It’s astounding to consider that 5’9” was considered too tall to be a romantic lead. I mean, sure, you can’t act opposite Tom Cruise, Normal Human Actor, or even Alan Ladd. But she was two inches shorter than William Powell. A full six inches shorter than James Stewart. Seven inches shorter than John Wayne. And even if all that weren’t true, there are plenty of people who have partners roughly their own height, not to mention women taller than their male partners. But she was the same height as John Garfield and claimed to have had to walk across rooms bent at the knees in scenes with him. Forrest Tucker, she liked better, as he was 6’4”.
However, it’s arguable that her career was at least as damaged by her aura of sex and danger, strange in a lifelong Mormon. Marie Windsor played a certain number of sexpots, and the era was not good for sexpots. She did a lot of television and a lot of low-budget stuff; it’s hardly any wonder that a couple of her movies ended up coming to the attention of Joel, Mike, and their associates. The faults in those movies were not in Windsor’s performances, however. She was at least acting a lot, always.
She did have some minor roles in some classics, too. Song of the Thin Man may not be the best film of the series, though it’s definitely watchable and has Dean Stockwell as Little Nicky. She was in the 1948 The Three Musketeers, with Gene Kelly. She was in Kubrick’s The Killing and Freaky Friday, not to mention the inferior sequel Support Your Local Gunfighter. She may not have been vital to every plot—she was a lady-in-waiting in The Three Musketeers—but it was all part of a long, interesting career.
Probably her best work over the years was in television. She was murdered on probably her most noteworthy appearance on Perry Mason, and she was one of the victims you’re glad to see get what’s coming to them. She did the Adam West Batman. She did a dozen or two Westerns and Lux Video Theatre. She ran the boarding house in the ‘79 Salem’s Lot. Generally, she did a standard array of ‘60s and ‘70s TV, but she was quite good in all her roles. And, of course, she’s one of the people Angela Lansbury brought onto Murder, She Wrote, as part of Lansbury’s campaign of making sure that aging performers got work and kept their insurance.
It must have been extremely frustrating for her. She was talented. She was beautiful. She was apparently a gifted athlete. And, sure, maybe I remember her being poisoned on Perry Mason and gallivanting around a swamp with puppets in the corner, but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t worth being remembered. Whether it was her height or her aura, she wasn’t given the opportunities she might have hoped for. And she lived to be remembered by a whole new generation of obsessive fans, which I’m sure brought her joy.