Born in Campgaw, New Jersey, Jane Waddington Wyatt came from a New York family of social distinction (her father was a Wall Street investment banker and her mother was a drama critic). Jane was raised from the age of three months in New York City, attended the fashionable Chapin School and later Barnard College. After two years of college, she left to join the apprentice school of the Berkshire Playhouse at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where for six months she played a varied assortment of roles. One of her first jobs on Broadway was as understudy to Rose Hobart in a production of "Trade Winds"--a career move that cost her her slot on the New York Social Register. Wyatt made the transition from stage to screen and was placed under contract at Universal, where she made her film debut in director James Whale's One More River. She went back and forth between Universal and Broadway (and co-starred in Frank Capra's Columbia film Lost Horizon on loan out from Universal). In the 1950s, she co-starred with Robert Young in I Told You So, the classic TV sitcom chronicling the life and times of the Anderson family in the Midwestern town of Springfield. Wyatt died at age 95 on October 20, 2006.



Joined Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and other Hollywood stars on a flight to Washington in 1947 to protest the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. Jane Wyatt is a devout Catholic, whose late husband died on the day before what would have been their 65th wedding anniversary. Sons Christopher, who has three children, and Michael, who is six years younger and a pianist. Won three consecutive Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Margaret Anderson on "Father Knows Best" (1954). Was an invaluable member of the March of Dimes charitable organization since 1943. Donations were directed toward the March of Dimes at the time of her death. Received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007) (TV).