Louise Latham

Early years

Latham comes from Hamilton, Texas. She is from a family of ranchers, "mostly around San Saba and Mason counties in Texas." She graduated from Dallas' Sunset High School. Latham is a Democrat who donated over $500 to The Friends of Lois Capps in the 2000 Election.

Television

Most of Latham's work has been on television. In 1965 she made two appearances on Perry Mason, both roles as the murderer; Matilda Shore in "The Case of the Careless Kitten" and Shirley Logan in "The Case of the Cheating Chancellor".

She made other appearances on The Waltons, playing Olivia's Aunt Kate who consoles Olivia through her ordeal with menopause, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, "Kojak", Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Columbo, Rhoda, Murder, She Wrote, The Streets of San Francisco, Family Affair as Aunt Fran, who leaves Buffy (Anissa Jones) in the care of Uncle Bill (Brian Keith) in the show's first episode, Designing Women (as Perky, the mother of Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker), The X-Files, and The Invaders in the 1967 episode "Genesis". Latham's character was the first to learn the real circumstances of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife's death in the final episode of The Fugitive (1967). She was a regular in the cast of the short-lived 1976 CBS series Sara.

Film

Latham's role in Marnie proved to be a turning point in her career. A newspaper's photo caption in 1965 noted:

A stage actress, Louise now leans to making films because "'Marnie' changed my life, satisfied my soul," she says, "now I want some more of the same."

She appeared in such films as Marnie (1964), Firecreek (1968), Adam at 6 A.M. (1970), White Lightning (1973), The Sugarland Express (1974), Mass Appeal (1984), The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), Paradise (1991) and Love Field (1992).

Stage

Latham's Broadway credits include the 1956 revival of Major Barbara, Invitation to a March (1960), and Isle of Children (1962).

Her other stage performances included work "under the personal direction of Margo Jones" in Theater '54 in Dallas, Texas. In 1958, she was in a touring company that performed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.