Eleanor Audley

Early life and career

Audley was born Eleanor Zellman in New York on November 19, 1905. She made her acting debut in the 1926 broadway production of Howdy, King. Other stage appearances include: On Call (1928); Pigeons and People (1933); Thunder on the Left (1933); Kill That Story (1934); Ladies' Money (1934); Susan and God (1937); and In Bed We Cry (1943).

Audley worked extensively in the 1940s and '50s in Hollywood radio on such programs as Escape; Suspense; My Favorite Husband (as mother-in-law, Leticia Cooper); The Story of Dr. Kildare (as receptionist Molly Byrd); and Father Knows Best (as Anderson family neighbor, Elizabeth Smith). She played the stepmother in re-imaginings of the Cinderella story included in episodes of the series, The Hallmark Playhouse, and the weekly western series, The Six Shooter.

Film and animation

Audley's film appearances include: No Way Out (1950); Three Secrets (1950); Gambling House (1950); Starlift (1951); With a Song in My Heart (1952); Untamed (1955); Cell 2455, Death Row (1955); All That Heaven Allows (1955); The Unguarded Moment (1956); Full of Life (1956); Jeanne Eagels (1957); Voice in the Mirror (1958); Home Before Dark (1958); The FBI Story (1959); The Pleasure of His Company (1961); The Second Time Around (1961); Wives and Lovers (1963); The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964); Kisses for My President (1964); I'll Take Sweden (1965); and Hook, Line and Sinker (1969).

In the animated film industry, Audley was best known for providing her distinctive voice to Lady Tremaine, Cinderella's evil stepmother, in the 1950 Disney film Cinderella; and Princess Aurora's evil fairy nemesis, Maleficent, in Disney's 1959 version of Sleeping Beauty. For those films, animators Frank Thomas and Marc Davis designed the characters' facial features and expressions to be closely similar to Audley. She was the live-action model for both characters. Audley had initially turned down the role of Maleficent because she was battling tuberculosis at the time.

Since 1969, Audley's voice has been used as the voice of Madame Leota, the spirit of a psychic medium, in the Haunted Mansion attractions in Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Television

From 1954 until 1970, Audley appeared regularly on television, including: I Love Lucy; Crossroads; The People's Choice; Richard Diamond, Private Detective; Perry Mason; Dennis the Menace; Hazel; Pete and Gladys; The Real McCoys; The Twilight Zone; Mr. Lucky; The Dick Van Dyke Show (as Parent-Teacher Association head, Peggy Billings); The Beverly Hillbillies (as Potts School headmistress, Millicent Schuyler-Potts); Mister Ed (as Aunt Martha); and My Three Sons (as mother-in-law, Beatrice Vincent, which was her final role before retiring).

Audley was a series regular on the CBS sitcom Green Acres from 1965 - 69, playing Oliver Douglas's disapproving mother, Eunice Douglas, despite being only five months older than Eddie Albert who played her son. When the cast were reunited for a 1990 TV movie, Return to Green Acres, Audley, who suffered from failing health, could not appear.

Death

Audley died at the age of 86 from respiratory failure, in North Hollywood, California on November 25, 1991. She is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.

Radio appearances

Theme parks

Discography

Stage appearances