Kasey Rogers

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This article is about the actress. For the writer, see Laura Elliot (writer).
Kasey Rogers
Rogers in the 1950s
Born
Josie Imogene Rogers

(1925-12-15)December 15, 1925
Morehouse, Missouri, U.S.
DiedJuly 6, 2006(2006-07-06) (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Other namesLaura Elliott
Laura Elliot
OccupationActress
Years active1949–2000
Spouse(s)James Farrell Donnellan (1945-?) (divorced) (1 child)
Walter Winslow Lewis III "Bud" (1955-1974) (divorced) (3 children)
PartnerMark Wood[1]
Children4[2]

Kasey Rogers (born Josie Imogene Rogers; December 15, 1925 – July 6, 2006) was an American actress, memoirist and writer, best known for playing the second Louise Tate in the popular U.S. television sitcom Bewitched.

Life and career[edit]

Rogers was born Josie Imogene Rogers in Morehouse, Missouri, the daughter of Ina Mae (Mocabee) and Eben E. Rogers.[3] She moved with her family to California at the age of two. As a child, her prowess at the game of baseball led her friends to nickname her Casey (after the famous poem "Casey at the Bat"). While under contract to Paramount, she used the stage name Laura Elliot. In 1955, she began working with a press agent in Hollywood, Walter Winslow Lewis III (aka "Bud"). It was Bud who suggested that she use the nickname with her maiden name and changed the "C" to a "K". They later married and had four children.[4]

Rogers in an episode of The Public Defender (1954)

Rogers began work under the names Laura Elliott and Laura Elliot for Paramount Pictures. She appeared in movies such as Special Agent, Samson and Delilah, Silver City, Paid in Full, Two Lost Worlds, and, in perhaps her best-known film role, Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, playing Miriam, the scheming, adulterous wife of Guy Haines (Farley Granger).

In the mid-1950s, Rogers began working on television. She guest-starred on various series, such as Sergeant Preston, Stage 7, The Restless Gun, The Lone Ranger, Bat Masterson, Maverick, Yancy Derringer, Perry Mason, as Francie Keene in the Wanted: Dead or Alive episode "Railroaded", and many other programs. In 1964 she landed a starring role on Peyton Place, portraying the character Julie Anderson, the mother of Betty Anderson (Barbara Parkins). She left the series in 1966 to replace Irene Vernon in the role of Louise Tate on Bewitched. In 1972, she performed as Louise Tate for the final time in the episode "Serena's Youth Pill". She then retired from acting, appearing in only a few guest television spots and making appearances on the Bewitched edition of E! True Hollywood Story.

A Democrat, she supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.[5] She was a Presbyterian.[6]

Death[edit]

After battling throat cancer for many years, Rogers went into cardiac arrest. She then suffered a stroke and died in Los Angeles, California, on July 6, 2006, aged 80.[7] She was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Other achievements[edit]

In the 1970s, she became involved with motorcycles after her son began riding and then racing at the age of nine. Rogers became involved in the world of motocross racing. She worked closely with the AMA and established PURR ("PowderPuffs Unlimited Riders and Racers"), an association that brought women into the male-dominated sport, in 1974. PURR would later evolve into what is now the Women's Pro-Class division.[8]

Books[edit]

Rogers wrote five books with Mark Wood. The first was The Bewitched Cookbook: Magic in the Kitchen (1996), a cookbook based on the television series Bewitched with the foreword written by Rogers' co-star and friend Sandra Gould. Her other books are Halloween Crafts: Eerily Elegant Décor (2001), Character Wreaths: Holiday Projects for Year 'Round Decor (2002), Decorating for Christmas (2003), and Create a Bewitched Falloween: 55 Projects for Decorating and Entertaining (2003).[9] Rogers and Wood filmed an unaired pilot for a proposed how-to craft series, Hands on Holidays. The pilot was released on DVD in 2006.[citation needed]

In 2013, Bewitched and Beyond: The Fan Who Came to Dinner by Mark Wood (with Eddie Lucas) was published by BearManor Media, a book that recounts Wood's friendship with Rogers.[10] The title of Charles Tranberg's biography of Agnes Moorehead, I Love the Illusion, derives from Rogers' recounting how Moorehead used this expression when asked about acting.[11]

Partial filmography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Kasey Rogers, actress, motocross lover - the Boston Globe".
  2. ^ "Kasey Rogers, 80; Veteran TV, Movie Actress". Los Angeles Times. 13 July 2006.
  3. ^ Foremost Women in Communications: A Biographical Reference Work on Accomplished Women in Broadcasting, Publishing, Advertising, Public Relations, and Allied Professions, ISBN 9780835204149, page 538
  4. ^ Weaver, Tom (January 2002). Science fiction confidential: interviews with 23 monster stars and filmmakers. McFarland. p. 247. ISBN 978-0-7864-1175-7. Retrieved October 18, 2010.
  5. ^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers
  6. ^ Interview, The Midnight Movie: Kasey Rogers, August 27, 2003
  7. ^ Kasey Rogers, Veteran Actress, dies at 80, articles.latimes.com, July 13, 2006; accessed May 7, 2015.
  8. ^ Miller, Ernestine G. (May 29, 2002). Making her mark: firsts and milestones in women's sports. McGraw-Hill Professional. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-07-139053-8. Retrieved October 18, 2010.
  9. ^ "Books by Kasey Rogers". Amazon.com. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  10. ^ Wood, Mark (2013). Bewitched and Beyond: The Fan Who Came to Dinner. Duncan, OK: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-262-6.
  11. ^ Tranberg, Charles (2005). I Love the Illusion: The Life and Career of Agnes Moorehead. Albany, GA: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593930295.

External links[edit]

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