Phyllis Love

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title: "Phyllis Love" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1925-births", "2011-deaths", "20th-century-american-actresses", "20th-century-american-educators", "21st-century-american-actresses", "actresses-from-inglewood,-california", "american-film-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "carnegie-mellon-university-college-of-fine-arts-alumni", "clarence-derwent-award-winners", "donaldson-award-winners", "american-drama-teachers", "schoolteachers-from-iowa", "20th-century-american-women-educators", "actresses-from-des-moines,-iowa", "people-from-menifee,-california", "theodore-roosevelt-high-school-(iowa)-alumni", "actresses-from-riverside-county,-california"] description: "American actress (1925–2011)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Love" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actress (1925–2011) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
image	Phyllis_Love.jpg
caption	Still from Friendly Persuasion (1956)
birth_name	Phyllis Ann Love
birth_date
birth_place	Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Menifee, California, U.S.
occupation	Stage, television actress
years_active	1948–1975
parents	Jack Love
Lois Love
spouse	James Vincent McGee
(m.1948–1978; divorced)
Alan Paul Gooding
(m.1983–2011; her death)
::

| image = Phyllis_Love.jpg | caption = Still from Friendly Persuasion (1956) | birth_name = Phyllis Ann Love | birth_date = | birth_place = Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Menifee, California, U.S. | occupation = Stage, television actress | years_active = 1948–1975 | parents = Jack Love Lois Love | spouse = James Vincent McGee (m.1948–1978; divorced) Alan Paul Gooding (m.1983–2011; her death)}}

Phyllis Ann Love (December 21, 1925 – October 30, 2011) was an American theater and television actress.

Early years

Love was born in Des Moines, Iowa. Her parents were Jack Love, who owned a food market, and Lois Love, who owned a cafe prior to marriage. Her schooling came at Perkins Elementary School, Callanan Junior High School, and Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines. Beginning in 1948, she attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh for an unknown length of time.

Career

After moving to New York, Love joined the recently formed Actors Studio. Her debut on television came in the studio's Actors Studio series; her Broadway and big screen bows, the year after that, as, respectively, Julie Harris's understudy in the stage adaptation of The Member of the Wedding, and, an uncredited performer in the film So Young So Bad.

Throughout the 1950s she acted in Broadway productions and the occasional film. Her Broadway credits include A Distant Bell (1959), Flowering Cherry (1959), The Egghead (1957), The Rose Tattoo (1950), and The Country Girl (1950). She won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1951 for her role in The Rose Tattoo. That role also brought her a Donaldson Award for Best Supporting Performance (Actress) for 1950–1951.

She played Mattie Birdwell in the film Friendly Persuasion (1956), and Dick Clark's pregnant wife in The Young Doctors (1961). On television, she appeared principally in guest roles from 1950 until her retirement in the early 1970s. Among her roles were two guest appearances on Perry Mason, both times as the defendant, as Ellen Carter in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Bogus Books", and the part of Minerva Doubleday in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Wooden Nickels". In 1961 she played Dot the waitress in season 4 episode 17 and 18 of Have Gun - Will Travel, and in 1962 she played Mrs. Lucas in the 3rd-season episode "Four O'Clock" in The Twilight Zone. In 1964 she played Jennifer May in the episode "Doctor's Wife" in the TV series Gunsmoke. In 1965 she played Lieutenant Jenkins in Season 1, Episode 19 "Faith, Hope and Sergeant Aronson" in the TV series 12 O'Clock High.

For 15 years,

Personal life

Love and James Vincent McGee were married for 30 years, from 1948 until they divorced in 1978. On January 22, 1983, Love married Alan Paul Gooding. They remained married until her death in 2011.

Death

On October 30, 2011, Love died at her home in Menifee, California, at age 85.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	So Young So Bad	Delinquent Girl	Uncredited
1956	Friendly Persuasion	Mattie Birdwell
1960	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Sue	Season 5 Episode 18: "Backward, Turn Backward"
1961	Have Gun, Will Travel	Dot	"A Quiet Night in Town"
1961	Gunsmoke	Beth	"Bless Me Till I Die"
1961	The Young Doctors	Mrs. Elizabeth Alexander
1962	Going My Way	Sister Mary Matthews	two episodes
1962	Perry Mason	Ellen Carter	"The Case of the Bogus Books"
1962	The Untouchables	Ginnie Littlesmith	"The Ginnie Littlesmith Story"
1964	The Outer Limits	Andrea Holm	"A Feasibility Study"
1964	Gunsmoke	Jennifer May	"Doctor's Wife"
1964	Perry Mason	Minerva Doubleday	"The Case of the Wooden Nickels"
1967	The FBI	two characters	three episodes
::

References

References

1. (November 2, 2011). "PASSINGS: Harry Lawenda, Axel Axgil, Phyllis Love". Los Angeles Times.
2. "Phyllis Love". Des Moines Register.
3. : [https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118045978?refcatid=15&printerfriendly=true "Actress Phyllis Love dies: Appeared on Broadway, in Wyler's 'Friendly Persuasion',"] ''Variety'' (november 10, 2001). "Love attended what became Carnegie Mellon U. and studied at the Actors Studio in New York, beginning in 1948... The actress picked up most of her credits, however, on television, appearing on numerous anthology shows beginning with 'Actors Studio" in 1949."'
4. : [https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118045978?refcatid=15&printerfriendly=true "Actress Phyllis Love dies: Appeared on Broadway, in Wyler's 'Friendly Persuasion',"] ''Variety'' (November 10, 2011). "She made her bigscreen [debut] in an uncredited role in 1950's 'So Young So Bad.'"
5. "("Phyllis Love" search results)". Playbill.
6. "The Clarence Derwent Award".
7. (July 28, 1951). "The Winners for the 8th Annual Donaldson Awards".
8. "Broadway Actress Phyllis Love Dies at 85".
9. (2012). "Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2011". McFarland.

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