Southern Legacy: Margaret Ann Whitton (1949-2016)

Margaret Ann Whitton was born on 30 November 1949 in Fort Meade, Anne Arundel, Maryland. She died on 4 December 2016 in Palm Beach, Florida from cancer. She married Warren Jeffrey Spector in 1993 in Manhattan, New York, New York. Margaret was a famous actress known for performance in Major League.

Margaret Ann Whitton

Palm Beach Daily News, 6 December 2016
Margaret Whitton, best known for her sultry performances as Rachel Phelps, the showgirl-turned-team-owner in the Major League movie franchise, died Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, at her home in Palm Beach. She was 67.
Ms. Whitton, who also had homes in New York and Martha's Vineyard, had a distinguished career in New York theater before her many film and television roles, which eventually led her to directing and producing.
She was born in Baltimore; lived in Japan as an infant, and then Haddonfield, N.J., until she was 12, when her father retired to the Fort Lauderdale area. She moved to New York City after turning 18.
Ms. Whitton made her off-Broadway debut at the American Place Theater in 1973 alongside Olympia Dukakis in Baba Goya. She became a regular player at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival -- at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park and its downtown home, the Public Theater. She appeared in several productions by The Phoenix Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club. Her Broadway performances include Steaming with Judith Ivey, The Apple Doesn't Fall and Marlene -- and she was Raul Julia's victim, Lucy, in the national tour of Dracula.
Her most recognizable film roles include Aunt Vera in The Secret of My Succe$$ with Michael J. Fox; Rachel Phelps in Major League I and 2; Molly in 91/2 Weeks and Catherine in Man Without a Face with Mel Gibson. She also starred in television series, include Good & Evil, opposite Teri Garr, and A Fine Romance, among many others.
When Ms. Whitton left acting, she turned to directing -- first for the theater, with Marina Carr's Portia Coughlin and By the Bog of Cats, and The Public Theater's production of Dirty Tricks. She made her feature-film directing debut with A Bird of the Air, based on the novel The Loop.
In 2008, Ms. Whitton and her husband, Warren Spector, formed Tashtego Films, an independent production company.
In addition to developing and producing A Bird of the Air, Tashtego Films has been involved in other notable films, including Casting By, a feature documentary about Ms. Whitton's friend and legendary casting director Marion Dougherty.
She was an active gardener and also helped endangered, stranded sea turtles on Martha's Vineyard by arranging for 50 of them to be flown to warmer waters and rehabilitated last Christmas season.
In Palm Beach, she had been a supporter of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and a member of the Palm Beach County Club.
In addition to her husband of 23 years, she is survived by siblings Suzy Liss, James Whitton, MaryBeth Whitton and John Whitton.
Ms. Whitton had kept her battle with cancer private. A memorial service will take place in New York in early 2017.
Memorial donations may be made to The Marion Dougherty Safe Haven Fund, animalalliancenyc.org, which supports victims of domestic violence with their pets, and the African Mission Healthcare Foundation, amhf.us, in support of Dr. Tom Catena, an American physician saving lives in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan in the face of genocide.