Ruth McDevitt
American actress
title: "Ruth McDevitt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["actresses-from-michigan", "american-academy-of-dramatic-arts-alumni", "american-film-actresses", "american-radio-actresses", "american-soap-opera-actresses", "american-stage-actresses", "american-television-actresses", "20th-century-american-actresses", "burials-at-westwood-village-memorial-park-cemetery", "1895-births", "1976-deaths", "people-from-coldwater,-michigan"] description: "American actress" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_McDevitt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American actress ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Ruth McDevitt |
| image | Ruth McDevitt 1950.JPG |
| caption | McDevitt in 1950 |
| birth_name | Ruth Thane Shoecraft |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Coldwater, Michigan, U.S. |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| othername | Ruth Thane McDevitt |
| occupation | Actress |
| yearsactive | 1949–1976 |
| spouse | |
| :: |
| name = Ruth McDevitt | image = Ruth McDevitt 1950.JPG | caption = McDevitt in 1950 | birth_name = Ruth Thane Shoecraft | birth_date = | birth_place = Coldwater, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S. | othername = Ruth Thane McDevitt | occupation = Actress | yearsactive = 1949–1976 | spouse =
Ruth Thane McDevitt ( Shoecraft; September 13, 1895 – May 27, 1976) was an American film, stage, radio, and television actress.
Career
The daughter of John Barnabas Shoecraft and Elizabeth Imber Shoecraft, McDevitt was born in Coldwater, Michigan, but grew up in Ohio. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she married Patrick McDevitt on December 10, 1928, and decided to devote her time to her marriage. After her husband's death in 1934, she returned to acting. She made her debut on Broadway in 1940, and succeeded her friend Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace, Harvey, and The Solid Gold Cadillac.
McDevitt also acted on radio, portraying the title character's mother in Keeping up with Rosemary and Jane in This Life Is Mine.
On television, McDevitt portrayed Bessie Thatcher in the DuMont drama A Woman to Remember (1949). She played Mom Peepers in the 1950s sitcom Mister Peepers and Grandma Hanks on CBS's Pistols 'n' Petticoats. She was a regular on The Everly Brothers Show and the NBC soap Bright Promise from September 1969 to June 1970. McDevitt also had a regular role as Emily Cowles on Kolchak: the Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin.
McDevitt guest starred in such series as Suspense, Cosmopolitan Theatre, Decoy, The United States Steel Hour, Westinghouse Studio One, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (2 episodes), The Andy Griffith Show (2 episodes), The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Mayberry R.F.D., I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched (3 episodes), The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Love, American Style, That Girl, Nanny and the Professor, Room 222, Mannix (2 episodes), Here's Lucy, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, M.D., Phyllis, Little House on the Prairie, The Streets of San Francisco, Naked City, and All in the Family (on which she had a recurring role during 1974 and 1975).
Her film debut was in The Guy Who Came Back (1951), followed by memorable roles in The Parent Trap (as camp counselor Miss Inch), Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (as Mrs. MacGruder, the pet store saleslady), Boys' Night Out, Dear Heart, The Shakiest Gun in the West, Angel in My Pocket, The Love God?, Change of Habit, The War Between Men and Women, and Mixed Company.
Death
McDevitt died, aged 80, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and is interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
Filmography
::data[format=table]
| Film | Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | The Guy Who Came Back | Grandma | ||
| 1953 | The Long, Long Trailer | Mrs. Vagabond | Uncredited | |
| 1961 | The Parent Trap | Miss Inch | ||
| 1962 | Boys Night Out | Beulah Partridge | ||
| 1963 | The Birds | Mrs. MacGruder, bird shop employee | ||
| Love Is a Ball | Mathilda, grandmother | |||
| 1964 | Dear Heart | Miss Tait | ||
| 1968 | The Shakiest Gun in the West | Mrs. Olive Heywood | with film's star Don Knotts | |
| 1969 | Angel in My Pocket | Nadine | with Andy Griffith | |
| The Love God? | Miss Keezy | with film's star Don Knotts | ||
| Change of Habit | Lily | |||
| 1972 | The War Between Men and Women | Old woman | ||
| 1974 | Mame | Cousin Fan | ||
| Homebodies | Mrs. Loomis | |||
| Mixed Company | Miss Bergquist | |||
| :: |
::data[format=table]
| Television | Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | A Woman to Remember | Bessie Thatcher | Unknown episodes | |
| 1958 | Harbourmaster | Mrs. Markham | 1 episode | |
| Omnibus | Ewa | 1 episode | ||
| 1961 | Naked City | Mrs. Abbie Dobbins | 1 episode | |
| 1962 | The Nurses | Miss Dillion | 1 episode | |
| Dr. Kildare | Adele Fromm, RN | 1 episode | ||
| 1963 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Mrs. Fister | Season 2 Episode 8: "The Cadaver" | |
| 1964 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Miss Emmy Wright | Season 2 Episode 24: "The Gentleman Caller" | |
| Route 66 | Mrs. Harris | 1 episode | ||
| The Doctors | Mrs. McMurtrie | Unknown episodes | ||
| 1966–1967 | Pistols 'n' Petticoats | Grandma Effie Hanks | 26 episodes | |
| 1967 | Bewitched | The Queen Ticheba / Mrs Parsons / Aunt Millicent | 3 episodes | |
| 1968 | The Andy Griffith Show | Mrs. Pendleton | 2 episodes | |
| 1969 | The Debbie Reynolds Show | Mrs. Patterson | 1 episode | |
| Bright Promise | Clara Ryan | September 29, 1969 to June 1970 | ||
| 1970 | The Courtship of Eddie's Father | Miss Bristol | 1 episode | |
| That Girl | Aunt Belle | 1 episode | ||
| 1971 | The New Andy Griffith Show | Mrs. Gossage | 3 episodes | |
| Nanny and the Professor | Mrs. Rumble | 1 episode | ||
| In Search of America | Grandma Rose | ABC Movie of the Week | ||
| 1972 | Room 222 | Miss Brown/Vivian Higgins | 2 episodes | |
| 1973 | The New Dick Van Dyke Show | Mrs. Ferguson | 1 episode | |
| The Girl Most Likely to... | Housemistress | made-for-TV movie | ||
| 1974 | Kojak | Mrs. Farenkrug | 12 episodes | |
| Gunsmoke | Grandma Boggs | "The Tainted Badge" (S20E9) | ||
| McCloud | Landlady | 1 episode | ||
| 1974 | Little House on the Prairie | Maddie Elder | 1 Episode | |
| 1973-1975 | All In the Family | Josephine "Jo" Nelson | 3 episodes | |
| 1974–1975 | Kolchak: The Night Stalker | Emily Cowles | 12 episodes | |
| 1975 | Phyllis | Miss McDermott | 1 episode | |
| 1975 | Ellery Queen | Zelda Van Dyke | 1 episode | |
| Medical Center | Alice | 1 episode | ||
| :: |
She also appeared in a The Streets of San Francisco episode "Winterkill" from season 2 on December 13, 1973.
References
References
- (2001). "Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory". McFarland.
- (1934). "Encyclopedia of American Biography: New Series". American Historical Society.
- (May 27, 1965). "Ruth McDevitt Loves Success". The Record.
- (2008). "The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts". Cumberland House.
- (1999). "Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows". McFarland & Company, Inc..
- (2011). "Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010". McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::