Eleanor Audley
Encyclopedia
Eleanor Audley was an American actress who was a familiar radio and animation voice, in addition to her TV and film roles. For many, she provided Disney animated features with their most outstanding and memorable villainess voices.
, Suspense
and the radio versions of My Favorite Husband
(as mother-in-law Mrs. Cooper) and Father Knows Best
(as one of the Anderson family's neighbors). In 1953, she played the stepmother in a re-imagining of the Cinderella story for The Six Shooter starring James Stewart.
and the wicked fairy Maleficent
in Disney's Sleeping Beauty
. For both films, animator Marc Davis created the characters' facial features to resemble Audley. Audley initially turned down the choice role of Maleficent because she was battling tuberculosis.
She also provided the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion
attractions in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, speaking the memorable lines, "Rap on a table. It's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond!"
, Perry Mason
, and The Dick Van Dyke Show
. She was a series regular as Oliver Douglas
's disapproving mother on Green Acres
(although she was less than one year older than actor Eddie Albert
, who played her son). She also played Millicent Schuyler-Potts, the headmistress of the Potts School which Jethro Bodine attended in The Beverly Hillbillies
.
. She died at her home in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Radio
Beginning as a radio actress, she worked extensively in the 1940s and 1950s in Hollywood on such shows as EscapeEscape (radio program)
Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed...
, Suspense
Suspense (radio program)
-Production background:One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era...
and the radio versions of My Favorite Husband
My Favorite Husband
My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, co-starring Lucille Ball, was the initial basis for what evolved into the groundbreaking TV sitcom I Love Lucy. The series was based on the novel Mr. and Mrs...
(as mother-in-law Mrs. Cooper) and Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
(as one of the Anderson family's neighbors). In 1953, she played the stepmother in a re-imagining of the Cinderella story for The Six Shooter starring James Stewart.
Animation
In the animated film industry she was best known for giving her distinctive, powerful voice to the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine in the Disney animated film CinderellaCinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
and the wicked fairy Maleficent
Maleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a...
in Disney's Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...
. For both films, animator Marc Davis created the characters' facial features to resemble Audley. Audley initially turned down the choice role of Maleficent because she was battling tuberculosis.
She also provided the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. A significantly re-imagined incarnation of the ride, known as Phantom Manor, is located in Disneyland Paris...
attractions in Disneyland and Walt Disney World, speaking the memorable lines, "Rap on a table. It's time to respond. Send us a message from somewhere beyond!"
Television
Beginning in the mid-1950s, she appeared constantly on television, including episodes of I Love LucyI Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
, Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
, and The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
. She was a series regular as Oliver Douglas
Oliver Wendell Douglas
Oliver Wendell Douglas was the major character in the 1960s CBS situation comedy Green Acres. The character's name was inspired by famed Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and possibly also by then-Supreme Court justice William Orville Douglas....
's disapproving mother on Green Acres
Green Acres
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm...
(although she was less than one year older than actor Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
, who played her son). She also played Millicent Schuyler-Potts, the headmistress of the Potts School which Jethro Bodine attended in The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
.
Death
Audley died on November 25, 1991, just six days after her 86th birthday, due to respiratory failureRespiratory failure
The term respiratory failure, in medicine, is used to describe inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, with the result that arterial oxygen and/or carbon dioxide levels cannot be maintained within their normal ranges. A drop in blood oxygenation is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial...
. She died at her home in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.