Margaret Whitton ‘Major League’ Actress Dies Of Cancer At 67

Margaret Whitton, best known for her role as Rachel Phelps in the baseball comedy Major League, has died, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting. Whitton died peacefully at her Palm Beach residence in Florida after a short battle with cancer, she was 67.

Whitton, the daughter of an army colonel, was born in Philadelphia. Her acting career debuted at the American Place Theater in 1973 in the off-Broadway hit Baba Goya. She followed it up by subsequently appearing in a slew of productions from the Manhattan Theater Club and The Phoenix Theater.

Margaret Whitton (1950-2016) actress. SECRET OF MY SUCCE$$ (1987), Team owner in MAJOR LEAGUE (1989) + ML II (1994) https://t.co/OmTwA3L6lF

— Will McKinley (@willmckinley) December 5, 2016

The red-haired actress teamed up with good friend Judith Ivey and starred in 1983’s Steaming. Both actresses appeared nude in the play, set in a Turkish bath. Her other Broadway performances included The Apple Doesn’t Fall…, Marlene and Dracula alongside Raul Julia.

In Hollywood, Whitton appeared in movies like The Secret of My Success (1987) opposite Michael J. Fox, who she tries to seduce in the flick. She also starred in 9 ½ weeks (1986) alongside Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. Her other movie credits include Ironweed (1987) with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep and The Man Without a Face (1993) starring Mel Gibson.

She also had recurring roles in TV series including in A Fine Romance, Hometown, One Life to Live and Good & Evil.

Her most famous role is arguably Major League (1989) and its follow-up sequel, Major League II (1994) where she starred opposite Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Rene Russo, Dennis Haysbert and Corbin Bernsen. Whitton plays a former showgirl who inherits the Cleveland Indians following the death of her husband.

R.I.P Margaret Whitton, AKA Rachael Phelps, former owner of the Cleveland Indians. pic.twitter.com/VhyK6rnWFH

— ? J. Daniel ? (@JDaniel2033) December 5, 2016

In the movie, the Indians are a terrible team struggling to win the World Series after notching it in 1948. In comes the callous Ms.+

Phelps who stocks her team with has-beens and misfits so that fans would stay away from watching matches and trigger an attendance clause that would make her relocate the team to Miami.

She tries to frustrate her players, taking away the team jet and giving them a propeller plane. She replaces the ramshackle plane with a filthy bus and also refuses to repair the clubhouse whirlpool. The Cleveland Indians end up exceeding her expectations by winning matches, but she tells her general manager she still wants them to lose.

“We can force a losing streak. We can still turn this around.”

Rachel Phelps is loathed by her players who mock her with a replica cardboard cutout. Every time they record a win, they strip it off some clothing. When the Indians win a playoff game against the Yankees, she watches on in depressing silence as players and fans celebrate.

The 1989 movie is considered one of the greatest baseball movies ever.

Whitton really did love baseball. According to her husband, she was a Yankee fan who held season tickets to the old Yankee Stadium. She did not renew them for the new stadium because she found it “soulless”

The 67-year-old also played softball in the Broadway Show league and reviewed books that revolved around baseball. In the first episode of A Fine Romance, a TV series about a divorced couple that traveled around the world because they host a travel show, Whitton wrote and delivered a baseball line. The line was in reference to the Yankees first baseman that set the major league record in 1987.

“It was the summer Don Mattingly hit six grand slams.”

The Hollywood actress was also involved in a legal tussle with Ron Shelton, director of Bill Durham, the cult 1988 movie about a minor-league baseball team starring Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Whitton had insisted that she helped the director write the film while they were in a relationship. Mr. Shelton had given himself the sole writing credit when the relationship ended and she sued.

Mr. Shelton denied the claim, adding that the script had been on the burner long before he dated Whitton. In an email statement on Monday, he made known that her claim to “a contribution to the script was patently false.” However, according to a court document, the 67-year-old actress received $100,000 and two percent of the film’s box office profits for her when she sued.

Whitton started directing in the 1990s. She directed, Dirty Tricks, a one-woman play about Martha Mitchell, the forthright wife of Attorney General John Mitchell and the role she played in the downfall of the Nixon administration. She also directed the movie, A Bird of the Air, released in 2011.

Margaret Whitton left behind a husband. They had been married for 23 years, she had no children. A memorial service will take place in 2017 for her in New York City.

Whitton still received requests to sign photographs and baseball memorabilia for her unforgettable role in Major League.

A ball had been sent by a fan for an autograph, just days before she passed on.

[Featured Image by Nick Ut/AP Images]