Role Actress Name Gloria Blondell | Years active 1938–1962 | |
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Siblings Joan Blondell, Eddie Joan Blondell III Spouse Victor Hunter (m. 1962–1980), Albert R. Broccoli (m. 1940–1945) Parents Kathryn Cain, Eddie Joan Blondell, Jr. Movies and TV shows Similar People Joan Blondell, Albert R Broccoli, Mike Todd, Barbara Broccoli, Arch Oboler | ||
Occupation Actress, voice actress | ||
Gloria Blondell (August 16, 1910 – March 25, 1986) was an actress and voice actress between 1938 and 1962, and was the younger sister of Joan Blondell.
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Family
Blondell came from a family of entertainers. She once said, "[S]ome member of my family has been in the theater ever since the time of Richard the Lionhearted." Her father, Ed Blondell, was an actor for 80 years.
Stage
Gloria Blondell said that she first went on stage when she was 9 months old, and she was described as "a trouper at three [years of age]." Her family comprised a vaudeville troupe, the "Bouncing Blondells", whose members were her parents, her sister and her brother. In 1935, she appeared in the Broadway production of Three Men on a Horse at the Playhouse in New York City.
Radio
Gloria Blondell was a popular featured actress during the Golden Age of Radio. Blondell had the role of secretary Jerry Booker on I Love a Mystery. Her appearances on radio include Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Lux Radio Theatre, Arch Oboler's Plays, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Screen Directors Playhouse, The Great Gildersleeve, among many others.
Television
She may be best remembered for her role as Honeybee Gillis in the 1950s sitcom starring William Bendix, The Life of Riley. She was cast opposite Tom D'Andrea as her husband, Jim Gillis. She appeared as enviably curvaceous Grace Foster in the I Love Lucy episode, "The Anniversary Present" (1952).
She portrayed an aging prostitute who rescues a town from a trio of criminals in "The Looters", an episode of Wanted Dead or Alive. For Daisy Duck's second appearance as a Disney cartoon character, she took over, marking the debut of Daisy's "normal" voice. Blondell would voice Daisy for six of her nine speaking appearances during the classic shorts era.
Film
Blondell co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Accidents Will Happen (1938) and with Hans Conried in The Twonky (1953). She was also in Daredevil Drivers (1938). * Three Sappy People (1939)
Personal life
She married film producer Albert Broccoli on July 26, 1940; they divorced August 7, 1945. On September 14, 1946, she married Victor Hunter in Monterey, California. They remained married until his death in 1980, just weeks after her sister's death.
Gloria and Victor had one premature daughter, who died at birth. Gloria also nearly died from blood loss, and her life was only saved by an emergency hysterectomy.
Death
She died at age 75 in 1986 in Santa Monica, California from cancer and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California.