Jacqueline Scott, ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘The Fugitive’ Star, Dead at 89

Actor Jacqueline Scott, who had a lucrative career in TV and film, has passed away at the age of 89. She died at home in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, following a battle with lung cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Scott is likely best known as the sister of Richard Kimble (David Janssen) in TV’s The Fugitive. Her character, Donna, appeared in a total of five episodes of the ABC series. The last of the five, in 1967’s series finale, was watched by 78 million viewers — a record at the time. She also had roles in a handful of other series, including Gunsmoke, the original Perry Mason series and Barnaby Jones. She also appeared in a single episode of The Twilight Zone’s initial run, where she played the wife of an astronaut who’d returned to Earth different than when he left.

On the big screen, Scott played the wife of Walter Matthau’s Charley Varrick in the eponymous 1973 crime drama. Director Don Siegel cast her in three additional films, including Death of a Gunfighter in 1969 and Bette Midler’s 1982 comedy Jinxed!. She also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 1971 debut feature, Duel.

“I wanted to play all different characters. And I got to do that,” she told Classic Film & TV Cafe in 2016. “Once I’d be the good girl and once I’d be the bad girl. One director, Leo Penn — who is Sean Penn’s father — would call me for anything. We had worked together when we were kids in New York, and he was fabulous. Sometimes, there would be a part that people didn’t think I could do. And Leo would say, ‘Well, it’s the last minute and I don’t have time to mess around meeting actors I don’t know. I want Jacqueline.’ He’d push me for the part — and the producers would be happy he did.”

Scott was born on June 25, 1931, in Sikeston, Missouri, where she began appearing in tap-dance competitions when she was as young as 3 years old. After relocating to New York City, New York, she appeared in the original 1955-57 Broadway production of the courtroom drama Inherit the Wind. She married TV writer and press agent Gene Lesser in 1958, who died June 23 of natural causes at the age of 94. They’re survived by their son, Andrew Scott, who first reported her death, as well as granddaughters Arianna and Valerie and daughter-in-law Sue.