Audrey Meadows
American actress (1922–1996)
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Audrey Meadows (born Audrey Cotter; February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress who portrayed the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy The Honeymooners. She was the younger sister of actress Jayne Meadows.
February 8, 1922
- Actress
- memoirist
Audrey Meadows | |
|---|---|
Meadows in 1952 | |
| Born | Audrey Cotter February 8, 1922 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 3, 1996 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Audrey Six |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1950–1995 |
| Known for | The Honeymooners Too Close for Comfort |
| Spouses | |
| Relatives | Jayne Meadows (sister) |
| Website | audreymeadows |
Early life
Meadows was born Audrey Cotter in New York City[1][2] on February 8, 1922, the youngest of four siblings.[3] There was considerable confusion concerning her year of birth and place of birth for many years.[4][5][6]
Her parents, the Reverend Francis James Meadows Cotter and his wife, the former Ida Miller Taylor, were Episcopal missionaries in Wuchang, China, where her three elder siblings were born. Her older sister was actress Jayne Meadows, and she had two older brothers. The family returned permanently to the United States in 1927.[3] Audrey attended high school at the Barrington School for Girls in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Moving to New York City to pursue her career, Audrey became a resident in the famed Rehearsal Club along with other aspiring actresses.[3]
Career
The Honeymooners
After high school, Meadows sang in the Broadway musical Top Banana before becoming a regular on television in The Bob and Ray Show.[7] She was then hired to play Alice on The Jackie Gleason Show after the actress who originated the role, Pert Kelton, was forced to leave the show due to blacklisting (but the official reason given was that Kelton was suffering from a health problem).[1]
When The Honeymooners became a half-hour sitcom, Meadows (who was six years younger than Gleason) continued in the role.[7] She then returned to play Alice after a long hiatus when Gleason produced occasional Honeymooners specials in the 1970s.[1] Meadows had auditioned for Gleason and was rejected for being too chic and pretty to play Alice. Realizing that she needed to change her appearance, Meadows the next day submitted a photo of herself, one in which she looked much plainer.[7][1] Gleason changed his mind, and she won the role of Alice.[1] The character of Alice became more associated with Meadows than with the others who played her, and she reprised her role as Alice on other shows as well, both in a man-on-the-street interview for The Steve Allen Show (Steve Allen was her brother-in-law) and in a parody sketch on The Jack Benny Program.[7][1]
Meadows was the only member of the Honeymooners cast to earn residual royalties after the "Classic 39" episodes of the show from 1955 to 1956 started airing in reruns. Her brother Edward, a lawyer, had inserted a clause into her original contract whereby she would be paid if the shows were re-broadcast, thus earning her millions of dollars.[8] When the "lost" Honeymooners episodes from the variety shows were released, Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton, received royalty payments.[9]
For her work on the show, Meadows was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (then for "In a Regular Series") at the 8th Primetime Emmy Awards. She lost to Nanette Fabray in Caesar's Hour.
Career outside The Honeymooners
Meadows appeared in a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat", one of the 17 episodes in the 10-year series directed by Hitchcock, and a rare light-hearted one.
She appeared in feature films and on Dean Martin's television variety shows and celebrity roasts. She starred in an episode of Wagon Train in the episode's titled role of Nancy Palmer. Years later, Meadows played Ted Knight's mother-in-law in Too Close for Comfort (1982–1985).
She guest-starred on The Red Skelton Show, made an appearance in an episode of Murder, She Wrote ("If the Frame Fits"), and made an appearance in an episode of The Simpsons ("Old Money"), wherein she voiced the role of Bea Simmons, Grampa Simpson's girlfriend. During the second year of her second retirement, she returned to television in 1988 on CBS Summer Playhouse. Her last work was an appearance on Dave's World, in which she played the mother of Kenny (Shadoe Stevens).
In total, Meadows earned four Primetime Emmy nominations for her television work, winning one for The Jackie Gleason Show.
Personal life
In 1956 (during the run of The Honeymooners), Meadows married Randolph Rouse, a wealthy real-estate businessman.[10] On August 24, 1961, Meadows married her second husband, Robert F. Six, president of Continental Airlines, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He died on October 6, 1986.[11]
Banking and marketing career
Meadows served as director of the First National Bank of Denver for 11 years, the first woman to hold the position. From 1961 to 1981, she was an advisory director of Continental Airlines, where she was actively involved in marketing programs that included the designs of flight attendant and customer-service agent uniforms, aircraft interiors and Continental's exclusive President's Club airport club lounges.[11]
Memoirs
In October 1994, Meadows published her memoirs, Love, Alice: My Life As A Honeymooner.[7]
Illness and death
A longtime smoker, Meadows was diagnosed with lung cancer and given a year to live in 1995.[1] She declined all but palliative treatment and died on February 3, 1996, after she slipped into a coma at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[1] She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, next to her second husband. Her headstone mistakenly shows her birth year as 1926.[12][13]
Legacy
Meadows was portrayed by Kristen Dalton in Gleason, a 2002 television film about the life of Jackie Gleason.[14]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | The Baron of Arizona | Townswoman in Court Scene | Uncredited |
| 1951 | The Amazing Mr. Malone | Season 1 Episode 1: "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" | |
| 1951–1952 | Bob & Ray | Regular | |
| 1952 | Lux Video Theatre | The Singer | Season 2 Episode 21: "Ceylon Treasure" |
| 1952 | Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | Lady Mary | Season 2 Episode 7: "Monsieur Beaucaire" |
| 1952–1957 | The Jackie Gleason Show | Alice Kramden / Sketch Actress / Audrey Meadows | 113 episodes |
| 1953 | Man Against Crime | Season 4 Episode 21: "The Midnight Express" | |
| 1955–1956 | The Honeymooners | Alice Kramden | 39 episodes |
| 1959 | The United States Steel Hour | Episode: "Holiday on Wheels", Season 7 Episode 7: "Marriage... Handle with Care" | |
| 1960–1971 | The Red Skelton Hour | Clara Appleby Mrs. Cavendish The Queen Admissions Nurse | 11 episodes |
| 1960 | Play of the Week | Nell Valentine | Season 1 Episode 34: "The Grand Tour" |
| 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Bixby | Season 6 Episode 1: "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" |
| 1961 | Wagon Train | Nancy Palmer | Season 4 Episode 24: "The Nancy Palmer Story" |
| 1961 | Checkmate | Althea Todd | Season 1 Episode 24: "One for the Book" |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Connie Marlowe | Season 9 Episode 28: "Sis Bowls 'Em Over" |
| 1962 | The DuPont Show of the Week | Constance | Season 1 Episode 20: "The Action in New Orleans" |
| 1962 | That Touch of Mink | Connie Emerson | |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Dr. Carrie Morton | Season 1 Episode 9: "Life Is a Lie, Love Is a Cheat" |
| 1963 | Take Her, She's Mine | Anne Michaelson | |
| 1965 | Please Don't Eat the Daisies | Kitty Clair | Season 1 Episode 15: "The Big Brass Blonde" |
| 1965 | Invisible Diplomats | Kelly Smith | Short |
| 1966 | Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine | Alice Kramden | Season 4 Episode 17: "The Honeymooners: The Adoption" |
| 1966 | Clown Alley | Washerwoman Clown | TV movie |
| 1966 | Password | Herself | Game Show Contestant / Celebrity Guest Star |
| 1967 | Rosie! | Mildred Deever | |
| 1972 | Love, American Style | Eve / Harriet / Mom | Segment: "Love and Dear Old Mom and Dad" |
| 1974 | The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast | Martha Washington | Season 9 Episode 22: "Celebrity Roast: George Washington" |
| 1976 | The Honeymooners Second Honeymoon | Alice Kramden | TV special |
| 1977 | The Honeymooners Christmas Special | Alice Kramden / Mother Cratchit | TV special |
| 1978 | The Honeymooners Valentine Special | Alice Kramden | TV special |
| 1978 | The Love Boat | Gladys Watkins | Season 1 Episode 21: "Taking Sides/Going by the Book/A Friendly Little Game" |
| 1978 | Starsky & Hutch | Hilda Zuckerman | Season 4 Episode 8: "Dandruff" |
| 1978 | The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special | Alice Kramden | TV special |
| 1980 | The Love Boat | Mrs. Elliott | Season 3 Episode 23: "Another Time, Another Place/Doctor Who/Gopher's Engagement" |
| 1981 | Lily: Sold Out! | Polly Jo | TV special |
| 1982 | Diff'rent Strokes | Mrs. Martinson | Season 4 Episode 15: "The Squatter" |
| 1982–1986 | Too Close for Comfort | Iris Martin | 23 episodes |
| 1984 | The Love Boat | Helen Williams | Season 7 Episode 24: "A Rose is Not a Rose/Novelties/Too Rich and Too Thin" |
| 1985 | Hotel | Amelia Chelton | Season 3 Episode 4: "Pathways" |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Mildred Tilley | Season 2 Episode 22: "If the Frame Fits" |
| 1986 | Life with Lucy | Audrey (Lucy's sister) | Season 1 Episode 8: "Mother of the Bride" |
| 1988 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Aunt Lunar | Season 2 Episode 7: "The Johnsons Are Home" |
| 1989 | Nightingales | Mrs. Mandel | Season 1 Episode 4: "Episode #1.4" |
| 1990 | Red Pepper | Ina | TV movie |
| 1990 | Later (talk show) | Herself | Episode: "Audrey Meadows" |
| 1990–1991 | Uncle Buck | Maggie Hogoboom | 16 episodes |
| 1991 | The Simpsons | Bea Simmons (voice) | Season 2 Episode 17: "Old Money" |
| 1991 | Hi Honey, I'm Home! | Alice Kramden | Season 1 Episode 3: "Fur Flies" |
| 1992 | Davis Rules | Gunny's Ex-Wife | Season 2 Episode 7: "Gunny's Ex" |
| 1993 | Sisters | Ada Benbow | Season 4 Episode 4: "A Kick in the Caboose" |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | Georgia Stark | Season 1 Episode 6: "Who Killed Alexander the Great?" |
| 1994 | Empty Nest | Margaret Randall | Season 6 Episode 22: "The Devil and Dr. Weston" |
| 1995 | Dave's World | Ruby | Season 2 Episode 23: "The Mommies" & Season 3 Episode 12: "Working Stiffs" (final role) |
