Hope Summers (1896 - 1979)

Hope Summers was past fifty when she came to Hollywood to begin her career as a character actress. She is most remembered for her work on The Andy Griffith Show as Aunt Bee's best friend, Clara Edwards. Her character went through a variety of names, such as Bertha Edwards and Clara Johnson before the producers finally settled on Clara Edwards. She had earlier appeared in a 16 episodes of The Rifleman as Hattie Denton, owner of the General Store. In addition to TV appearances, she appeared in movies including Edge of Eternity, Inherit The Wind, Parrish, Spencer's Mountain, The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, and Rosemary's Baby. Her numerous  television appearances included Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, Maverick, The Untouchables, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dennis the Menace, Gomer Pyle, Little House On The Prairie, Petticoat Junction, That Girl, Adam-12, The Danny Thomas Show, and Welcome Back Kotter. Her last film role was in the 1978 movie Foul Play with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn.

Hope Summers was born June 7, 1896, in Mattoon, Illinois. She received her degree at the Northwestern School of Speech in Evanston, Illinois, and later taught speech and diction at Northwestern. She also served as the head of the speech department at Bradley University, in Peoria, Illinois. Hope Summer's father was a U.S. Representative from Washington State. She died June 22, 1979, at the age of 83 in Woodland Hills, California. She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Walla Walla, Washington.