Beryl Abbott (Georgann Johnson; 1926-2018) is the true main villainess from "One For the Road," episode 2.23 of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (airdate March 3, 1957).
Beryl Abbott was the mistress of Charles Hendricks, and she is shown asking Charles to divorce his wife, Marsha, only for Charles to refuse. Marsha had found out about the affair and planned to kill Beryl by poisoning her sugar bowl, but when she found out that Charles went to Beryl's home, Marsha rushed there after her call didn't go through, hoping to stop him. Instead, she encountered Beryl and told her everything, which leads to Beryl responding that Charles had taken the poison. Instead of calling the police and being branded as a murderess, Beryl told Marsha to call a doctor.
After Marsha leaves, however, Beryl's story is revealed to be false, as Charles emerged from another room. Charles stated to Beryl that their affair is over now that Marsha knows, and at that moment, Beryl turned heel and decided to use Martha's poisoned sugar to kill Charles. As Beryl turned on the coffee pot, she asked Charles if he was serious about not divorcing Marsha, only to be informed by Charles that divorce was "out of the question." With that knowledge deep in her mind, the evil Beryl cemented her scornful heel turn, serving the coffee with the poisoned sugar, while pleading with him to have a cup "between old friends." The villainess watched as Charles placed two spoonfuls of the tainted sugar in his coffee, and as revealed in Hitchcock's summation, Charles succumbed to the poison and Beryl was arrested in his murder.
Trivia[]
- Georgann Johnson appeared earlier in the season as the evil Rosine Dalliford.
- In each of Georgann Johnson's villainous appearances, her character was an intended murder victim who became a murderess herself.