Kathryn Adams Dies; ‘Saboteur’ Actress Was 96

Kathryn Adams, an actress who appeared in such notable films as Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur and the Charles Laughton-starring The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and who retired from Hollywood upon her marriage to Leave It To Beaver‘s Hugh Beaumont, died October 14 at 96.

Other film credits include 1939’s Fifth Avenue Girl, 1940’s The Invisible Woman and 1946’s Blonde For a Day. In 1942, she played Mrs. Brown, a young mother, in Hitchcock’s Saboteur.

In 1942, Adams married Beaumont, who would gain lasting fame as patriarch Ward Cleaver in the classic 1950s sitcom Leave It To Beaver. The couple had three children before divorcing in 1974. She later married Fred Doty, who died in 2010. After leaving acting, Adams, then known as Kathryn Adams Doty, wrote several books, including young adult novels A Long Year of Silence and Wild Orphan, and 2009 memoir Becoming the Mother of Me.

According to her author’s bio, she earned a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology and had a distinguished career as a psychologist. The death was announced by Adams’ daughter Kristan Beaumont to The Hollywood Reporter. The former actress had been residing in an assisted living facility in Mankato, Minn.