Film and Television actress Mary Treen was born
in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 27, 1907. Her father died while she was still
an infant and she was raised in California by her mother, who once performed
under the stage name Helene Sullivan, and her stepfather. She started her career
as a dancer in revues and on the vaudeville circuit and formed a musical comedy
duo with Marjorie Barnett, billing themselves as Treen and Barnett: Two
Unsophisticated Vassar Co-eds. Mary Treen broke into the movies in 1934, signed
by Warner Brothers after seeing her in a play. She starred in over 100 films,
often providing comic relief as a plain-looking working-class woman, shop girl,
waitress, and cashier. She is probably best remembered as Cousin Tilly in the
Frank Capra classic It’s A Wonderful Life.
In later years, she appeared in several films with Jerry Lewis and Elvis
Presley. On television she played Hilda the maid on The Joey Bishop Show. She had several guest starring roles,
including playing Rose, the Taylor's former maid on the pilot episode of The Andy Griffith Show, and as Roscoe P.
Coltrane's Aunt Clara on The Dukes of
Hazzard.Mary Treen died of cancer in Newport Beach, California, on July 20, 1989, at the age of 82. She was married to Herbert C. Pearson from 1945 to until his death in 1965.
No comments:
Post a Comment