Pippa Scott Obituary

Pippa Scott, an actress best known for playing one of the abducted girls in John Wayne's "The Searchers" and for her prominent part in the 1970s police drama "Jigsaw John," died May 22, 2025, of congenital heart failure at her home in Santa Monica, California.

Scott's studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in England helped bring her to Broadway, where she won a World Theater Award in 1956 for "Child of Fortune," her Broadway debut. That same year, she also made her silver screen debut, and it was a big one: she played one of John Wayne's nieces in the classic western "The Searchers," starring opposite Natalie Wood in what is widely considered one of the best films of the genre. Scores of roles followed, including parts in "Auntie Mame," "Mission: Impossible," "The Waltons," "The Twilight Zone," "The Virginian," and many others. In 1976, she played Maggie Hearn on the short-lived police drama series "Jigsaw John," after which her acting work slowed down.

However, in 2006, Scott made her debut as a director when she made the documentary "King Leopold's Ghost," a film about the exploitation of the Congo by the Belgian king of the same name. In fact, Scott was the founder of The International Monitor Institute, a nonprofit she formed in 1993 to help gather evidence of war crimes throughout the world, including in Congo, Iraq, Rwanda, and the Balkans. The organization currently works with the Human Rights department at Duke University. "King Leopold's Ghost" won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2006 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Fan Ron Kelsen said on Facebook, "She created a chemistry in Mame that helped bring it all together. Such a beautiful and talented actress," while user jaxbra said on the social media platform X, "Even if you don't know her from her film career, if you were born in the 60s and grew up in the 70s, she was everywhere … Rest well, Pippa Scott..

By Eric San Juan

(Image: Amanda Edwards/FilmMagic)