Jean Byron
Byron in 1955
Born	Imogene Audette Burkhart (1925-12-10)December 10, 1925 Paducah, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	February 3, 2006(2006-02-03) (aged 80) Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
Other names	Jeane Byron Jean Audette Jean Burkhart
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1952–1999
Spouse	Michael Ansara ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1956)​

Jean Byron (bornImogene Audette Burkhart; December 10, 1925 – February 3, 2006) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother inThe Patty Duke Show.^[1] She was also known asJean Audette^[2] andJean Burkhart^[3] early in her career.

Byron was born inPaducah,Kentucky,^[1] the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Burkhart.^[2] Her family moved toLouisville when she was still quite young, and then toCalifornia when she was 19 duringWorld War II.^{[citation needed]}

As a teenager, Byron tap danced and performed comedy. In the summer of 1939, she sang with a production company at theIroquois Amphitheater in Louisville.^[4]

Byron sang on radio stationsWGRC andWHAS, both in Louisville.^[2] In 1939, she was one of two winners of the regionalGateway to Hollywood competition in Louisville, which enabled her to go to Hollywood to compete at the program's next level.^[4] Byron sang on alternate days onKentucky Karnival, a program that originated at WGRC beginning on August 30, 1943, and was distributed nationally via theMutual Broadcasting System.^[5]

She also sang withTommy Dorsey's band, followed by a stint withJan Savitt's group.^[6] She then studied drama from 1947 to 1950, followed by a run with the Players Ring,^[7] but offered the performers needed exposure. There, in a play titledMerrily We Roll Along, she came to the attention of Harry Sauber, talent adviser forSam Katzman. She was asked to read from the script and imitate a British accent, which she did. She got her union card then and there. When asked her name, she replied Imogene Burkhart. Katzman rejected that name, so she volunteered the stage name, Jean Byron, which she had already been using and which theColumbia Pictures brass found more palatable.^{[8][unreliable source?]}

Byron's first film wasVoodoo Tiger (1952).^[9] In the 1950s, Byron appeared in severalB-movies, includingThe Magnetic Monster andSerpent of the Nile, in addition to guest roles onThe Millionaire,The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse,Science Fiction Theatre,Fury,Bourbon Street Beat, andThe Cheyenne Show. Byron also served as spokeswoman forRevlon andLux products onNBC'sThe Rosemary Clooney Show.^[10] She played Minnie in the syndicated TV seriesMayor of the Town (1954).^{[11]: 671-672}

In 1959, Byron landed a semiregular spot onCBS'sThe Many Loves of Dobie Gillis playing Dr. Imogene Burkhart, her real name.^[11] During her time on the show, she was cast in aspinoff pilot about Dobie Gillis' girlfriend, Zelda, where she would have played the girl's mother. However, the pilot was not picked up. In the show's final season, Byron convinced producers to allow her character to discard the plain, repressed appearance she presented, and show a more modern version of a schoolteacher.

The following year, she starred in the short-livedsoap operaFull Circle.^[11]: 371 In 1963, she won the role of Natalie Lane onThe Patty Duke Show.^[11]: 817 After the series ended in 1966, she continued appearing in guest roles onBatman,Marcus Welby, M.D.,Maude, andHotel.^[10] She also was a regular onPat Paulsen's Half a Comedy Hour (1970).^[11]: 816

In addition to film and television roles, Byron worked in regional theater. She portrayed Mama Rose inGypsy and appeared in a production ofGuys and Dolls.^[10]

Byron was married to actorMichael Ansara^[12] from 1955 to 1956. Some sources have it as 1949 to 1956. The couple had no children and Byron never remarried.^[13]

On February 3, 2006, Byron died at the age of 80 inMobile, Alabama, of complications followinghip replacement surgery.^[10]

• Parla, Paul; Charles P. Mitchell (2000). "Jean Byron: The Byronic Heroine".Screen Sirens Scream! Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930s to 1960s. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland. pp. 21–34.ISBN 0-7864-0701-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJean Byron.

• The Official Jean Byron Site
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• Jean Byron atFind a Grave

• American film actresses
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• People from Paducah, Kentucky
• Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky
• 1925 births
• 2006 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American women

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