An Unacknowledged Great One Has Left Us, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              You may recognize the face, but not the name. On this past February 15, at the age of 89, the great character actress, Mary Grace Canfield, passed away.  No one this plain should ever make it as an actress, but Mary Grace, honeys, beat the odds, not only because she was smart enough to use it to her advantage, but she was truly gifted.

                                  Here she is from my favorite performance of hers, the brief but telling role of Miss Foley, the spinster English teacher, in Disney's sanitized 1983 film version of Ray Bradbury's masterwork, "Something Wicked This Way Comes."  In the film, Miss Foley is a spinster who laments her plainness, as it has not brought her what she wanted--a husband, etc. She thinks beauty is the answer, and Mr. Dark makes her beautiful--in a generically blond way--but with a terrible price.  She is struck blind, after she is allowed to see what she looks like, and becomes one of his carnival freaks, forever trapped to serve Dark's desires.

                                    In the novel, Miss Foley is dissatisfied in a spinsterly way, and desires to become younger.  She gets her wish, but the carousel ride backwards makes her TOO young; she has her brain and her memories in the body of a now eight year old girl--and there is nowhere or place for her to go. She loses all sense of self, which is chilling.

                                      With her brushstroke performance, Miss Canfield delineated all the pain of spinster loneliness, making her desire for beauty all the more understanding, and its consequences all the more tragic.

                                            Twenty three  years earlier, for Disney, Miss Canfield scored a minor triumph as the domestic Angelica, who works for Polly Harrington (Jane Wyman) in "Pollyanna," and is only won over by the child (an award-winning performance by Hayley Mills!!!!!!!) at the very end.

                                                But, for generations, from Boomers on, Mary Grace Canfiield will forever more be Ralph, The Plumber, on "Green Acres."  She, and Arnold, the pig, stole the show right out from under Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               And now she has passed.  Like I said, the face you will recognize,  But go back now, dolls, and review some of her performances.  This was a gifted actress.   The girl wasn't pretty, but she garnered lots more than pity, and a pat!

                                                 Farewell, Mary Grace!  You inspired many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!