Bea Benaderet | |
|---|---|
 1966 publicity photo | |
| Born | Beatrice Benaderet April 4, 1906 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 13, 1968(1968-10-13) (aged 62) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery,North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1917–1968 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2, includingJack Bannon |
Beatrice Benaderet (/ˌbɛnəˈdɛrət/BEN-ə-DERR-ət; April 4, 1906 – October 13, 1968) was an American actress and comedienne. Born in New York City and raised inSan Francisco, she began performing inBay Area theatre and radio before embarking on aHollywood career that spanned over three decades. Benaderet first specialized in voice-over work in thegolden age of radio, appearing on numerous programs while working with comedians of the era such asJack Benny,Burns and Allen, andLucille Ball. Her expertise indialect andcharacterization led to her becomingWarner Bros.' leading voice of female characters in their animated cartoons of the early 1940s through the mid-1950s.
Benaderet was then a prominent figure on television insituation comedies, first withThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show from 1950 to 1958, for which she earned twoEmmy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In the 1960s, she had regular roles in four series until her death fromlung cancer in 1968, including the commercial successesThe Beverly Hillbillies,The Flintstones, and her best-known role as Kate Bradley inPetticoat Junction. She has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame honoring her work in television.
Beatrice Benaderet was born on April 4, 1906,[1][2][3][note 1] in New York City.[4][6][7] Her mother, Margaret (née O'Keefe), was Irish American,[8][9] and her father, Samuel David Benaderet,[10] aSephardic Jewishemigrant from what is nowTurkey,[11] was atobacconist who relocated the family from New York City to San Francisco in 1915 after his participation in thePanama–Pacific International Exposition.[12] The same year, he opened a smoke shop that operated for 65 years, making it the oldest such retailer in California at the time of its closure in 1980.[12]
Benaderet was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and attended grade school at aDominican convent.[13] She studied voice and thepiano;[14] her first acting performance came at 11 when she portrayed a bearded old man in a school play.[13]
The following year, her participation in a children's production ofThe Beggar's Opera resulted in a local radio station manager inviting her to a one-time performance on one of his programs, for which she was paid $10.[13] Benaderet made her professional theatre debut at 16 in a production ofThe Prince of Pilsen,[15] and, after graduating from the Academy of St. Rose, a private, all-girls' high school,[16][17] she attended the Reginald Travers School of Acting and joined hisstock company The Players' Guild,[18] appearing in stage productions of works such asPolly,Lysistrata, andUncle Tom's Cabin.[19][20][21]
In 1926, Benaderet joined the staff of San Francisco radio stationKFRC, which was under the new ownership ofDon Lee and where her duties included acting, singing, writing, and producing.[22][23]
Initially seeking work as a dramatic actress, she switched to comedy and performed on multiple programs, in particular theBlue Monday Jamboreevariety show,[22] where her castmates includedMeredith Willson,Elvia Allman, and futureI Love Lucy producerJess Oppenheimer.[6][24][25] Benaderet honed a variety ofdialects such as French, Spanish,New York City English, andYiddish, the latter from voicing a character named "Rheba Haufawitz".[6][22] She additionally hosted the musical variety showSalon Moderne and gained attention for her work as a female announcer,[23][26] a rarity in 1930s radio.[27]
Benaderet relocated to Hollywood in 1936 and joined radio stationKHJ,[28] making hernetwork radio debut withOrson Welles for hisMercury Theatre repertory company heard onThe Campbell Playhouse.[3][29] The following year she received her first big break in the industry onThe Jack Benny Program, where she played Gertrude Gearshift, a wisecrackingtelephone operator who gossiped aboutJack Benny with her cohort Mabel Flapsaddle (Sara Berner).[30][31][32] Intended as a one-time appearance, the pair became a recurring role starting in the 1945–46 season, and in early 1947, Benaderet and Berner momentarily took over the NBCswitchboards in Hollywood for publicity photos.[30] She performed in as many as five shows daily,[33] causing her rehearsal dates to conflict with those ofThe Jack Benny Program and resulting in her reading live as Gertrude from a marked script she was handed upon entering the studio.[33]
Other recurring characters Benaderet portrayed were Blanche Morton onThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; school principal Eve Goodwin onThe Great Gildersleeve; Millicent Carstairs onFibber McGee & Molly; maid Gloria onThe Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet;[34][35] and Iris Atterbury on theLucille Ball vehicleMy Favorite Husband, oppositeGale Gordon. Benaderet voiced various one-time parts before joining the main cast as Iris, neighbor and friend of Ball's character Liz Cooper.[25] The 1950 CBS programGranby's Green Acres, a perceived spinoff ofMy Favorite Husband,[36] was her one radio lead role and reunited her with Gordon as a husband and wife who abandon city life to become farmers, but it lasted only eight episodes.[37]
Beginning in 1943, Benaderet became Warner Bros.' primary voice of adult female supporting characters for theirMerrie Melodies andLooney Tunesanimated shorts, initially sharing duties withSara Berner.[29] Her characterizations included an obnoxious teenagedbobbysox version ofLittle Red Riding Hood inLittle Red Riding Rabbit (1944);[38]Witch Hazel inBewitched Bunny (1954);[39] the spinster henMiss Prissy in severalFoghorn Leghorn cartoons;[40]Tweety's owner "Granny" including theAcademy Award-winningTweetie Pie (1947);[16] and Mama Bear in a series ofThree Bears shorts, which animatorChuck Jones called one of his favorite portrayals.[41] Benaderet did not receive onscreen credit for her work because she was employed by Warner Bros. as a freelance actor[note 2] who voiced peripheral characters, and unlikeMel Blanc, was not under contract with the studio.[42] In 1955, she was succeeded byJune Foray as Warner's premier female voice artist.[43]
Benaderet was Lucille Ball's first choice asEthel Mertz for the sitcomI Love Lucy; Ball said in a 1984 interview that she had "no other picture of anyone" for the role.[44] However, Benaderet had to turn down the offer since she was contracted to the television adaptation ofThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, soVivian Vance was eventually cast. Benaderet guest-starred on the January 21, 1952, first-season episode "Lucy Plays Cupid" as the character of Miss Lewis, a love-starved spinster neighbor.[3]
Benaderet continued herBurns & Allen radio role of the Burns' neighbor Blanche Morton, Gracie's friend and staunchest supporter in her escapades.[45] She was the only secondary cast member who appeared in every episode[16] and the first six shows were shot live in New York, resulting in Benaderet commuting to Los Angeles, where she was working several radio assignments at the time.[46]
Blanche Morton's long-suffering husband, Harry, was played by four actors over the show's eight-year run; the last,Larry Keating, was introduced on the October 5, 1953 fourth-season premiere whenGeorge Burns entered the set and halted a scene of an angered Blanche preparing to hit Harry with a book. Burns introduced Keating to Benaderet and the audience, and she broke character to exchange pleasantries with Keating. The segment then resumed and Benaderet struck Keating with the book.[47] Benaderet andGracie Allen regularly shopped for their own on-set wardrobe[48] and she developed a high-pitched laugh for Blanche that became a staple of the character and was used for comic effect: "When we had a scene with some silent spots in it, George would say to me, 'Laugh there, Bea.'"[49][50] Benaderet garnered twoPrimetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in1954 and1955.[51] Following Allen's retirement in 1958 at the end of the eighth season, the program continued asThe George Burns Show in 1958–59 with Blanche repackaged as George's secretary, but it was canceled after one season due to low ratings.[16] Benaderet worked sparsely in 1959,[52] filming one-time appearances onGeneral Electric Theater andThe Restless Gun.[53]
Benaderet became a fixture on television in the 1960s, which included working on two shows simultaneously from 1960 to 1964.[54] She played housekeeper Wilma in the lone season of the 1960 sitcomPeter Loves Mary, a part she received because of references from Burns.[55] Benaderet considered herself "lucky" to be cast in another series out of fear that she had become too closely associated withBurns & Allen.[56] The same year, she was then cast as the voice ofBetty Rubble in theHanna-Barbera primetime animated seriesThe Flintstones. Benaderet auditioned with past radio coworkerJean Vander Pyl for Betty andWilma Flintstone by exchanging dialogue before the show's co-creatorJoseph Barbera, who asked afterward what part they preferred. Vander Pyl recalled in 1994: "I said, 'Oh, I want to be Wilma!' [and] Bea said, 'That's fine with me.'"[57] Benaderet voiced guest spots on the side for fellow Hanna-Barbera productionsTop Cat andThe Yogi Bear Show during 1961 and 1962.[58] While filming the debut season of her showPetticoat Junction the next year, she continued voicing Betty by recording her part alone or with herFlintstones castmates during evening hours[29] until scheduling conflicts forced her to drop the role at the end of the fourth season in 1964. She was replaced byGerry Johnson.[54]
In the late 1940s, Benaderet befriendedPaul Henning, a scriptwriter on the radio production ofBurns & Allen.[59] She appeared on the 19 episodes of the show he had written between 1947 and 1951.[60] She became one of his regular players in the first two seasons ofBurns & Allen, a two-episode guest appearance onThe Bob Cummings Show in 1956–57, and her involvement in three of the most successful sitcoms of the 1960s.[61][62] After reading the 1961 first script forThe Beverly Hillbillies, Benaderet wanted toaudition for the role ofGranny. Despite considering her to be too buxom for his vision of the character as a small and wiry woman, Henning allowed her to test anyway.[63]Irene Ryan ultimately won the role; according to Henning, "Bea took one look at the way Irene did the part and said to me, 'There's your Granny!'"[64] He additionally took Benaderet's suggestion of castingHarriet MacGibbon as Granny's rival Margaret Drysdale.[65] Henning created for Benaderet the supporting character of Cousin Pearl Bodine, the middle-aged widowed mother of Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) and cousin of main character Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), whom she convinces to move from his humble home in theOzarks after he strikes oil on his property and becomes a millionaire. Prior to shooting thepilot, Benaderet enlisted adialect coach to help her learn ahillbilly accent.[66] Impressed with her performance while screening the pilot to potential sponsors,[16] Henning made Cousin Pearl a recurring character in the 1962–63 first season as she moved into the Clampetts'Beverly Hills mansion, feuded with Granny, and pursued oil tycoon Mr. Brewster (Frank Wilcox) as a love interest.[16]Bluegrass duoFlatt and Scruggs, who performed the show'sopening theme, recorded a comedicserenade in 1963 titled "Pearl Pearl Pearl" and Benaderet was pictured on the single's cover.[67] Benaderet described Pearl's curly hair as "just my mental image of the character. ... Pearl played the piano for thesilent movies and she saw such high fashion and ridiculous hairdos. She could read and write, and the curled hair seemed to Pearl the height of smartness."[50][note 3]
Henning had long admired Benaderet's talents and strove to create a starring vehicle for her, as he felt she was worthy of headlining her own series after years of supporting parts.[64] When CBS granted him an open time slot after the massive success ofBeverly Hillbillies, he crafted the 1963 rural sitcomPetticoat Junction around Benaderet, starring as Kate Bradley, the widowed proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel.[68] Cousin Pearl was consequently written out of theBeverly Hillbillies storyline as having moved back home.[69][note 4] The character of Kate represented Benaderet's firststraight role: "Kate Bradley is different from the characters I've played in the past. She has to walk a fine line between being humorous and tender. The other women I've played were strictly for laughs."[68] Benaderet and directorRichard Whorf auditioned the young actresses who would play Kate's three teenaged daughters;[70] she persuaded Henning to let his 18-year-old daughterLinda read (successfully) for the role of Betty Jo Bradley.[71] Linda Henning and Benaderet's son,Jack Bannon, were members of a young actors' theater group at the time.[70] CBS promoted the show's September 22, 1963, premiere with a print ad featuring anAl Hirschfeld caricature of Benaderet as Cousin Pearl.[72]Petticoat Junction was an immediate hit,peaking at fourth in theNielsen ratings, and remained in the top 30 during Benaderet's four full seasons on the show from 1963 to 1967.[73] Her formerFlintstones costarsAlan Reed and Jean Vander Pyl filmed guest spots in later seasons.[citation needed]
Henning was again given free rein for a new show with no pilot needed, which he bestowed to colleagueJay Sommers due to his busy schedule. Sommers created the 1965 sitcomGreen Acres, adapted from his 1950 radio programGranby's Green Acres that had starred Benaderet, thus making it a spinoff of her own television show.[16] Benaderet filmed six appearances as Kate in the first season as both shows' casts intermingled on several episodes in a process dubbed "cross-pollination".[74]
Benaderet played bit parts in six motion pictures from 1946 to 1962, four of which were uncredited. She was chosen from 200 actresses for the part of a government file clerk inAlfred Hitchcock'sNotorious (1946) and completed filming in half an hour, but her scenes were cut from the final print.[75] She toldRadio Life magazine that year that after having struggled to remember her lines, "Mr. Hitchcock looked me right in the eye and asked 'You want to go back to radio?' I said yes".[75] Her first onscreen appearance, also uncredited, was in the filmOn the Town (1949), as one of two women whom the main characters (played byGene Kelly andFrank Sinatra) encounter while riding the subway.[76]
In 1945, Benaderet and fellow voice actressesJanet Waldo andCathy Lewis were to appear on a televised fashion show on her former KFRC employer Don Lee'sW6XAO network before the project fell through.[77] OnIrving Taylor's novelty albumDrink Along with Irving (1960), she duetted with Elvia Allman and Mel Blanc, respectively, on tracks titled "Sub-Bourbon Living" and "Separate Bar Stools".[78]
Benaderet and her first husband, actorJim Bannon, met while employed atKHJ in Los Angeles.[7] They married in August 1938 and had two children:Jack (1940–2017),[79] and Maggie (b. 1947).[80] However, Bannon's heavy filming and touring schedule required for his portrayal of fictional cowboy heroRed Ryder took a toll on their marriage and she filed for divorce in September 1950.[7] In 1958, Benaderet marriedEugene Twombly,[81] a sound-effects technician for movies and television who had worked onThe Jack Benny Program, and they remained together until her death in 1968. Her son Jack became an actor, making his television debut in bit parts onPetticoat Junction (and working on the show as a dialogue coach), later appearing inLou Grant.[79]
In 1961, Benaderet dressed in aFlintstones-inspired leopard-print costume to collect donations forCity of Hope andMarch of Dimes[82] and worked withWelcome Wagon in theSan Fernando Valley.[29] On February 5, 1964, she was named an honorarysheriff ofCalabasas, California, with her daughter Maggie accepting a badge on her behalf that was presented by herPetticoat Junction co-starEdgar Buchanan in a public ceremony.[83]
During a routinecheckup in 1963, a spot was discovered on one of Benaderet's lungs.[84] It was no longer visible at the time of her follow-up visit, but by November 1967, it had returned and grown in size.[84] She resisted immediate exploratory surgery, as she was filming thefifth season ofPetticoat Junction and feared the show would be affected by her absence.[84] On November 26, she underwent the surgery atGood Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, when it was discovered the tumor could not be removed. Diagnosed with lung cancer, Benaderet underwent six weeks ofradiation treatment via alinear particle accelerator atStanford University Medical Center.[84] A longtimesmoker,[16] she cut down her multiple-pack-a-day habit following her initial checkups[84] and quit entirely after her surgery.[85]
Benaderet's treatment was initially successful and concluded in January 1968. She had missed 10 episodes of the show as she recuperated, during which her character of Kate Bradley was vaguely described in the storyline as being out of town. Expectations were that Benaderet would eventually recover and be able to resume filming.[86]Rosemary DeCamp (Kate's sister Helen) andShirley Mitchell (Kate's cousin Mae Jennings) filled in as temporary mother figures during her absence; Mitchell had previously worked with Benaderet onThe Jack Benny Program in 1954–55 as Mabel Flapsaddle.[87][88] Benaderet returned for the March 30 fifth-season finale "Kate's Homecoming",[89] but five months later, after shooting the first three episodes of thesixth season, she took leave from the series due to being too ill to continue.[85] Initial plans were for her to record her voice to be inserted into future episodes.[90] However, her condition dramatically declined; on September 26, chest pains related to her illness forced her to return to the hospital for the final time.[91] The fourth show of the sixth season, "The Valley Has a Baby", marked Benaderet's last episode and featured only her voice with herstand-in filmed from the rear.[71]
Benaderet died on October 13, 1968, of lung cancer andpneumonia, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.[92] She is entombed inValhalla Memorial Park Cemetery inNorth Hollywood.[2] On October 17, four days after her death and the day after her funeral, her husband Eugene Twombly died at the age of 54 from a massiveheart attack[93] and is interred beside her.
"I think it is the most wonderful profession in the world. I can walk on the set in the morning not thinking I can put one foot in front of the other, and then on stage, something happens. You come to life right away. I would die if I didn't work."
When Benaderet was cast inPetticoat Junction, she was hailed as having "finally" become a star.[68][94][95][96][13] She had previously playedsupporting roles throughout her career, usually as a next-door neighbor,[55][94][97] and had been openly averse to leading roles.[55][82] However, in January 1963, following CBS's acquisition ofPetticoat Junction, she enthused to columnist Eve Starr ofThe Mercury: "Isn't it nice? After all these years. ... [It] just never occurred to me that it might...golly, my own show!"[98] Benaderet often discussed facets of the acting profession in promotional interviews for the show,[95][99][100][101] and believed that leading a series required a "feeling of responsibility", including her being more observant of on-set activity and her costars' performances, while continuously evolving her character.[102][103]
Benaderet garnered praise for her mastery ofdialects[92][104][105][106] and her work as a comedienne andcharacter actress,[107][103][108] while she is recognized for her voicecharacterizations in animation.[38][109][110][111]MeTV considered her an "icon" of 1960s television.[112]Donna Douglas said, "Watching hertiming is like watching a ballerina. She's so effortless."[98] Benaderet creditedGeorge Burns with mentoring her in comedy acting,[113] but claimed that television scriptwriters focused more on her voice and delivery than her characters, which she believed stunted opportunities for her to play more dramatic roles.[68][96] For her contributions to television, Benaderet received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, on 1611 Vine Street,[114] and she was the recipient of a Genii Award in 1966.[115]
She is credited with over 1000 combined radio and television episode appearances,[107][116] which earned her the nickname of "Busy Bea" from members of the press.[13][75][103][117][118]The Pantagraph columnist Ernie Kreiling remarked in 1965 that "probably no Hollywood personality has spent as many hours in our homes".[119] Benaderet was good friends and a frequent collaborator withMel Blanc, who wrote in his 1988 biographyThat's Not All Folks!: "[We] spent so much time together in studios that I used to refer jokingly to her as the 'other woman' in my life."[120]
Keeping the spelling of her surname, which has been misspelled asBenederet orBenadaret,[96] was a choice she insisted on.[11][84][121] She first resisted requests to change it early in her radio career: "[T]hey'd say, 'Anything's better than Benaderet—How about Smith?'"[96] When she was introduced toOrson Welles in 1936, he remarked that her name "sounded like something youad lib in a mob scene."[29] It was misspelled in a 1946 press release created specifically about its proper spelling,[122] andRadio Life wrote in 1947: "If someone were to conduct a survey to decide the radio personality with the most frequently misspelled name, Bea Benaderet would probably win hands down."[122] Early in the first season ofThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, her full name appeared as "Bee Benadaret" in the closing credits.[11]
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Comedy portal| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | Notorious | File Clerk | Uncredited |
| 1949 | On the Town | Brooklyn Girl on Subway | Uncredited |
| 1952 | The First Time | Mrs. Potter | Uncredited |
| 1954 | Black Widow | Mrs. Franklin Walsh | Uncredited |
| 1959 | Plunderers of Painted Flats | Ella Heather | |
| 1962 | Tender Is the Night | Mrs. McKisco |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950–1958 | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | Blanche Morton | 291 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series(1954, 1955) |
| 1952 | I Love Lucy | Miss Lewis | Episode: "Lucy Plays Cupid" |
| 1952–1955 | The Jack Benny Program | Gertrude Gearshift | 7 episodes Continuation of radio role |
| 1955 | The Lineup | Episode: "The Falling Out of Thieves" | |
| 1956–1957 | The Bob Cummings Show | Blanche Morton/Dixie | 2 episodes |
| 1958–1959 | The George Burns Show | Blanche Morton | 25 episodes |
| 1959 | General Electric Theater | Marie | Episode: "Night Club" |
| 1959 | The Restless Gun | Madame Brimstone | Episode: "Mme. Brimstone" |
| 1960 | Mister Magoo | Mother Magoo; additional voices | 5 episodes |
| 1960 | 77 Sunset Strip | Mary Field | Episode: "Ten Cents a Death" |
| 1960–1963 | The Flintstones | Betty Rubble; additional voices | 112 episodes |
| 1960–1961 | Peter Loves Mary | Wilma | 32 episodes |
| 1961 | The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | Telephone Operator | Episode: "Spaceville" |
| 1961 | Top Cat | Various characters (voices) | 6 episodes |
| 1962 | The New Breed | Miss Horne | Episode: "A Motive Named Walter" |
| 1962 | Pete and Gladys | Mrs. Springer | Episode: "Continental Dinner" |
| 1962 | The Jetsons | Emily Scopes/Celeste Skyler | Episode: "A Visit From Grandpa" |
| 1962–1963, 1967 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Cousin Pearl Bodine | 23 episodes |
| 1963–1968 | Petticoat Junction | Kate Bradley | 164 episodes |
| 1965–1966 | Green Acres | Kate Bradley | 6 episodes |
| Year | Award | Category | Title of work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show | Nominated |
| 1955 | Nominated |
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