Betty Lou Gerson

Betty Lou Gerson
Gerson in 1941.
Born (1914-04-20)April 20, 1914
Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.
Died January 12, 1999(1999-01-12) (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality American
Occupation Actress
Years active 1935–1997
Known for Original voice of Cruella de Vil in Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Spouse(s)
Joe Ainley
(m. 1937; d. 1965)

Louis R. Lauria
(m. 1966; d. 1994)
Children 3 stepchildren
Awards Disney Legends (1996)

Betty Lou Gerson (April 20, 1914 – January 12, 1999) was an American actress, predominantly active in radio, but also in film and television, and as a voice actress. She is best known as the voice of the villainous, selfish socialite Cruella de Vil from Walt Disney's animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1996.

Life and career

Early life

Gerson was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 20, 1914, but raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was an executive with a steel company. She was Jewish.[1] She was educated in private schools in Birmingham and Miami, Florida.[2] At age sixteen, she moved with her family to Chicago, where she performed in the radio serial The First Nighter Program. She later moved again to New York City.

Radio and film

She began her acting career in radio drama in 1935, while still in her 20s, and became a mainstay of soap operas during this period, appearing on Arnold Grimm's Daughter (as the titular daughter Constance in 1938),[3] Midstream (in the lead role of Julia),[4] Women in White (as Karen Adams),[5] Road of Life (as Nurse Helen Gowan), Lonely Women (as Marilyn Larimore), and the radio version of The Guiding Light, as Charlotte Wilson in the mid-1940s. She co-starred with Jim Ameche in the 1938 summer drama Win Your Lady[6] and was the resident romantic lead on such romantic anthologies as Curtain Time, and Grand Hotel.

Moving to Los Angeles in the 1940s, she soon established herself on such series as The Whistler, Mr. President (as the presidential secretary), Crime Classics, Escape, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. She was heard in several episodes of Lux Radio Theater, cast in such roles as Glinda in a 1950 dramatization of The Wizard of Oz. She also played a variety of feminine roles on Johnny Modero, Pier 23.[7] In an early example of the comic genius that her Cruella (see below) would later showcase, she parodied her main radio persona in the Sam Spade detective series, "The Soap Opera Caper" episode which aired on February 16 1951.

Around this time, she was cast as the narrator in Walt Disney's animated version of Cinderella (1950). Eleven years later, she provided the voice of the villainous, selfish socialite Cruella De Vil in Disney's animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).

Her few on-camera film roles include appearances in The Fly (1958), The Miracle on the Hills (1959), and Mary Poppins (1964) in a small cameo as an old crone. In television, she made three guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of murderer Marjory Davis in the episode, "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll" (1959). She also guest starred on The Twilight Zone, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Hazel, Wanted Dead or Alive, and The Rifleman.

Family and later life

In 1936, Gerson married Joseph T. Ainley at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. At that time, he was radio director of the Leo Burnett Company, Incorporated. The couple remained married until his death in 1965. The union was childless.[8]

Later years

Gerson retired in 1966, though still using her voice, working at the telephone answering service of her second husband, Louis R. "Lou" Lauria, to whom she was married from 1966 until his death in 1994. That union was also childless.

She was honored as a Disney Legend in 1996. She returned to films one last time in 1997, providing the voice of Frances the fish in Cats Don't Dance.

Death

Gerson died from a massive stroke in Los Angeles on January 12, 1999, at the age of 84.[9]

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Jewish Post 13 March 1936 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  2. ↑ "She Wanted Career". The Evening News. November 4, 1938. p. 28. Retrieved March 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. P.42.
  4. ↑ Sher, Jack (August 1940). "Love Incorporated" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 14 (4): 12–13, 72–73. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  5. ↑ Wolf, Tom (October 30, 1941). "Television Promises to Create New Market for 'Etheral' Beauty". The Indiana Gazette. p. 32. Retrieved March 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "(photo caption)". The Lincoln Star. July 3, 1938. p. 32. Retrieved March 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "The Johnny in Jack" (PDF). Radio Life. June 8, 1947. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  8. ↑ Mason, Mildred (May 12, 1936). "Betty Lou Gerson Is Married". Xenia Daily Gazette. p. 6. Retrieved March 7, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Betty Lou Gerson on IMDb
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