Mary Lee Robb Cline (February 15, 1926, – August 28, 2006) was a radio actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Her name is sometimes seen as Marylee Robb.

Early life

Robb was born in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

, and lived much of her early life in Chicago. Her father, Alex S. Robb, was an executive at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. In 1939 her family moved to Los Angeles, California, where she attended University High School and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Career

Robb made her radio debut in 1947 on the ''

Lum and Abner ''Lum and Abner'' was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved i ...

'' program. She also appeared on '' The Penny Singleton Show''. As Mary Lee Robb, she is best known for playing Marjorie, Gildersleeve's niece, on ''

The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' is a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was built a ...

,'' replacing Louise Erickson in that role. A small role in a 1948 episode of that program led to the full-time role of Marjorie, which she played until 1954.

Personal life

Robb's first marriage, to Charles Vance Smith, ended in divorce. Robb left acting in the mid-1950s in order to raise their son, Robb Smith, and daughter Alexandra. In 1983 she married William H. Cline, who died in 2005. A year later, she died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California. Mary Lee Robb was survived by her daughter Alexandra, son Robb, son-in-law Alex, and daughter-in-law Melissa. Robb also left behind her two grandchildren, Robbyn and Tyler.

References

1926 births 2006 deaths American radio actresses 20th-century American actresses University of California, Los Angeles alumni University High School (Los Angeles) alumni People from Streator, Illinois Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park 21st-century American women {{US-radio-bio-stub