern (uncredited) * '' Footlight Fever'' (1941) - Imogene - Secretary (uncredited) * ''

Repent at Leisure ''Repent at Leisure'' is a 1941 American domestic comedy film directed by Frank Woodruff from a screenplay by Jerry Cady based on a story by James Gow and Arnaud D'Usseau Arnaud d'Usseau (April 18, 1916 – January 29, 1990) was a playwright ...

'' (1941) - Nurse (uncredited) * ''

'' (1941) - Miss Anderson * ''

They Dare Not Love ''They Dare Not Love'' is a 1941 American romantic war drama film directed by James Whale and starring George Brent, Martha Scott and Paul Lukas. Whale left the picture before the end of production; it was the last film released to credit hi ...

'' (1941) - German Secretary (uncredited) * ''Blondie in Society'' (1941) - Angry Neighbor Who Had Pies (uncredited) * '' You Belong to Me'' (1941) - Attendant (uncredited) * ''Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case'' (1941) - Mrs. Petherby (uncredited) * ''

Bedtime Story A bedtime story is a traditional form of storytelling, where a story is told to a child at bedtime to prepare the child for sleep. The bedtime story has long been considered "a definite institution in many families".Dickson, Marguerite Stockm ...

'' (1941) - Cashier (uncredited) * '' The Lady is Willing'' (1942) - Nurse (uncredited) * ''Shut My Big Mouth'' (1942) - Townswoman (uncredited) * '' Take a Letter, Darling'' (1942) - Saleslady (uncredited) * ''Not a Ladies' Man'' (1942) - Mrs. Roberts (uncredited) * ''

'' (1942) - Matron (uncredited) * '' Blondie for Victory'' (1942) - Mrs. Jones, Housewife of America (uncredited) * '' The Talk of the Town'' (1942) - Townswoman (uncredited) * ''

'' (1942) - Older Woman (uncredited) * ''My Heart Belongs to Daddy'' (1942) - Miss Peel (uncredited) * ''

Lucky Jordan ''Lucky Jordan'' is a 1942 comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Alan Ladd in his first leading role, Helen Walker in her film debut and Sheldon Leonard. The screenplay concerns a self-centered gangster who tangles with Nazi spies. Pl ...

'' (1942) - Toyshop Clerk (uncredited) * ''

The Moon Is Down ''The Moon Is Down'' is a novel by American writer John Steinbeck. Fashioned for adaptation for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian King Haakon VII Freedom Cross, it was published by Viking Press in March 1942. The sto ...

'' (1943) - Villager (uncredited) * '' Standing Room Only'' (1944) - Guest at Ritchie Home (uncredited) * ''

Lady in the Dark ''Lady in the Dark'' is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy editor of a fashion magazine who is undergoing p ...

'' (1944) - Miss Sullivan (uncredited) * '' Suddenly, It's Spring'' (1947) - WAC Maj. Cheever * '' Dream Girl'' (1948) - Edna * ''

Force of Evil ''Force of Evil'' is a 1948 American film noir starring John Garfield and Beatrice Pearson and directed by Abraham Polonsky. It was adapted by Polonsky and Ira Wolfert from Wolfert's novel ''Tucker's People''. Polonsky had been a screenwrit ...

'' (1948) - Sylvia Morse (uncredited) * '' Too Late for Tears'' (1949) - Woman (uncredited) * '' Song of Surrender'' (1949) - Mrs. Parry * '' No Man of Her Own'' (1950) - Nurse (uncredited) * ''Mother Didn't Tell Me'' (1950) - Mildred Tracy (uncredited) * ''

Copper Canyon Copper Canyon (Spanish: Barrancas del Cobre) is a group of six distinct canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental in the southwestern part of the state of Chihuahua in northwestern Mexico that is in size. The canyons were formed by six rivers th ...

'' (1950) - Martha Bassett * ''

'' (1951) - Mrs. Warren * ''

Apache Drums ''Apache Drums'' is a 1951 American Western film directed by Hugo Fregonese and produced by Val Lewton. The drama features Stephen McNally, Coleen Gray, and Willard Parker. The film was based on an original story: ''Stand at Spanish Boot'', by ...

'' (1951) - Mrs. Keon * '' The Mark of the Renegade'' (1951) - Duenna Concepcion

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Backus, Georgia 1901 births 1983 deaths American film actresses American radio directors Women radio directors 20th-century American actresses Hollywood blacklist Actresses from Columbus, Ohio American radio producers American radio writers American women radio writers American women radio producers