Margaret O’Mahoney, an actress for three decades under the name Margaret Field and the mother of actress Sally Field, died Sunday, Nov. 6, at her home in Malibu after battling cancer for six years. She was 89.
Born Margaret Morlan in Houston, Texas, she moved to Pasadena, Calif., during WWII. She was discovered by a talent scout on a street corner and put under contract by Paramount Pictures. The actress began as a student of Charles Laughton, appearing in such films as Cecil B. DeMille’s “Samson and Delilah” and John Farrow’s “The Big Clock” before playing the lead in Edgar Ulmer cult classic “The Man From Planet X.”
During the 1950s and ’60s she racked up more than 70 television credits, appearing in shows including “Perry Mason,” “The Twilight Zone” and “The Lone Ranger.”
In 1942 she married Richard Dryden Field, an Army officer. She was divorced in 1950 and married actor-stuntman Jock Mahoney. She gave up acting in her mid-30s to focus on family and eventually helped raise her grandchildren.
In addition to Sally Field, O’Mahoney is survived by daughter Princess, a first assistant director and production manager, and son Richard; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
