Jacqueline Sue Scott was an American actress who appeared in several films and guest starred in more than 100 television programs. A TV Guide article once referred to her as "The Youngest Old-Timer in the Business" because she played opposite most of the leading men of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Biography
The daughter of John and Maxine Scott, she was born in Sikeston, Missouri and spent a good part of her childhood moving from town to town following her father, who worked for the state purchasing right-of-way for roads. She attended 15 grade schools before settling down in Neosho, Missouri, where she graduated from Neosho High School in 1949. She then went to New York and attended Hunter College. At age three, she won a tap dancing contest, which led her to pursue a show business career. Her initial experience on stage came when she traveled with a tent show in Missouri. As training, she saw every movie she could, learning how to mouth the actors' lines. Eventually she moved to St. Louis, where she worked for a small theatre company, and soon afterwards left for New York City to begin her career. There she studied with Uta Hagen. On Broadway she portrayed Susan Dennison in The Wooden Dish and Rachel Brown in Inherit the Wind. Scott made her motion picture debut in William Castle's Macabre. During production of Macabre in 1957, she met Gene Lesser, and they were married a few months later. She started her career in television by playing opposite such stars as Helen Hayes on live television. Between 1958 and 1960, Scott made three guest appearances on Perry Mason: Amelia Armitage in "The Case of the Daring Decoy", Sally Wilson in "The Case of the Glittering Goldfish", and Kathi Beecher in "The Case of the Violent Village". In the television seriesThe Fugitive, Scott played the sister of Dr. Richard Kimble in four episodes telecast between 1964 and 1967, including the two-part finale that at the time became the highest-rated program in television history. Among other roles in "Have Gun - Will Travel", she played Stacy Neal. She also appeared as James Stewart's character's wife in the theatrical film Firecreek with Henry Fonda. In July 2007, Scott was among celebrities at the Western Film Fair in Charlotte, North Carolina. Others in attendance were Lynn Borden, Brett Halsey, Rick Lenz, Betty Lynn, Joyce Meadows, and Lana Wood. Scott died on July 23, 2020 at her home in Los Angeles from lung cancer.