Lucille Benson (July 17, 1914 – February 17, 1984) was an American character actress.

Biography

Personal life

Born in

Scottsboro, Alabama Scottsboro is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Alabama, United States. The city was named for its founder Robert T. Scott. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city is 14,770. From its incorporation in 1870 until 1890, ...

, on July 17, 1914, Benson was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. John Benson, after her mother died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. She was

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

and president of her class at Jackson County High School. She attended

Huntingdon College Huntingdon College is a private Methodist college in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1854 as a women's college. History Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as " Tuskegee Female College" by the Alabama State Legislature ...

in Montgomery, and later attended Northwestern's School of Drama in Evanston, Illinois. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York in the 1930s.

Acting career

Benson's career began in New York in the 1930s. She appeared on Broadway in several plays including ''Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath'', ''

Walking Happy ''Walking Happy'' is a musical with music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by Roger O. Hirson and Ketti Frings. The story is based on the 1916 play ''Hobson's Choice'' by Harold Brighouse. The musical was nominated for six Tony A ...

'', ''Hotel Paradiso'', ''Good Night, Ladies'', ''

The Doughgirls ''The Doughgirls'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by James V. Kern based on the 1942 hit Broadway play written by Joseph Fields. The film works around three newlywed couples, focusing on the Halstead couple, played by Jane Wyman and ...

'', ''

The Day Before Spring ''The Day Before Spring'' is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Productions The 1945 touring production closed in Chicago after three days due to a crippling coal strike. The show then opened at the ...

'', ''Happy Birthday'', ''As The Girls Go'', ''Hotel Paradiso'', and ''

Period of Adjustment ''Period of Adjustment'' is a 1960 play by Tennessee Williams that was adapted in the film version of 1962. Both the stage and film versions are set on Christmas Eve and tell the gentle, light-hearted story of two couples, one newlywed and the ...

''. She performed at the

Coconut Grove Playhouse The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a theatre in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It opened on January 3, 1927, as a part of ...

in Miami, appearing in the

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

play ''

Orpheus Descending ''Orpheus Descending'' is a three-act play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway on March 17, 1957 but had only a brief run (68 performances) and modest success. It was revived on Broadway in 1989, directed by Peter Hall an ...

''. Benson's break in motion pictures came while performing with

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His best ...

in the play ''Little Me'' during a three-month run in Las Vegas. She said "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come to Hollywood to try out for a

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

in ''Little Fauss and Big Halsy.''" Benson played a lady running a roadside "Snakerama" exhibit in

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

's 1971 movie ''

Duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

'', starring

Dennis Weaver William Dennis Weaver (June 4, 1924 – February 24, 2006) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until just before his death in 2006. Weave ...

. She worked with Spielberg again in 1979, in ''

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

,'' as a gas station owner whom

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his ca ...

orders to refuel his fighter plane. In '' Silver Streak'' (1976), Benson portrayed rancher Rita Babtree, who comes to

Gene Wilder Jerome Silberman (June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016), known professionally as Gene Wilder, was an American actor, comedian, writer and filmmaker. He is known mainly for his comedic roles, but also for his portrayal of Willy Wonka in ''Willy Won ...

's rescue by ferrying him in her bi-plane. Benson portrayed Birdie Huff in the crime drama '' Nashville 99'' (1977). She had a recurring role on the sitcom ''

The Ropers ''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 22, 1980. It is a spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''George and Mildred'', which was itself a spin-off of ...

'' as Helen's mother. Her big commercial break was ''

Bosom Buddies ''Bosom Buddies'' is an American television sitcom starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari created by Robert L. Boyett, Thomas L. Miller and Chris Thompson ( Miller-Milkis-Boyett Productions). It aired on Thursday nights for two seasons on ABC f ...

'', a situation comedy based on ''

Some Like It Hot ''Some Like It Hot'' is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee, Grace Lee Whitney and N ...

''. During the show's first season (1980–1981), Benson played Lilly Sinclair, the manager of the female-only hotel where two young men (

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and

Peter Scolari Peter Thomas Scolari (September 12, 1955 – October 22, 2021) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Michael Harris on ''Newhart'' (1984–1990), Henry Desmond on ''Bosom Buddies'' (1980–1982) and Wayne Szalinski on ''Hone ...

) dress as women to take advantage of the inexpensive rent. She may be the actress seen reciting the Lord's Prayer in the train holdup scene of the ''

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' is a 1969 American Western buddy film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman. Based loosely on fact, the film tells the story of Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch C ...

'' (1969). However, the actress is uncredited. She did work with the stars of that film in the following year: with

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

in '' WUSA'' and with Robert Redford in ''

Little Fauss and Big Halsy ''Little Fauss and Big Halsy'' is a 1970 American comedy-drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Robert Redford and Michael J. Pollard, also featuring Lauren Hutton, Noah Beery, Jr. and Lucille Benson. The film concerns the exploits o ...

''. Benson played Mrs. Elrod in the 1981

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, actor, and composer. Although he worked in various film genres, he is most commonly associated with horror, action, and science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s. He ...

horror movie '' Halloween II''.

Death

Benson died on February 17, 1984, in a hospital in Scottsboro, Alabama, aged 69, from

liver cancer Liver cancer (also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy) is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary (starts in liver) or secondary (meaning cancer which has spread from elsewhere to th ...

. She was cremated and her remains are buried under a modest bronze headstone, at Cedar Hill Cemetery, in her hometown of Scottsboro.

Filmography

* ''

The Fugitive Kind ''The Fugitive Kind'' is a 1960 American drama film starring Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, and Joanne Woodward, directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Meade Roberts and Tennessee Williams was based on the latter's 1957 play ''Orpheus Des ...

'' (1960) - Beulah Binnings * '' WUSA'' (1970) - Second Matron * ''

'' (1970) - 'Mom' Fauss * ''

Women in Chains ''Women in Chains'' is a 1972 American television film directed by Bernard L. Kowalski for ABC's ''Movie of the Week''. The leading players are Ida Lupino, Belinda Montgomery, Lois Nettleton and Jessica Walter. Plot Parole officer Sandra Parker ...

'' (1972) - Billie * ''Escape'' (1971) - Trudy * ''

'' (1971) - Lady at Snakerama * ''Cactus in the Snow'' (1971) - Mrs. Sawyer * ''Delphi Bureau'' (1972) - Mrs. Loveless * ''

Slaughterhouse-Five ''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to h ...

'' (1972) - Billy's Mother * '' Private Parts'' (1972) - Aunt Martha * '' The Devil's Daughter'' (1972) - Janet Poole * ''

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

'' (1973) - Widow Douglas * '' The Blue Knight'' (1973) - Elmira Gooch * ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'' (1974) - Mother Burnside * ''

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

'' (1974) - Widow Douglas * ''The Day the Earth Moved'' (1974) - Miss Virginia Porter * ''

Reflections of Murder ''Reflections of Murder'' is a 1974 made-for-TV movie that was produced by ABC. A suspense-thriller film, it is a remake of the classic 1955 French film '' Les Diaboliques''. John Badham directed, from Carol Sobieski's script. The cast was led ...

'' (1974) - Mrs. Turner * ''

Betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Ofte ...

'' (1974) - Eunice Russell * ''

Collision Course {{wiktionary A collision course, also known as a ''kamikaze run'', is the deliberate maneuver by the operator of a moving object (or often in Sci-Fi a spaceship) to collide with another object. It is a desperate maneuver since it often damages ...

'' (1976) - Bess Truman * '' Silver Streak'' (1976) - Rita Babtree * '' The Greatest'' (1977) - Mrs. Fairlie * ''

Black Market Baby Black Market Baby was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C. They were one of the groups that created the original punk rock scene in the Washington area in the 1980s. They were extremely popular locally, and were known to be an excell ...

'' (1977) - Mrs. Krieg * ''Charleston'' (1979) - Miss Fay * ''Ebony, Ivory and Jade'' (1979) - Mrs. Stone * '' Concrete Cowboys'' (1979) - Peg the Madam * ''

'' (1979) - Gas Mama (Eloise) * ''

Amy Amy is a female given name, sometimes short for Amanda, Amelia, Amélie, or Amita. In French, the name is spelled ''"Aimée"''. People A–E * Amy Acker (born 1976), American actress * Amy Vera Ackman, also known as Mother Giovanni (1886– ...

'' (1981) - Rose Metcalf * '' Halloween II'' (1981) - Mrs. Elrod * ''When Your Lover Leaves'' (1983) - Greta * ''Moon Face'' (released after her death in 1984)

Television appearances

* ''

The New Andy Griffith Show ''The New Andy Griffith Show'' is an American sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on CBS in 1971 on Fridays at 8:30 ET. It debuted on January 8, 1971, and ended on May 21, 1971. History Actor Andy Griffith had left his first sitcom, ...

'' (1971) - Mrs. Gaddis * ''

Cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

'' (1971) - Proprietress * ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...

'' (1972) - Mrs. Melody * ''

Mannix ''Mannix'' is an American detective television series that ran from 1967 to 1975 on CBS. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. The title character, Joe Mannix, is a private inves ...

'' (1972-1974) - Myra / Ida * ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situatio ...

'' (1973-1976) - Annie / Martha * ''

The Day the Earth Moved ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (1974 TV movie) - Miss Virginia Porter * '' Police Woman'' (1976) - Aunt Benjamin * ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book ''Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 film ...

'' (1976) - Tilly Shanks * ''

Petrocelli ''Petrocelli'' is an American legal drama that ran for two seasons on NBC from September 11, 1974 to March 31, 1976. Plot Tony Petrocelli is an Italian-American, Harvard-educated lawyer, who grew up in South Boston and gave up the big money and ...

'' (1974-1976) - Lucille Davis / Madge Briar / Lucille Field / Angie Crawford * '' Nashville 99'' (1977) - Birdie Huff * ''

The New Adventures of Wonder Woman ''Wonder Woman'', later known for seasons 2 and 3 as ''The New Adventures of Wonder Woman'', is an American superhero television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. It stars Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Pri ...

'' (1978) - Flo * ''

Eight Is Enough ''Eight Is Enough'' is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who ...

'' (1978) * '' How the West Was Won'' (1978-1979) - Miss Agnes / Miss Walker * ''

Trapper John, M.D. ''Trapper John, M.D.'' is an American medical drama television series and spin-off of the film ''M*A*S*H'' (1970). Pernell Roberts portrayed the title character, a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, Californ ...

'' (1979) - Clarissa Mae Purcell * ''

Little House on the Prairie The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books is a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adolescence in the Midwestern United States, American M ...

'' (1979) - Miss Trimble * ''

'' (1979-1980) - Mother * ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy TV series that was aired on CBS from January 26, 1979 to February 8, 1985. The show aired for 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. It was consistently among the top-rated television series ...

'' (1980) - Mama Coltrane * ''

'' (1980-1981) - Lilly Sinclair * ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pac ...

'' (1981) - Doris * ''

Simon & Simon ''Simon & Simon'' is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who operate ...

'' (1982) - Mrs. Dorothy Bartlett * ''

The Wonderful World of Disney The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The pr ...

'' (1978-1982) - Mrs. Levelor / Grandma Hopkins * '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'' (1982) * '' Alice'' (1982-1983) - Grace / Lucille (final television appearance)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Lucille 1914 births 1984 deaths People from Scottsboro, Alabama Actresses from Alabama American film actresses American television actresses Huntingdon College alumni Northwestern University School of Communication alumni Deaths from cancer in Alabama Deaths from liver cancer 20th-century American actresses