September 6 - Jo Anne Worley

On this day, in 1937, Jo Anne Worley was born in Lowell, Indiana.

Jo Anne grew up as the dreaded middle child of not three but five children. From the moment she could speak, the young Hoosier was aware that her voice might be a little bit louder than, well, everyone around her. She once joked that she would only lip synch in church so she wouldn't overpower the rest of the congregation.

Throughout high school, Jo Anne easily won the title of school comedienne every year. She also put in hours working as a waitress at the local truck stop, which may have fueled some of her comedy. After graduating in 1955, she began an apprenticeship with the Pickwick Players in Blauvelt, New York. Her voice was heard and, once the ringing in everyone's ears stopped, she'd won a scholarship to Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Texas was only big enough to hold her for two years though. Jo Anne moved on to the similarly sunny pastures of southern California, continuing to study her craft at Los Angeles City College and performing at the Pasadena Playhouse. She got what looked like a big break as part of a musical revue, Billy Barnes People, that was headed to Broadway. It did actually make it, but only for six shows. In 1964, Jo Anne got what looked like another big break, again on Broadway, as the stand by performer for Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! Unfortunately, she was the stand by for Carol Channing, who would rather die before ever missing a performance. So Jo Anne did what many almost stars did before her, she created her own nightclub act and settled down in Greenwich Village. Of course, that's when she actually got a big break.

One night a guy by the name of Merv Griffin caught her act. He loved it and booked her on his television show. The audience loved Jo Anne so much, she would appear on the Merv Griffin Show 40 more times. All this exposure led to a role in a new off-Broadway production called The Mad Show. Believe it or not, it was a musical based on MAD Magazine and had Stephen Sondheim as one of its lyricists. Jo Anne happily sang for the cast recording and put in several hundred performances, but she would soon return to television for the defining project of her career.

In early 1968, two funny guys, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, put together a new sketch comedy show for NBC. The perks of being the show's creators included getting to name it after themselves: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Jo Anne was a part of the mayhem known as Laugh-In from the beginning. For the next couple of years, she reveled in the non stop fun of the often politically controversial show. Jo Anne could often be seen cracking up in take after take, trying to get a joke out. By 1970, she yearned to do other projects and belted her last yodel for Dan and Dick.

Jo Anne has spent her time since then doing whatever her heart desires. She was a regular on game show like Hollywood Squares and every version of Pyramid ever made. She did guest spots on every television show that had celebrity guests from The Love Boat to Murder, She Wrote. She appeared in regional theater in shows like Gypsy, Anything Goes and, for real this time, Hello, Dolly! She also started doing voice over work.

For Disney, Jo Anne's biggest role has been as the voice of Madame Armoire the Wardrobe in Beauty and the Beast. I know, the wardrobe gets a much fancier name in the Broadway show, but that's all she gets for the movie. Jo Anne reprised the role in Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World, Belle's Tales of Friendship and the Kingdom Hearts video games. She can also be heard in A Goofy Movie as Miss Maples. Fans of Kim Possible might recognize her voice as that of Bonnie Rockwaller's mother. She also did roles on The Wuzzles and DuckTales.

Jo Anne's voice isn't the only thing she's put to good use for Disney. The first role she ever had with the company was as Katrinka Muggelberg in 1976's The Shaggy D.A. Since then she's appeared in episodes of Wonderful World of Color, Boy Meets World, Wizards of Waverly Place and Jessie.

In recent years, Jo Anne has returned to her roots in the theater, playing Mrs. Tottendale in the Drowsy Chaperone and spending eight months as Madame Morrible in the LA version of Wicked. Currently, she spends her time as president of Actors and Others for Animals, an organization that works to spay and neuter the pets of southern California.