Godspeed Pippa Scott

Pippa Scott, who appeared in the movies Auntie Mame (1958) and Petulia (1968), and was a regular on such TV shows as The Virginian and Jigsaw John, died on May 22 2025 at the age of 90.

Pippa Scott was born on November 10 1934 in Los Angeles. Her father was screenwriter Allan Scott, who wrote such films as Top Hat (1935) and The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953). Her mother was Laura Straub, a stage actress who had appeared on Broadway. Her uncle was screenwriter Adrian Scott, her father's brother who was one of the Hollywood Ten. 

Pippa Scott attended Radcliffe and UCLA, then studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England. She made her television debut in 1955 in an episode of Your Play Time. In the late Fifties, she was a regular on the TV series Mr. Lucky. She gust starred on the shows Camera Three, Producer's Showcase, General Electric Theatre, Maverick, The Dupont Show with June Allyson, The Alaskans, The Aquanauts, The Twilight Zone, and Hong Kong.  She made her debut on Broadway in 1956 in Child of Fortune. In 1957 she appeared on Broadway in Miss Lonely Hearts. She made her film debut in The Searchers in 1956. She appeared in the movies As Young as We Are (1958), and Auntie Mame (1958).

In the Sixties, Pippa Scott was a regular on the first season of The Virginian. She guest starred on the shows Stagecoach West; Thriller; Have Gun--Will Travel; Outlaws; The Tall Man; Dr. Kildare; Adventures of Paradise; Bus Stop; Follow the Sun; The United States Steel Hour; Redigo; The Fugitive; Wagon Train; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.; The Reporter; The Rogues; Kraft Suspense Theatre; The John Forsythe Show; Ben Casey; The Dick Van Dyke Show; Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre; Perry Mason; The Felony Squad; Insight; Tarzan; F Troop; T.H.E. Cat; Dundee and the Culhane; The Rat Patrol; I Spy; Judd for the Defense; Family Affair; The Outsiders; The Outcasts; and Lancer. She appeared in the movies My Six Loves (1963), The Confession (1964), For Pete's Sake! (1966), Petulia (1968), and Some Kind of Nut (1969).

In the Seventies, Pippa Scott was a regular on the show Jigsaw John. She guest starred on the shows Storefront Lawyers; Medical Center; Cade's Country; Sarge; Arnie; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; Gunsmoke; Love, American Style; Longstreet; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; Mission: Impossible; The Rookies; The Waltons; Columbo; Barnaby Jones; Cannon; The Cowboys; Ironside; The Streets of San Francisco; Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Mannix; Matt Helm; This is the Life; Popi; and The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. She appeared in the movie Cold Turkey (1971).

Following the Seventies, Pippa Scott appeared less frequently on screen. She appeared in the movies The Sound of Murder in 1982, Footprints in 2009, and Automotive in 2013. She guest starred on Remington Steele in 1983. 

Pippa Scott was an incredible talented actress who could play a wide variety of roles. In Auntie Mame she played the title character's lively secretary, Pegeen, who develops an attraction to Mame's nephew.. On The Virginian she played the no-nonsense, strong-willed newspaper editor Molly Wood. She played a well-known, down-and-out, overly dramatic actress on The Waltons episode "The Actress." She guest starred on Perry Mason twice, once as a defendant who had learned her husband was a bigamist in "The Case of the Bigamous Spouse" and once as a defendant accused of stealing from her business who switches identities with another woman in "The Case of the Fanciful Frail." Pippa Scott was equally talented at both comedy and drama, and she was capable of playing roles that were very different from each other.