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| Photo courtesy of Flickr.com |
On this day, in 1905, Eleanor Zellman was born in New York
City, New York. Not much is known about her birth or her early life. What we do
know is that at the age of 20 she made her Broadway debut in 1926’s Howdy, King,
changing her name to Eleanor Audley. For the remainder of the Twenties and all
of the Thirties, Eleanor regularly appeared on stage in such shows as 1933’s
Pigeons and People, 1934’s Ladies’ Money and 1937’s Susan and God. She made the
transition to radio in the Forties, with recurring roles on My Favorite
Husband, The Story of Dr. Kildare and Father Knows Best. She even played
Cinderella’s stepmother for Hallmark Playhouse.
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| Photo copyright Disney |
Eleanor’s film career began in 1950 with Three Secrets and
Gambling House as she continued her tradition of playing rather snobbish and
overbearing characters. Just four years later she would roll onto the small
screen, showing up on shows ranging from I Love Lucy to Perry Mason to Mister
Ed. Her most famous television role was on Green Acres as Eddie Albert’s
disapproving mother, a bit of a stretch since she was only five years older
than Eddie.
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| Photo copyright Disney |
Eleanor made three fabulous contributions to the Disney
family. She first played Lady Tremaine in Cinderella. It wasn’t exactly a
reprisal of her radio effort in the same role but the earlier production
probably helped. She next turned up the villain dial as Maleficent in Sleeping
Beauty. For both of the evil ladies, Eleanor was not only filmed as the
live-action model for the characters but the animators designed their looks to
closely resemble her. For her third Disney role, Eleanor went less overtly evil
as the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion.
Eleanor passed away on November 25, 1991 in North Hollywood,
California from respiratory failure. She was 86.
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