Barbara Luddy (May 25, 1908 – April 1, 1979) was an American actress best known for her voiceover work for
Walt Disney Studios in the 1950s and 1970s.
Biography
Born in
Great Falls, Montana, Luddy was the daughter of Will
[ and Molly Luddy of Helena, Montana.][ ] She sang in vaudeville as a child.[DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 170.] She attended Ursuline Convent in Great Falls, Montana.[ ]
Career
Stage
In 1929, Luddy toured with Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (; August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), known professionally as Leo Carrillo, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.
He was best known for playing Pancho in the television ...
in Australia as part of a touring company that presented the play ''Lombardi, Ltd.'' A review in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Luddy's work portraying a mannequin as "a role in which Miss Barbara Luddy made a great hit by her pert audacity and vivaciousness."
Radio
Luddy was a member of the dramatic cast of the ''Chicago Theater of the Air
''Chicago Theater of the Air'' was a weekly American radio program that featured hour-long operettas & musical theater. It first ran locally in May 1940 on WGN radio in Chicago and then nationally as an unsponsored show on the Mutual Broadcasting ...
''.[Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 74.] One of Luddy's better known roles on radio was being a regular performer on ''The First Nighter Program
''The First Nighter Program'' was a long-running radio anthology comedy-drama series broadcast from November 27, 1930, to September 27, 1953. The host was Mr. First Nighter (Charles P. Hughes, Macdonald Carey, Bret Morrison, Marvin Miller, Don ...
'' from 1936 until the series ended in 1953. In 1937, she and fellow ''First Nighter'' actor Les Tremayne
Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor.
Early life
Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...
set what a contemporary newspaper article called "a precedent ... when these signed long term contracts calling for their exclusive services" on the program."
She also played Veronica Gunn in the comedy ''Great Gunns''. In soap operas, she played Judith Clark in '' Lonely Women'' Carol Evans Martin in ''The Road of Life'', and Janet Munson in ''Woman in White''.[
]
Film
Luddy's film career began with silent pictures
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...
in the late 1920s. She is perhaps best remembered for her voice work in Disney animated films
This list of theatrical animated feature films consists of animated films produced or released by The Walt Disney Studios, the film division of The Walt Disney Company.This list does not include films or specials streamed on Disney+ as Disne ...
such as ''Lady and the Tramp
''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and ...
'' (in which she played the titular Lady), ''Sleeping Beauty
''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
'', ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians
''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. Th ...
'', ''Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...
'' and the Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes including ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'' is a 1966 animated featurette based on the first two chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. The film was produced by Walt Disney Productions, and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution on February ...
'', ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' is a 1968 American animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from ''The House at Pooh Corner'' by A. A. Milne ...
'', and ''Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
''Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'' is a 1974 animated featurette based on the third chapter of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and the fourth and seventh chapters of ''The House at Pooh Corner'' by A. A. Milne. The featurette was directed by John Lounsbery, p ...
'',[ ] all of which were edited into the composite feature ''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
''The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh'' is a 1977 American animated musical anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It is the 22nd Disney animated feature film and was first r ...
''.
Her other film credits include ''Terrified'' (1962) and the TV film ''Lost Flight'' (1969).
Television
Luddy guest starred in episodes of such television programs as '' Hazel'', '' Dragnet'', '' Adam-12'', and '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker''.
Personal life
Luddy married R. Ned LeFevre, an actor and announcer, on September 18, 1942.lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
in Los Angeles, California, in 1979, at age 70.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Luddy, Barbara
1908 births
1979 deaths
Actresses from Montana
American radio actresses
American silent film actresses
People from Great Falls, Montana
Deaths from lung cancer in California
20th-century American actresses
Disney people