"A Christmas Story" Actress Tedde Moore Dies at 79
Tedde Moore, the Canadian actress who became a beloved fixture of holiday television as the stern but memorable Miss Shields in A Christmas Story, has died at 79.
Moore died Wednesday, Aug. 5, in Huntsville, Ontario, according to a statement shared on her Facebook page. "On Wednesday August 5th under sunny skies overlooking Fairy Lake, Tedde passed away surrounded by family physically and spiritually in her beloved Huntsville Muskoka," the post read. "Her bravery in this choice was almost overwhelming, beyond beautiful and also difficult. Forever the teacher, she had a quote for every occasion and a special way of touching the lives and hearts of everyone she met. Her magic and love will be remembered by all she took under her generous and welcoming wings." A cause of death was not disclosed.
A Career Rooted in Canadian Theater
Born Dorothea Mavor Moore on April 11, 1947, in Toronto, Moore came from a storied Canadian theatrical family; her father was actor and cultural figure Mavor Moore, and her grandmother was Dora Mavor Moore, a pioneering figure in Canadian theater. She trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1967 with the school's Principal's Medal of Honor, before returning to Canada to star opposite Christopher Walken in the Stratford Festival's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The Role That Defined Her Legacy
Moore's most enduring role came in 1983's A Christmas Story, director Bob Clark's now-classic film about young Ralphie Parker's quest for a Red Ryder BB gun, in which she played Ralphie's strict but ultimately warm grade-school teacher. The film, which starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, has become one of the most beloved holiday movies of the past half-century and was inducted into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2012.
One of the film's most memorable exchanges came when Miss Shields presses her class about who dared classmate Flick, played by Scott Schwartz, to stick his tongue to a frozen flagpole, delivering the line, "Those who did it know their blame, and I'm sure that the guilty parties will suffer their own personal remorse." Moore earned a Genie Award nomination, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, for best supporting actress for the role, and she remains the only actor to appear in both A Christmas Story and its 1994 follow-up, My Summer Story, reprising her role as Miss Shields in both films.
A Long and Varied Career
Beyond her most famous role, Moore built a decades-long career across film and television. Her credits include Second Wind, Murder by Decree, Overnight and Down the Road Again, along with television appearances on Friday the 13th: The Series, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Odyssey 5 and This Is Wonderland. She played Mrs. Claus in the 2011 TV movie Mistletoe Over Manhattan and portrayed Nanny Shaw in the miniseries The Kennedys that same year. According to IMDb, her final on-screen credit came in 2017's Magical Christmas Ornaments.
Moore was also the mother of Grammy-winning music producer Noah "40" Shebib, and was previously married to filmmaker Donald Shebib, who died in 2023.
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