Margaret Elizabeth Sheridan, also known by her married name Margaret Wildman, (October 29, 1926 – May 1, 1982) was an American actress of the early 1950s, and protégée of director Howard Hawks. She is best remembered for her role as Nikki Nicholson opposite Kenneth Tobey in the 1951 science fiction classic The Thing from Another World.
Career She was born in Los Angeles, California, to Thomas Galligan Sheridan, Sr., and Julia P. Sheridan. Sheridan was discovered by Howard Hawks while she was still attending college. Initially, Hawks believed she was the most promising actress of her era.
In 1947, she married William F. Pattison, a professional airline pilot. Hawks offered Sheridan the female lead opposite John Wayne in the 1948 film Red River. Sheridan turned down the role because she was expecting the birth of her first child. Joanne Dru accepted the role.
Hawks offered her the role of Nikki Nicholson in the 1951 film The Thing from Another WorldTARRATT, MARGARET. “Monsters from the Id.” Film Genre Reader IV, edited by Barry Keith Grant, University of Texas Press, 2012, pp. 382–401. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/742055.29. Accessed 28 Dec. 2025.. Sheridan's career suffered, and she never achieved the fame Hawks had hoped. Motherhood and a few years of maturity had evidently changed her. Hawks is quoted as saying she was just "not the same girl" he had discovered. He later commented that if she had taken the role in Red River, her career would have flourished. Sheridan would quit acting in 1955 to start a family but briefly came back in 1964.
She died at age 55 of lung cancer on May 1, 1982, in Orange, California.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1951 The Thing from Another World Nikki Nicholson 1952 One Minute to Zero Mary Parker 1953 I, the Jury Velda 1954 Pride of the Blue Grass Helen 1954 The Diamond Marline Miller 1964 Man's Favorite Sport? Maggie, Cadwalader's Secretary Uncredited
References
External links
The Private Life and Times of Margaret Sheridan