Eerie Miss Eaton

Marjorie Eaton (1901-1986), born February 5, made a strong and lasting impression on me some years ago, playing character roles in two rather schlocky horror movies. In The Zombies of Mora Tau (1957), she was the heroine's aunt, living on a spooky estate populated by the undead creatures of the title. In Monstrosity (1963), which often played TV back then as The Atomic Brain, she played a cruel, sickly old woman using her wealth to have her mind implanted in a fresh, nubile body.

Her deep voice and stern face made Miss Eaton's characters ominous and foreboding, even in a movie as irresistibly silly as the latter. Somehow I like to imagine that, off-camera, she was a hip, fun-loving lady with a rollicking sense of humor.

I hope she was.