Audrey Meadows
Audrey Meadows (born Audrey Cotter, February 8, 1922 – February 3, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy The Honeymooners. She was the younger sister of Hollywood leading lady Jayne Meadows.
Audrey Meadows | |
|---|---|
 Meadows, pictured in the 1950s | |
| Born | Audrey Cotter February 8, 1922 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | February 3, 1996 (aged 73) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Audrey Six |
| Occupation | Actress, banker |
| Years active | 1950–1995 |
| Known for | The Honeymooners Too Close for Comfort |
| Spouse(s) | Randolph Rouse
(m. 1956; div. 1958) |
| Relatives | Jayne Meadows (sister) |
| Website | www |
Early life
Meadows was born Audrey Cotter in New York City[1][2] in 1922, the youngest of four siblings.[3] There is considerable confusion concerning her year of birth and place of birth.[4][5][6]
Her parents, the Rev. 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.[3] Her older sister was actress Jayne Meadows; and she had two older brothers as well.[3] 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
After high school, she 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, 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 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] Joyce Randolph, who played Trixie Norton, however, did receive royalty payments when the "lost" Honeymooners episodes from the variety shows were later released.[9]
Career outside The Honeymooners
She appeared in a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, entitled "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, appeared on Dean Martin's television variety shows and celebrity roasts, she appeared on an episode of Wagon Train in the episodes title role of Nancy Palmer and years later returned to situation comedy in the 1980s playing Ted Knight's mother-in-law on 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. Her last work was an appearance on Dave's World, in which she played the mother of Kenny (Shadoe Stevens).
Personal life
In 1956 (during the run of The Honeymooners), she married a wealthy real estate man named Randolph Rouse.[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]
Meadows was a staunch Republican, who was quoted as saying, "I've always voted Republican because America is exactly that, a republic."[12]
Banking and marketing career
Meadows served as director of the First National Bank of Denver for 11 years, the first woman to hold this position. For twenty years, 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 lifelong smoker, Meadows was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1995 and given a year to live.[1] She declined all but palliative treatment. She died on February 3, 1996, five days shy of her 74th birthday, after slipping into a coma at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[1] She was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, next to her second husband.[13][14]
Legacy
Meadows was portrayed by Kristen Dalton in Gleason, a 2002 television biopic about the life of her Honeymooners co-star Jackie Gleason.[15]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | The Baron of Arizona | Townswoman in Court Scene | Uncredited |
| 1951 | The Amazing Mr. Malone | Episode: "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" | |
| 1951–1952 | Bob & Ray | Regular | |
| 1952 | Lux Video Theatre | The Singer | Episode: "Ceylon Treasure" |
| 1952 | Pulitzer Prize Playhouse | Lady Mary | Episode: "Monsieur Beaucaire" |
| 1952–1957 | The Jackie Gleason Show | Alice Kramden / Sketch Actress / Audrey Meadows | 113 episodes |
| 1953 | Man Against Crime | Episode: "The Midnight Express" | |
| 1955–1956 | The Honeymooners | Alice Kramden | 39 episodes |
| 1959 | The United States Steel Hour | Episodes: "Holiday on Wheels", "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 | Episode: "The Grand Tour" |
| 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Bixby | Episode: "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" |
| 1961 | Wagon Train | Nancy Palmer | Episode: "The Nancy Palmer Story" |
| 1961 | Checkmate | Althea Todd | Episode: "One for the Book" |
| 1961 | General Electric Theater | Connie Marlowe | Episode: "Sis Bowls 'Em Over" |
| 1962 | The DuPont Show of the Week | Constance | Episode: "The Action in New Orleans" |
| 1962 | That Touch of Mink | Connie Emerson | |
| 1962 | Sam Benedict | Dr. Carrie Morton | Episode: "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 | Episode: "The Big Brass Blonde" |
| 1965 | Invisible Diplomats | Kelly Smith | Short |
| 1966 | Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine | Alice Kramden | Episode: "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 | Episode: "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 | Episode: "Taking Sides/Going by the Book/A Friendly Little Game" |
| 1978 | Starsky & Hutch | Hilda Zuckerman | Episode: "Dandruff" |
| 1978 | The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special | Alice Kramden | TV special |
| 1980 | The Love Boat | Mrs. Elliott | Episode: "Another Time, Another Place/Doctor Who/Gopher's Engagement" |
| 1981 | Lily: Sold Out! | Polly Jo | TV special |
| 1982 | Diff'rent Strokes | Mrs. Martinson | Episode: "The Squatter" |
| 1982–1986 | Too Close for Comfort | Iris Martin | 23 episodes |
| 1984 | The Love Boat | Helen Williams | Episode: "A Rose is Not a Rose/Novelties/Too Rich and Too Thin" |
| 1985 | Hotel | Amelia Chelton | Episode: "Pathways" |
| 1986 | Murder, She Wrote | Mildred Tilley | Episode: "If the Frame Fits" |
| 1986 | Life with Lucy | Audrey (Lucy's sister) | Episode: "Mother of the Bride" |
| 1988 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Aunt Lunar | Episode: "The Johnsons Are Home" |
| 1989 | Nightingales | Mrs. Mandel | Episode: "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) | Episode: "Old Money" |
| 1991 | Hi Honey, I'm Home! | Alice Kramden | Episode: "Fur Flies" |
| 1992 | Davis Rules | Gunny's Ex-Wife | Episode: "Gunny's Ex" |
| 1993 | Sisters | Ada Benbow | Episode: "A Kick in the Caboose" |
| 1994 | Burke's Law | Georgia Stark | Episode: "Who Killed Alexander the Great?" |
| 1994 | Empty Nest | Margaret Randall | Episode: "The Devil and Dr. Weston" |
| 1995 | Dave's World | Ruby | 2 episodes, (final role) |
References
- Audrey Meadows, Alice in ‘The Honeymooners,’ Dies; February 5, 1996; article; by Myrna Oliver; Los Angeles Times on-line; accessed May 2020
- 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.
- "Actress Jayne Meadows dies at 95; spent early years in Providence". The Providence Journal. April 28, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- "COMIC ACTRESS AUDREY MEADOWS DIES". The Washington Post. 1996-02-05. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- Note: Other biographies erroneously place her birth in 1926 in WuChang, China. See "Audrey Meadows, Alice in 'The Honeymooners,' Dies". Latimes.com. 5 February 1996. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
- "Audrey Meadows' Biography". Audreymeadows.com. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
- Meadows, Audrey (January 1994). Love, Alice: My Life As A Honeymooner. Crown Publishers. ISBN 978-0-517-59881-8.
- Reed, J.D. "Diamond in the Rough", People Magazine, February 19, 1996; retrieved October 28, 2015.
- Collins, Glenn "For TV's Trixie, the Honeymoon Lives On", The New York Times; retrieved October 28, 2015.
- Myrna Oliver. Los Angeles Times obituary for Audrey Meadows, February 5, 1996.
- Serling, Robert J (1974). Maverick: The Story of Robert Six and Continental Airlines. Doubleday & Company. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-385-04057-0.
- "Audrey Meadows Quotes". Brainyquote.com. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- "Audrey Meadows, "Honeymooners' Co-Star, Dies at 71". The New York Times. February 5, 1996. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- Wilson, Scott (16 September 2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9781476625997 – via Google Books.
- Gallo, Phil (October 10, 2002). "Gleason". Variety. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
