Audrey Meadows

Audrey Meadows (February 8 1922 - February 3 1996), born Audrey Cotter, was an American actress best known for playing Alice Kramden in the 1950s American television comedy, The Honeymooners.

Related Topics:
February 8 - 1922 - February 3 - 1996 - American - 1950 - Television - The Honeymooners

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Born in Wuchang (formerly Wu-ch'ang), China where her father Reverend James Cotter and mother Ida Cotter were missionaries, who had four children, two boys and two girls. The family settled in Connecticut when she was six years old, and they had sometimes physical confrontations with the William F. Buckley family that lived nearby. Some of the Buckley sisters vandalized the Cotters' property. After high school, she moved to New York City and became a singer on the Broadway show Top Banana before breaking becoming a regular on the Bob and Ray Show. She was then hired to play Alice on Jackie Gleason's show and played Alice when The Honeymooners became a half-hour situation comedy on CBS. Pert Kelton had originated the role of Alice when the Honeymooners was a skit on Gleason's variety show, but lost the role due to the blacklist. After the show's run, Meadows played in a number of films and then returned to situation comedy in the 1980s playing the mother-in-law on Too Close for Comfort. She had a notable appearance in an episode of the Simpsons, "Old Money", where she did the voice of Bea Simmons, Grampa Simpsons' girlfriend.

Related Topics:
Wuchang - China - Missionaries - Connecticut - William F. Buckley - New York City - Broadway - Bob and Ray - Jackie Gleason - CBS - Skit - Situation comedy - 1980 - The Simpsons

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She died of lung cancer at the age of 73. She had been diagnosed the year before and declined treatment, but did not tell her family. She is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, although it is not known why as she was not known to be a Roman Catholic. Audrey Meadows was the younger sister of actress Jayne Meadows, and sister-in-law to the late Steve Allen, and she also had 2 brothers who predeceased her.

Related Topics:
Lung cancer - Holy Cross Cemetery - Culver City, California - Jayne Meadows - Steve Allen

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