Biographie
Pippa Scott, a striking redhead, is the daughter of renowned stage actress Laura Straub and playwright/screenwriter Allan Scott, who penned most of the Astaire/Rogers musical films. She is also the niece of writer/producer Adrian Scott, one of the infamous "Hollywood Ten" blacklisted during the Hollywood era.
Scott was educated at Radcliffe and trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). She made her debut in Jed Harris' final Broadway production, "Child of Fortune" (1956), adapted from Henry James' Wings of the Dove. That same year, she appeared as Lucy in John Ford's classic western The Searchers (1956). In 1957, she returned to Broadway with a brief run in "Miss Lonelyhearts" and added a few films to her credits, including a role as a novice schoolteacher in the low-budget drama As Young as We Are (1958), and as Pegeen Ryan, the young love interest in the iconic comedy Auntie Mame (1958) starring Rosalind Russell.
From the late 1950s onward, Scott focused heavily on television, with recurring roles on Mr. Lucky (1959) and The Virginian (1962), and numerous guest appearances on series such as Maverick, The Twilight Zone, Thriller, Have Gun – Will Travel, United States Steel Hour, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Gomer Pyle, Wagon Train, The Rogues, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, Tarzan, I Spy, Family Affair, Medical Center, Gunsmoke, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mission: Impossible, Love, American Style, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, The Waltons, Ironside, The Streets of San Francisco, Mannix, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and Remington Steele. She also had a regular role in the short-lived series Jigsaw John (1976), playing a love interest to Jack Warden's character.
Interspersed with her TV work were sporadic roles on stage and in film. On stage, she appeared in the New York production of "Look Back in Anger" and toured nationally in "Mary, Mary." She worked with John Houseman at UCLA during the formation of the Center Theater Group and performed in numerous episodic television productions throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Her film appearances include My Six Loves (1963), The Confession (1964), For Pete's Sake! (1966), Petulia (1968), Cold Turkey (1971) alongside Dick Van Dyke, and The Sound of Murder (1982).
In 1964, she married producer Lee Rich, a founding partner of Lorimar Productions, an Emmy-winning television company that was the leading supplier of programming to networks for over 25 years. Lorimar produced classics such as The Waltons, Dallas, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, Eight is Enough, and The Blue Knight, along with acclaimed films including Moonstruck (1987), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Sybil (1976), and Being There (1979).
During the 1980s, driven by long-standing concerns, Scott shifted her focus to humanitarian causes. She founded The International Monitor Institute (IMI), a nonprofit dedicated to the prosecution of war crimes. IMI was commissioned by the War Crimes Tribunal to locate, collect, and supply visual evidence for use in trials convicting war criminals. The institute concentrated on regions such as the Balkans, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Congo, Cambodia, Iraq, and issues involving child soldiers. IMI supported numerous organizations globally in investigating human rights abuses and documenting the conditions that led to them. Its mission was to help nations remove barriers to respect for individual rights, civil society, and development. Today, the International Monitor continues its work within Duke University's Human Rights department.
Scott also launched Linden Productions to develop and produce documentaries addressing international conflict and human rights violations. Linden has created numerous films for groups like the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and the International Rescue Committee. Her feature documentary King Leopold's Ghost, based on Adam Hochschild’s bestselling book, explores colonial greed and its devastating effects in the Congo, past and present. The film won Best Documentary at seven film festivals and is available on Amazon Prime and other platforms. Another documentary, PBS Frontline's The Most Wanted Man: The Hunt for Radovan Karadzic, about the Serbian war criminal, won an award at the Berlin Film Festival.
After more than two decades away from the camera, Pippa Scott returned to acting with roles in Footprints (2009) and Automotive (2013).
