Bea Benaderet

In 1936, she joined Orson Welles on radio's "The Campbell Playhouse" and received her first big break when she became a regular on Jack Benny's big radio show, where she created memorable characters such as Gertrude Gearshift. A major radio staple at the time, her numerous appearances included the comedies "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet", "The Great Gildersleeve" and "Fibber McGee and Molly". She also played Lucille Ball's best friend on radio's "My Favorite Husband", which was the precursor to television's I Love Lucy (1951).

A prolific dialectician, she was one of the few female voice artists associated with Warner Bros. studio in its early days (as Mel Blanc provided the majority of character voices at the time, even for the female characters). She never received screen credit due to Blanc's WB contract. She went on to play the character Granny from 1937 into the 1950s when June Foray took over the vocal role. She reunited with Blanc in the 1960s when he voiced Barney Rubble to her Betty Rubble.

Later, she worked with Blanc again on one of the most famous cartoons, Tweetie Pie (1947).

Bea Benaderet had a remarkable career in radio and television. In the earlier days of radio, before television, she provided the voice for numerous names of characters on the radio, on shows like "Fibber McGee and Molly," "My Favorite Husband" with Lucille Ball & "The Jack Benny Show. She was born in New York City but raised in San Francisco and made her radio debut when she was 12 years young. After doing voice-overs and various roles, Orson Welles gave her a regular role on "Campbell Playhouse. " Bea made a smooth move from radio to television as she was cast in the role as Blanche Morton in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950).

It was because of her role as Blanche that she could not accept the part of Ethel Mertz in I Love Lucy (1951), which was offered to her by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She also provided the voice for several Warner Brothers cartoons, usually for females (those Mel Blanc could not do), like Tweety's owner, "Granny".

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1611 Vine Street on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Was considered for the role of Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), but got the role of Cousin Pearl Bodine instead.

She died during the run of her television series Petticoat Junction (1963), and a stand-in, seen only from the back, and with no dialogue to speak, was used for the last episode in which she supposedly appeared.

Benaderet became sick with cancer in 1967, which led to her leaving Petticoat Junction (1963) in what it was hoped would be a temporary retirement. Rosemary DeCamp was brought in to play the Bradley girls' Aunt Helen in the scripts that were obviously written for Benaderet's character, Kate Bradley. Benaderet only managed to return twice on the show after her departure. Following her death, June Lockhart was brought in as a surrogate mother figure and lady M.D. who sets up practice at the Shady Rest Hotel. However, Benaderet's anchoring presence was missed by the public and the show lasted only two more seasons (1968-1970).

After her death of emphysema at age 62, Bea was interred at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California. Her second husband, Gene Twombly, died four days later (October 17, 1968) of a heart attack and was interred next to her.