Eager for Seegar

Born July 1, 1914, Sara Seegar has a face that will be familiar to many classic TV fans. She may be best-known for playing the second Mrs. Wilson (wife to Gale Gordon's character) in the final season of Dennis the Menace. She also turned up fairly often, usually as a client or client's wife, on Bewitched. In researching my book on Martha Raye, I learned that she supported Miss Raye in several of her 1950s variety shows, whether on All Star Revue or The Martha Raye Show. Miss Seegar was a gifted character actress with a finely developed instinct for finding the funny moments in a script.

In private life, she was the wife of Ezra Stone, who went from playing Henry Aldrich onstage and in radio to a successful career as a producer and director. In a 1969 interview, Stone said that he and Sara met in 1940, when they shared the stage in an unsuccessful Broadway play. "In comparison to the show," he joked, "we looked good to each other, and got married."

Sara Seegar died in 1990, a few weeks past her 76th birthday; her widower passed away in 1994. Both made significant contributions to the world of show business, and deserve to be remembered, as we do in this small way today.