Midge Ware Colton (born Muriel Florence Bendelson; October 20, 1927 – June 3, 2020) was an American model and stage, screen and television actress. She had a over 30 years career in show business.
Early life
Born in The Bronx, New York, Ware was the daughter of taxi driver Samuel Bendelson and Mitzi Restenbaum Bendelson. She had twin brothers. Her schoolmates nicknamed her Midge, and she eventually had that made her legal name.
She graduated from
George Washington High School in Manhattan.
Career
Before she became an actress, Ware was a model whose picture was used on the magazine covers more than 100 times. Universal signed her to a film contract in 1950.
She debuted on film in ''Bedtime for Bonzo'' (1951).
Ware performed on Broadway in ''The Fifth Season'' (1953) and ''Maybe Tuesday'' (1958).
On television, Ware was guest hostess on ''Truth or Consequences'',
and she portrayed Louise Scruggs on ''
The Beverly Hillbillies
''The Beverly Hillbillies'' is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971. It had an ensemble cast featuring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer Jr. as the Clampetts, a poor, backwoods family from ...
''.
She made guest appearances in episodes of television sitcoms and dramas, including ''
The Donna Reed Show
''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary an ...
'', ''
Gunslinger
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the t ...
'', ''
The Phil Silvers Show
''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-a ...
'', ''
The Rifleman
''The Rifleman'' is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show wa ...
'', ''
Police Woman'', and ''
Quincy, M.E.
''Quincy, M.E.'' (also called ''Quincy'') is an American mystery medical drama television series from Universal Studios that aired on NBC from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred in the title role as a Los Angeles County med ...
''.
Volunteer work
Ware gave decades of volunteer service to the
Motion Picture & Television Fund
The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as tempo ...
's
retirement community and hospital, in the
Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. In 2016, she received US
President's Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing this work.
Personal life
On August 7, 1954, Ware married actor Art Batanides in Las Vegas. It was her second marriage.
They had two children together, son Jason and daughter Leslie Ann,
[ before they divorced in the early 1960s. Her third marriage was to David Moessinger, a director and writer, in 1965; they had a daughter together, Amy,][ before divorcing at some unknown date.][
]
Death
She died on June 3, 2020, aged 92, in Westlake Village, California
Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County on its western border with Ventura County. The City of Westlake Village incorporated in 1981 becoming the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks Westlake Vill ...
.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ware Colton, Midge
1927 births
2020 deaths
George Washington Educational Campus alumni
People from the Bronx
20th-century American actresses
Female models from New York (state)
Actresses from New York City
Models from New York City
21st-century American women