Brenda Scott: Movies & Box Office

Brenda Scott (born Brenda Jean Smith on March 15, 1943) is an American film and television actress whose stage name was inspired by a character created by the celebrated novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was raised both in her native Midwest city and later in the San Fernando Valley region of California, where she eventually settled into the rhythm of Hollywood-adjacent life. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dewey E. Smith. Her interest in performance began remarkably early, when at just five years old she enrolled at the Schuester-Martin School of Drama in Cincinnati—a school founded by the aunt of the legendary film star Tyrone Power. She later attended Reseda High School and continued her training at Valley State College in Northridge, where she appeared in a college production of Cinderella as a young performer, earning local press coverage as Brenda Jean Smith of Canoga Park.

Scott began her professional acting career in 1961 and remained active in the industry until 2005, amassing a remarkably varied résumé across film and television. On the big screen, she appeared in several notable productions, including The Hanged Man (1964), Johnny Tiger (1966), the Civil War epic Journey to Shiloh (1968), and the cult occult film Simon, King of the Witches (1971). Her television work was even more prolific and spanned some of the most iconic series of the 1960s and 1970s. Among her many credits are guest appearances on Rawhide, Gunsmoke (in which she played the crippled character Betsey Burgess in the episode Anybody Can Kill a Marshal), Alias Smith and Jones, Hawaii Five-O, Mannix, Ironside, Mr. Novak, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, Hazel, Window on Main Street, Run for Your Life, Wagon Train, 77 Sunset Strip, Dragnet 1967, The Fugitive, Simon & Simon, The Mod Squad, The Virginian, Lancer, Cade's County, Temple Houston, and Here Come the Brides. Reflecting on her early casting pattern, Scott once remarked, "I started out playing neurotic types because they decided I had a waif-like face." Beyond acting, she shared that she had dreamed of a career on screen since childhood and that during her teen years she developed a deep fascination with palmistry and astrology.

In her personal life, Scott was married three times to fellow actor Andrew Prine, with their turbulent relationship producing a notable Hollywood tale. The two had first appeared together as siblings in the production The Savage Land. They began living separately only four months into their first marriage, and over the years they married and divorced three times—first in 1965 (divorced 1966), then in 1968 (divorced 1969), and finally in 1973 (divorced 1978). Since 1979, Scott has been married to producer Dean Hargrove. Now in her eighties, Brenda Scott's enduring contribution to American screen history stands as a testament to a career built across more than four decades in both film and television.