Archive for the 'Sitcom' Category

SERIES DEBUTED ON THIS DAY IN 1941

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Harold (Hal) Peary ( born José Pereira de Faria in California) 
(July 25, 1908 – March 30, 1985)

The Great Gildersleeve is a radio situation comedy broadcast from August 
31, 1941, to March 21, 1957. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it 
was one of broadcast history’s earliest spin-off programs. The series was
built around the character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a regular on the
radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly. The original Gildersleeve
was played by Hal Peary (above).

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RADIO SERIES BEGAN ON THIS DAY IN 1949

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The series “Father  Knows Best” began on NBC Radio. It starred Robert Young 
(above) as the General Insurance agent Jim Anderson. His wife Margaret was
first portrayed by June Whitley and later by Jean Vander Pyl. The Anderson
children were Betty (Rhonda Williams), Bud (Ted Donaldson), and Kathy
(Norma Jean Nillson). The series ran until March 25, 1954. It made the
switch to television later that year.

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Robert Young and Jean Vander Pyl.

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ACTRESS BARBARA EDEN IS 84 TODAY

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1951

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Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead in Tucson, Arizona)

Eden starred as Jeanie on the NBC sitcom I Dream of Jeanie from 1965 to
1970. She began singing with local bands at age 14 for $10 a night in local
night clubs and studied singing at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
and trained as an actress with the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theatre. 

Barbara Eden made her big screen debut as an unaccredited extra in the
1956 film Back from Eternity and was first seen on TV in a 1956 episode
of the CBS series West Point.

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1964

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VALERIE HARPER IS 76 TODAY

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Valerie Kathryn Harper

Harper played Rhoda Morgenstern on the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore
Show (1970-1977) and on the spin-off series Rhoda (1974-1978). She earned
four Emmy Awards for her role as Rhoda across the two series. Her career in
roles began as a dancer and chorus girl in various Broadway productions
and made her big screen debut in the 1956 feature Rock Rock Rock!
  
On March 6, 2013, Harper announced that tests from a hospital stay revealed
she has a rare condition in which cancer cells spread into the meninges, the
membranes surrounding the brain. Last year Harper said she was responding
well to chemotherapy treatment.

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CINDY WILLIAMS IS 68 TODAY

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Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Williams

Williams starred as Shirley Feeney on the ABC series Laverne
and Shirley
from 1976 to 1983. She was also Laurie Henderson
in the hit 1973 coming of age film American Graffiti. She debuted
as an actress through a variety of commercials for Foster Grant
sunglasses. She made her big screen debut in the 1970 Roger
Corman
film Gas-s-s-s.

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Cindy Williams with Ron Howard in American Graffiti

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