The Snoop Sisters was one of several programs that aired in rotation as part of the NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie series of 1972 – 1974. As some will remember, from 1971 – 1977 NBC enjoyed varying degrees of success with its Mystery Movie format, a formula that sprang from its prior success with The Name of the Game (1968 - 1971), a hit series that rotated three different shows under one umbrella title.Before it joined NBC’s mystery movie stable in 1973, The Snoop Sisters aired as a 90-minute pilot now known as “The Female Instinct” in December 1972. This initial outing would feature key supporting actors who would be replaced by others once the series got underway. In the pilot episode, Art Carney appeared as the sisters’ ex-cop chauffeur and Lawrence Pressman portrayed their nephew, police lieutenant Ostrowski. Carney was replaced by Lou Antonio and Pressman by Bert Convy when the show was picked up a year later.
Mildred Natwick and Helen Hayes, the Snoop Sisters
The Snoop Sisters aired for just one season, 1973 – 74, and consisted of four 90-minute episodes. The series boasted glittering lists of guest stars (in the pilot, Paulette Goddard, Jill Clayburgh and Craig Stevens), fine production values, a clever premise and the charming chemistry between Hayes and Natwick. But these assets didn't seem to be enough to offset weaknesses that the production was given no time to tweak. The departure of Carney and Pressman left big shoes to fill - and they weren't. Episode quality was uneven, and the hour-and-a-half format left too much time to be filled. It’s possible, too, that another problem was that The Snoop Sisters was ahead of its time, spotlighting as it did two elderly ladies who repeatedly outsmart countless men of all ages - cops, lawyers, businessmen, crooks, killers, you name it.Though its run was brief, with the final episode airing in March 1974, The Snoop Sisters did not pass entirely without fanfare. Both Hayes and Natwick were nominated for the Emmy in the Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie category, and Natwick took home the gold.My first memory of Mildred Natwick is her performance as Mrs. Banks, Jane Fonda’s mother in Barefoot in the Park(1967). Perhaps Miss Natwick had an advantage, having originated her role on Broadway, but Robert Redford, who portrayed her son-in-law, originated his role onstage with her…anyway, in a deft and comic turn, she stole the picture from Fonda, Redford and co-star Charles Boyer. And she also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.Mrs. Banks in Barefoot in the Park was the perfect introduction to Mildred Natwick and I adored her on sight, as she struggled to make her way up five flights of stairs to visit her newlywed daughter. The play was Neil Simon’s second Broadway effort, a big hit, and he also scripted the film. Like his other earliest works, Barefoot in the Park is strewn with laughs sparked by dialog heavy with quick and smart set-ups and punch lines that, over the years, some have criticized for coming at the expense of character. Natwick’s personification of Mrs. Banks, however, delivers a character who does more than dispense Simon’s riotous repartee. She is a combination of flustered elegance, wit and gentility with occasional moments of barely contained hysteria.Mildred Natwick’s final film performance came with the much acclaimed and awarded Stephen Frears production of Dangerous Liaisons (1988), with Michelle Pfeiffer, John Malkovich and Glenn Close. In the film, Natwick portrayed a wise and kindly aunt to Malkovich's Vicomte de Valmont, a dissolute womanizer. It has been reported that when director Frears and screenwriter Christopher Hampton met with Miss Natwick to discuss the film, they were so charmed by her that they didn’t realize until much later that they’d forgotten to offer her the role.
Mildred Natwick was a Baltimore native, born in 1905, a descendant of one of the earliest Norwegians to emigrate to the US. She attended the Bryn Mawr School and Bennett College, where she earned her degree in theater arts. Miss Natwick would not be the only family member to succeed in the entertainment field. Her cousin Myron ‘Grim’ Natwick (1890 – 1990), an artist and animator who worked for the Fleischer Studios, Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney, became well known for creating the Betty Boop character for Max Fleischer.Mildred Natwick would begin her stage career in Baltimore at age 21 as a member of a local non-professional acting troupe. She would continue to work on stage for most of the next 50+ years. She would say that she preferred theater work over film because, in film, performances are generally given in “bits and pieces, usually out of sequence,” but that “on the stage, you’re in control for two hours.” Still, her film work was prodigious, and so was her work on television.She began appearing on TV in 1949 with The Boris Karloff Mystery Playhouse. She was active throughout the golden era of live television and received an Emmy nomination in 1957 for her portrayal of the medium Madame Arcati, a role she’d played on Broadway, in a Ford Star Jubilee telecast of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit. Miss Natwick would go on to appear in countless series, mini-series and TV-movies. Her final TV appearance was in the TV-movie Deadly Deception (1987). Just prior to that she’d guested on Murder, She Wrote (1986), Angela Lansbury’s long-running blockbuster series about a woman-of-a-certain-age mystery writer who invariably gets mixed up in solving real crimes.The Snoop Sisters’ run may have been short and bittersweet, but the episodes are enjoyable to watch. It’s a treat just to see Hayes and Natwick, two old pros (with the emphasis on pro) chewing up scenery and playing off each other with style and ease and what at times even seems like glee. Helen Hayes, long considered the “First Lady of the American Theater,” is one of the few to win an Oscar (two: The Sin of Madelon Claudet and Airport), an Emmy (“Battle Hymn”/Medallion Theatre), a Grammy (Great American Documents) and a Tony (numerous). She is marvelous as mystery author Ernesta Snoop. Mildred Natwick is equally enchanting as the supportive Snoop sister, Gwendolyn, known as “G,” a character she fully endows with her trademark aplomb and fluttery charm underscored by an almost musically modulated voice.
Mildred Natwick's acting career began in college and ended nearly 70 years later, in 1988. She performed roles ranging from dramatic to comedic in the theater, on film, TV and radio (in 1938 she played "Mrs. Danvers" to Margaret Sullavan's "Second Mrs. de Winter" for Orson Welles on his Mercury Theater on the Air). She never married but was cherished by her friends, who called her Milly, and colleagues. She lived in Manhattan and died there, at home, in 1994 at age 89.
Al Hirschfeld's caricature of Mildred Natwick, center, and Clifton Webb in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, 1941