Thaxter, played Superman's mom, dies

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ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Phyllis Thaxter, who played Superman's mother in the 1978 movie about the comic book superhero, has died in Florida, her daughter said. She was 90.

Skye Aubrey, herself an actress, said her mother, who had Alzheimer's disease, passed away at her home Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Among Thaxter's other film credits were "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," "Act of Violence," "Bewitched," "Week-End at the Waldorf," The Sea of Grass," "Tenth Avenue Angel" and "Blood on the Moon."

"She was one of the most beautiful and patrician icons of the golden age of movies, TV and theater," movie critic Rex Reed told the Reporter.

Her movie career was derailed when she contracted infantile paralysis while visiting her family in Portland, Maine, and she moved into television, making guest appearances on numerous series.

Thaxter was married twice. She divorced television executive James Aubrey Jr., who died in 1994, and former Princeton football star Gilbert Lea died in 2008.