Jane Wyatt Net Worth

What was Jane Wyatt's Net Worth?

Jane Wyatt was an American actress who had a net worth of $20 million at the time of her death in 2006. Jane Wyatt was best known for playing matriarch Margaret Anderson on the television sitcom "Father Knows Best" and Spock's human mother Amanda Grayson in the science-fiction franchise "Star Trek." She also starred in many films, including "The Luckiest Girl in the World," "Lost Horizon," "Army Surgeon," "Canadian Pacific," and "House by the River."

Early Life and Education

Jane Wyatt was born on August 12, 1910 in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey to Euphemia and Christopher. She had two sisters and a brother and was raised in Manhattan. As a youth, Wyatt attended Miss Chapin's School, where she acted in school plays. For her higher education, she attended Barnard College for two years. After that, Wyatt joined the apprentice school of the Berkshire Playhouse in Massachusetts and continued to act on stage.

Film Career

On contract at Universal Pictures, Wyatt made her film debut in James Whale's 1934 drama "One More River." Later that year, she played Estella Havisham in Universal's adaptation of "Great Expectations." In 1935, Wyatt went to RKO and filmed the drama "We're Only Human." She then returned to Universal to star opposite Louis Hayward in the 1936 comedy "The Luckiest Girl in the World." The year after that, Wyatt starred opposite Ronald Colman in Frank Capra's "Lost Horizon," based on James Hilton's novel and produced by Columbia Pictures. After a break from the big screen, she starred in the 1940 drama "Girl from God's Country." Wyatt followed that with three films in 1941: the comedies "Kisses for Breakfast" and "Weekend for Three" and the action film "Hurricane Smith." In 1942, she starred in the war films "Army Surgeon" and "The Navy Comes Through." Switching genres again, Wyatt starred in the Westerns "Buckskin Frontier" and "The Kansan" in 1943. The year after that, she had a supporting part in the Cary Grant vehicle "None but the Lonely Heart," adapted by Clifford Odets from the novel by Richard Llewellyn.

In 1946, Wyatt had a leading role in the drama "Strange Conquest" and a supporting role in the comedy "The Bachelor's Daughters." The next year, she appeared in two films directed by Elia Kazan, the crime film "Boomerang!" and the Best Picture Oscar winner "Gentleman's Agreement." In 1948, Wyatt was in André de Toth's film noir "Pitfall" and Lewis Milestone's comedy "No Minor Vices." Closing out the decade, she appeared in "Bad Boy," starred opposite Randolph Scott in the Western "Canadian Pacific," and starred opposite Gary Cooper in the war film "Task Force." Wyatt had her single most prolific film year in 1950, appearing in four titles: "House by the River," "Our Very Own," "My Blue Heaven," and "The Man Who Cheated Himself." However, her career was soon derailed by her vocal opposition to McCarthyism, and she appeared in only two more films in the 1950s: "Criminal Lawyer" (1951) and "Interlude" (1957). In the 1960s, Wyatt was in the comedies "The Two Little Bears" (1961) and "Never Too Late" (1965). Her only big-screen credit in the 1970s was "Treasure of Matecumbe" (1976). Wyatt's final appearance on the big screen was in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" in 1986.

Robert Young and Jane Wyatt in 1958 (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Television Career

Wyatt had arguably her most famous role on the television sitcom "Father Knows Best," which ran from 1954 to 1960. She starred as Margaret Anderson, the wife of Robert Young's character Jim and the mother of three children: Betty (played by Elinor Donahue), Bud (Billy Gray), and Kathy (Lauren Chapin). For her work on the show, Wyatt won three consecutive Emmy Awards in 1958, 1959, and 1960. After the end of "Father Knows Best," Wyatt guest-starred on such shows as "Wagon Train," "Going My Way," "The Virginian," and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." She also appeared in the NBC television film "See How They Run." In 1967, Wyatt played Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock, on the science-fiction series "Star Trek."

Kicking off the 1970s, Wyatt guest-starred on the sitcom "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" and appeared in the television film "Weekend of Terror," both on ABC. She later appeared in an episode of the short-lived NBC series "Gibbsville." Wyatt was in many other television films in the 1970s, including "You'll Never See Me Again" (1973), "Katherine" (1975), "Amelia Earhart" (1976), and "The Nativity" (1978). In the 1980s, she played the recurring role of Katherine Auschlander, the wife of Norman Lloyd's Dr. Daniel Auschlander, on the NBC medical drama series "St. Elsewhere." Wyatt had her last television role in the 1989 NBC TV movie "Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes," the fourth installment in the "Amityville Horror" film series.

Personal Life and Death

On November 9, 1935, Wyatt married investment broker Edgar Bethune Ward. They remained together until Ward's death almost exactly 65 years later on November 8, 2000. The couple had three children together.

Wyatt passed away on October 20, 2006 at her home in Los Angeles, California. She was 96 years of age.

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