Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 116

1 Page 10 SPOTLIGHT ON BEA BENADERET The Lady with the Versatile Voice i'f 0 Bea Benaderet, today, is perhaps best known for her role as Kate Bradley, the widowed mother of three teen-aged daughters and operator of the Shady Rest Hotel on CBS's ''Petticoat Junction" (Channels GO Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m.). But if all the characters the versatile actress has created for radio and television over the years were placed end to end, they would stretch from the land of "The Beverly Hillbillies" to the Shady Rest Hotel of "Petticoat Junction," and far beyond. During her career she has played all kinds of off-beat characters. The season before her current series began, for instance, she played Cousin Pearl Bodine on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Actually, she first achieved fame on radio as Gertrude Gearshift, the Brooklyn telephone operator on "The Jack Benny Program." Among other roles she created were those of Amber Lip-scott on "My Friend Irma," Gloria the maid on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." Eve Goodwin on "The Great Gildersleeve," Mrs. Carstairs on "Fibber McGee and Molly," and Mama on "Meet Millie." She has been heard as the voice of Betty Rubble on "The Flint-stones," and appeared as Wilnia in the "Peter Loves Mary" series.

And for eight years she was featured as Blanche Morton, the next door neighbor of I I mat r- nn. Bea Benaderet: From Gertruie Gearshift to Kate Bradley Hollywood in 1936, appearing as a regular performer with Orson Welles on the "Campbell Playhouse," and as a guest on a number of other important shows before getting that big break as Gertrude Gearshift. ing a minor role in a children's production of "The Beggar's Opera" and signed her for a featured spot as a vocalist on one of his programs. She launched her network radio career in George Burns and Gracie Allen on the "Burns and Allen Show." At the age of 12 she entered show business when the manager of a San Francisco radio station heard her sing.