Mary Linn Beller (March 1, 1933 – April 13, 2000) was an American child actress.

Early years

Beller was born in Brooklyn on March 1, 1933, the daughter of Samuel and Helen Beller. She began taking acting lessons by age 9, studying at the

Heckscher Foundation The Heckscher Foundation for Children is a New York City-focused private foundation that provides grants to underserved New York City youth. Often, the foundation's grant-giving takes the form of program support, capacity-building, capital project ...

and the

Neighborhood Playhouse A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

in Manhattan. She began auditioning for parts on radio when she was 12. She attended

Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ionic co ...

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

and

Columbia University School of General Studies The School of General Studies, Columbia University (GS) is a liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on undergraduate study in liberal arts and sciences. Such c ...

Career

Beller's first professional acting role consisted of a giggle on the radio version of ''

Our Miss Brooks ''Our Miss Brooks'' is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became one of the medi ...

'' when she was 12 years old. She portrayed Babby on ''

The Brighter Day ''The Brighter Day'' is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954, to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC Radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954&ndash ...

'' and appeared on other radio programs, including ''

Let's Pretend ''Let's Pretend'', created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed ''Let's Pretend'', the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, ''Let's Pretend'', the Peabody Award- ...

'' and ''School of the Air''. On stage, Beller performed in summer stock at age 16 in the ingenue lead role in '' You Can't Take It With You''. Other summer stock roles were followed by a six-week tour in ''Leaf and Bough'', which had three performances on Broadway. She also appeared in the Broadway production ''Have I Got a Girl for You!''. Beller continued her role of Babby on the television version of ''The Brighter DayI.'' She also portrayed Judy Foster, the title character on the television version of ''

A Date with Judy ''A Date with Judy'' is a comedy radio series aimed at a teenage audience which ran from 1941 to 1950. The series was co-created by Jerome Lawrence and Aleen Leslie, and based on Leslie's “One Girl Chorus” column in the Pittsburgh Press. La ...

'' and "little sister" Connie Thayer on ''

The First Hundred Years ''The First Hundred Years'' is the first ongoing TV soap opera in the United States that began as a daytime serial, airing on CBS from December 4, 1950 until June 27, 1952. A previous daytime drama on NBC, ''These Are My Children'', aired in 194 ...

.'' Other TV programs on which she appeared included ''

Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...

'', ''Silver Theatre'', and '' Starlight Theatre''.

Personal life and death

Beller married business executive Robert L. Pitofsky in September 1954. She died on April 13, 2000, at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beller, Mary Linn 1933 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Brooklyn American child actresses American radio actresses American stage actresses American television actresses Broadway theatre people