Ann Tyrrell was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress who co-starred in both of the Ann Sothern

Ann Sothern

Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...

 CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 sitcoms

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Private Secretary

Private Secretary (TV series)

Private Secretary is an American sitcom that aired from February 1, 1953 to September 10, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST...

(1953-1957) and The Ann Sothern Show

The Ann Sothern Show

The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS...

(1958-1961).

Career

A native of Washington, Tyrrell procured her first acting role in 1949 at the age of forty as Miss Swanson in the film, Bride for Sale

Bride for Sale

Bride for Sale is a 1949 film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by William D. Russell, and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Young and George Brent. The music score is by Frederick Hollander. Trite comedy.-Plot:...

(1949). The following year she appeared as a clerk in the motion picture version of Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

's The Glass Menagerie (1950). In 1951, she was cast as a telephone operator in Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

's Bedtime for Bonzo

Bedtime for Bonzo

Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Professor Peter Boyd , to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question...

. In 1953, she appeared unbilled as Mary Tudor

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 sister of Queen Elizabeth I in the M-G-M historical drama Queen Bess and in 1955, she appeared in the film Seven Angry Men with Raymond Massey

Raymond Massey

Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...

 and Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...

. Between film appearances, Tyrrell guest starred in episodes of Adventures of Superman

Adventures of Superman (TV series)

Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...

and The Adventures of Kit Carson

The Adventures of Kit Carson

The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson...

.

Her major opportunity came in 1953 when she was cast for four seasons in the role of office receptionist Violet "Vi" Praskins, friend and colleague of Susie MacNamara, played by Ann Sothern

Ann Sothern

Ann Sothern was an American film and television actress whose career spanned six decades.-Early life and career:...

, in the sitcom Private Secretary

Private Secretary (TV series)

Private Secretary is an American sitcom that aired from February 1, 1953 to September 10, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST...

. After the series ended in a contract dispute in 1957, Tyrrell joined The Ann Sothern Show

The Ann Sothern Show

The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS...

as Olive Smith, roommate and secretary of Sothern's new character, Katy O'Connor. After The Ann Sothern Show ended its run in 1961, Tyrrell made only two more television appearances; as Mrs. Marshall in a 1962 episode of The Danny Thomas Show

The Danny Thomas Show

The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS...

and as Miss Ruth Potter in a 1964 episode of Burke's Law

Burke's Law

Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...

.

Tyrrell made her final public appearance in a phone interview on the ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 morning program Good Morning America

Good Morning America

Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

in November, 1982. In that installment, host Joan Lunden

Joan Lunden

Joan Lunden is an American journalist, author and television host. She was the co-host of ABC's Good Morning America from 1980 through 1997 and is the author of 8 books...

 interviewed on camera the cast of both Private Secretary and The Ann Sothern Show which included Sothern, Don Porter

Don Porter

Donald Porter was an American actor who appeared in a number of films in the 1940s, including Top Sergeant and Eagle Squadron, but is perhaps best known for his role as Russell Lawrence, the widowed father of 15-year old Frances "Gidget" Lawrence in the 1965 ABC television series...

, and Jesse White

Jesse White (actor)

Jesse White was an American television, film, and stage character actor. He is best remembered for portraying the Maytag repairman in television commercials, a role he played from 1967 to 1988.-Life and career:...

. Tyrrell was not able to physically join them, but she was able to converse with Lunden and reminisce with her former co-stars via telephone from her home in California.

Tyrrell died on July 20, 1983 at the age of seventy-four in Pasadena, California

Pasadena, California

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949	Bride for Sale Bride for Sale Bride for Sale is a 1949 film distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by William D. Russell, and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Young and George Brent. The music score is by Frederick Hollander. Trite comedy.-Plot:...	Miss Swanson
1950	Mother Didn't Tell Me	Mrs. Jones	Uncredited
1950	Caged Caged (1950 film) Caged is a 1950 film released by Warner Bros. It tells the story of a teenage newlywed, who is sent to prison for being an accessory to a robbery...	Edna	Uncredited
1950	Once a Thief	Dr. Borden
1950	Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a 1950 film noir starring James Cagney, directed by Gordon Douglas and based on the novel by Horace McCoy. The film was banned in Ohio as "a sordid, sadistic presentation of brutality and an extreme presentation of crime with explicit steps in commission."Supporting Cagney...	Miss Staines	Uncredited
1950	No Way Out No Way Out (1950 film) No Way Out is a black-and-white film noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and Sidney Poitier...	Nurse	Uncredited
1950	Bunco Squad	Miss Dilby
1950	The Glass Menagerie	Clerk
1950	Emergency Wedding	Miss Neilson	Uncredited
1950	Father's Wild Game	Tilda
1951	Gasoline Alley	Miss Ent	Uncredited
1951	Cry Danger Cry Danger Cry Danger is a 1951 film noir thriller shot in twenty-two days in Los Angeles, including the Bunker Hill section of the city. The film was directed by Robert Parrish, a former child star and later editor in his debut as a director.-Plot:...	Woman in Apt. #201	Uncredited
1951	Up Front	Nurse	Uncredited
1951	My True Story	Sophie
1951	Bedtime for Bonzo Bedtime for Bonzo Bedtime for Bonzo is a 1951 comedy film directed by Fred de Cordova, starring future U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It revolves around the attempts of the central character, Professor Peter Boyd , to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the "nature versus nurture" question...	Telephone Operator
1951	Appointment with Danger Appointment with Danger Appointment with Danger is an American crime film noir directed by Lewis Allen and written by Richard L. Breen and Warren Duff. The drama features Alan Ladd, Phyllis Calvert, Paul Stewart, among others.-Plot:...	Secretary	Uncredited
1951	As Young as You Feel As Young as You Feel As Young as You Feel is a comedy film starring Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, and David Wayne, with Marilyn Monroe in a small role.-Plot:...	Cleveland's secretary	Uncredited
1952	Love Is Better Than Ever	Mrs. Whitney	Uncredited
1952	Paula	Nurse Receptionist	Uncredited
1952	The Girl in White	Nurse Bigley	Alternative title: So Bright the Flame
1952	The Sellout	Mrs. Jennie Nova Amboy	Uncredited
1952	The Unexpected	Fortune Teller	Episode: "Lifeline"
1952	Because of You	Nurse	Uncredited
1952	Holiday for Sinners	Bit role	Uncredited
1952	Adventures of Superman Adventures of Superman (TV series) Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...	Miss Walton	Episode: "The Deserted Village"
1953	Young Bess Young Bess Young Bess is a 1953 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about the early life of Elizabeth I, from her turbulent childhood to the eve of her accession to the throne of England...	Mary	Uncredited
1953	Julius Caesar Julius Caesar (1953 film) Julius Caesar is an 1953 MGM film adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the uncredited screenplay, and produced by John Houseman. The original music score is by Miklós Rózsa...	Citizen of Rome
1953	Take Me to Town	Louise Pickett
1953	Half a Hero	Neighbor in Village	Uncredited
1954	Lucky Me	Fortune Teller	Uncredited
1954	Executive Suite Executive Suite Executive Suite is a 1954 MGM drama film depicting the transfer of power in a corporation in trouble. The film stars William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, and Walter Pidgeon. It was directed by Robert Wise and produced by John Houseman from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman based on the...	Miss Nordley	Uncredited
1954 to 1957	Private Secretary Private Secretary (TV series) Private Secretary is an American sitcom that aired from February 1, 1953 to September 10, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST...	Violet "Vi" Praskins	series regular
1955	Seven Angry Men	Mrs. Mary Brown	Alternative title: God's Angry Men
1955	Soldiers of Fortune	Mrs. Anderson	Episode: "Drums of Far Island"
1955	Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre Fireside Theater Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran from on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned...	Nurse Hanson	Episode: "The Key"
1955	Good Morning, Miss Dove	Mrs. Makepeace	Uncredited
1958 to 1961	The Ann Sothern Show The Ann Sothern Show The Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS...	Olive Smith	series regular
1962	The Danny Thomas Show The Danny Thomas Show The Danny Thomas Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS...	Mrs. Marshall	Episode: "Casanova Tonoose"
1964	Burke's Law Burke's Law Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...	Miss Ruth Potter	Episode: "Who Killed the Paper Dragon?"

External links