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Audrey Meadows

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Audrey Meadows
Meadows in 1952
Born
Audrey Cotter

(1922-02-08)February 8, 1922
New York City, U.S.
DiedFebruary 3, 1996(1996-02-03) (aged 73)
Los Angeles, California
Other namesAudrey Six
Occupations
  • Actress
  • memoirist
Years active1950–1995
Known forThe Honeymooners
Too Close for Comfort
Spouses
Randolph Rouse
(m. 1956; div. 1958)
(m. 1961; died 1986)
RelativesJayne Meadows (sister)
Websiteaudreymeadows.com
Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, and Meadows in The Honeymooners
Game show Keep Talking (1959) with host Merv Griffin, Morey Amsterdam, Meadows and Danny Dayton

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 Hollywood leading lady Jayne Meadows.

Early life

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Meadows was born Audrey Cotter in New York City[1][2] in 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, Hubei, 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.[3]

Career

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The Honeymooners

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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 (who was 9 years older than Gleason), was forced to leave the show due to blacklisting (although the official reason given was that Kelton was suffering from a health problem).[1]

When The Honeymooners became a half-hour situation comedy on CBS, Meadows (who was 6 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 initially turned down 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 residuals 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 later 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

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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 himself, and a rare light-hearted one.

She appeared in feature films and appeared 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 returned to situation comedy, playing Ted Knight's mother-in-law in Too Close for Comfort (1982–85).

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

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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]

Ronald Reagan and Meadows in 1986 at his 75th birthday party in the White House.

Banking and marketing career

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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

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In October 1994, Meadows published her memoirs, Love, Alice: My Life As A Honeymooner.[7]

Illness and death

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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, five days before her 74th birthday, after she slipped into a coma at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[1] She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, next to her second husband. Her headstone mistakenly shows her birth year as 1926.[12][13]

Legacy

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Meadows was portrayed by Kristen Dalton in Gleason, a 2002 television biographical film about the life of her Honeymooners co-star Jackie Gleason.[14]

Filmography

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Film and television
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)

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Oliver, Myrna (February 5, 1996). "Audrey Meadows, Alice in 'The Honeymooners,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  2. ^ Note: Audrey Cotter was born in New York City in 1922, not in China as has been commonly stated. A 1921 passenger list shows the family entering the United States from China via Vancouver (S.S. Empress of Russia arriving at Vancouver from Shanghai, July 10, 1921). A 1927 passenger list shows Audrey's birthplace as New York (S.S. Olympic, arriving at New York from Southampton, May 3, 1927). The 1930 U.S. census, listing the family in Providence, Rhode Island, also shows Audrey's birthplace as New York City and her age as 8 years old in April 1930, which also confirms 1922 as her year of birth.
  3. ^ a b c "Actress Jayne Meadows dies at 95; spent early years in Providence". The Providence Journal. April 28, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  4. ^ "Comic Actress Audrey Meadows Dies". The Washington Post. February 5, 1996. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  5. ^ Note: Other biographies erroneously place her birth in 1926 in Wu Chang (i.e. Wuchang, Wuhan), China. See "Audrey Meadows, Alice in 'The Honeymooners,' Dies". Los Angeles Times. February 5, 1996. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  6. ^ "Audrey Meadows' Biography". Audreymeadows.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e Meadows, Audrey (January 1994). Love, Alice: My Life As A Honeymooner. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-59881-8.
  8. ^ Reed, J.D. "Diamond in the Rough", People Magazine, February 19, 1996; retrieved October 28, 2015.
  9. ^ Collins, Glenn "For TV's Trixie, the Honeymoon Lives On", The New York Times; retrieved October 28, 2015.
  10. ^ Myrna Oliver. Los Angeles Times obituary for Audrey Meadows, February 5, 1996.
  11. ^ a b Serling, Robert J (1974). Maverick: The Story of Robert Six and Continental Airlines. Doubleday & Company. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-385-04057-0.
  12. ^ "Audrey Meadows, "Honeymooners' Co-Star, Dies at 71". The New York Times. February 5, 1996. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  13. ^ Wilson, Scott (September 16, 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ Gallo, Phil (October 10, 2002). "Gleason". Variety. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
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Media related to Audrey Meadows at Wikimedia Commons