Who Was Pippa Scott? Actress Behind The Searchers and Auntie Mame Passes Away at 90

Pink Villa

09-06-2025

Trigger Warning: This article contains references to an individual's death.
Veteran actress Pippa Scott, who appeared in classic films like The Searchers (1956) and Auntie Mame (1958), has died at the age of 90. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Scott died on May 22 at her home in Santa Monica. Her daughter, Miranda Tollman, confirmed the cause of death as congenital heart failure.
Scott had a career spanning over five decades, working in both film and television. She made her film debut in The Searchers, directed by John Ford, where she played Lucy Edwards, the niece of John Wayne's character. Two years later, she starred in Auntie Mame, which was nominated for six Academy Awards.
Born on November 10, 1934, in Los Angeles, Scott came from a family deeply rooted in the entertainment industry. Her mother, Laura Straub, was a stage actress, and her father, Allan Scott, was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter best known for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her uncle, Adrian Scott, was part of the Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
Scott studied at Radcliffe College and UCLA before moving to London to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She made her Broadway debut in 1956 in Child of Fortune, directed by Jed Harris.
Scott's other film credits include As Young as We Are (1958), My Six Loves (1963), Petulia (1968), Cold Turkey (1971), and The Sound of Murder (1980).
On television, she appeared in many popular shows over the decades. Her credits include The Twilight Zone, Perry Mason, Dr. Kildare, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mission: Impossible, The Waltons, Columbo, and The Streets of San Francisco. She also had a recurring role in Jigsaw John.
Here's what you might not know about Pippa Scott
In 1964, she married Lee Rich, co-founder of Lorimar Productions, which produced hit series like The Waltons and Dallas. Though they later divorced, they remained close until he died in 2012.
Outside of acting, Scott was deeply involved in human rights activism. In the 1990s, she founded the International Monitor Institute, a nonprofit that helped collect evidence for war crimes trials, including those related to the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides.
To raise awareness about global injustices, Scott also founded Linden Productions. She collaborated with the United Nations and Human Rights Watch on several projects. One of her notable works was for PBS' Frontline, where she produced an episode titled The World's Most Wanted Man about the hunt for Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić.
In 2006, she produced King Leopold's Ghost, a documentary that highlighted the atrocities committed during the colonization of the Congo by Belgium's King Leopold II.
Scott's work in film, television, and human rights has left behind a legacy that extends beyond Hollywood. Her contributions, both on and off the screen, earned her recognition and respect across industries.