Ruth McDevitt

Career

She was born Ruth Thane Shoecraft in Coldwater, Michigan. After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she married Patrick McDevitt and decided to devote her time to her marriage. After her husband's death in 1934, she returned to acting. She performed on Broadway, in particular understudying and succeeding Josephine Hull in Arsenic and Old Lace and The Solid Gold Cadillac. She also worked as a radio actor.

McDevitt was a familiar face on television during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. She played "Mom Peepers" in the 1950s sitcom Mister Peepers. She was a regular with Ann Sheridan, Douglas Fowley, and Gary Vinson in CBS's Pistols 'n' Petticoats, a 1966-67 satire of the Old West. The series attracted a good audience, but was cancelled two months after Sheridan's 1967 death from cancer. She was a series regular on the NBC soap Bright Promise from September 1969 to June 1970, McDevitt also had a regular role as Emily Cowles on Kolchak: the Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin.

McDevitt guest starred in such series as Suspense, Cosmopolitan Theatre, Decoy, The United States Steel Hour, Westinghouse Studio One, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Andy Griffith Show, The Debbie Reynolds Show, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Mayberry R.F.D., I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Love, American Style, That Girl, Nanny and the Professor, Room 222, Mannix, Here's Lucy, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, M.D., Phyllis, Little House On The Prairie, All in the Family (on which she had a recurring role during 1974 and 1975), and The Streets of San Francisco, Naked City,.

Her film debut was in The Guy Who Came Back (1951), followed by memorable roles in The Parent Trap (as camp counselor Miss Inch), Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (as Mrs. MacGruder, the pet store saleslady), Boys' Night Out, Dear Heart, The Shakiest Gun in the West, Angel in My Pocket, The Love God?, Change of Habit, The War Between Men and Women, and Mixed Company.

Death

McDevitt died, aged 80, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and is interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.