Margaret Tallichet; Actress, Widow of William Wyler - Los Angeles Times (original) (raw)
Margaret Tallichet, who cut short her film career in 1938 to wed director William Wyler, died Friday of cancer in Indio.
She was 77 and had been married to Wyler 43 years when he died in 1981.
She came from her native Texas in 1936 to pursue a career in pictures and was working in the publicity department at Paramount when she was befriended by Carole Lombard.
She moved into small roles in the 1937 “A Star Is Born,” co-starred opposite Ramon Novarro in “A Desperate Adventure,” and achieved her best-remembered credit as the ravishing beauty threatened by Peter Lorre in “Stranger on the Third Floor,” often cited as an outstanding and early example of film noir.
Miss Tallichet also was briefly considered by David O. Selznick for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone With the Wind.”
She retired from films after the birth of her second child and is survived by her four children and six grandchildren.
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