Bea Benaderet

Beatrice Benaderet was born on April 4, 1906,{{cite web|url=http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/caldeaths?c=search&first=Beatrice+&last=Twombly&spelling=Exact&5_year=&5_month=0&5_day=0&6_year=&6_month=0&6_day=0&4=&7=&8=&SubmitSearch.x=30&SubmitSearch.y=11&SubmitSearch=Submit|title=California Deaths, 1940–1997|work=Familytreelegends.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002193000/http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/caldeaths?c=search&first=Beatrice+&last=Twombly&spelling=Exact&5_year=&5_month=0&5_day=0&6_year=&6_month=0&6_day=0&4=&7=&8=&SubmitSearch.x=30&SubmitSearch.y=11&SubmitSearch=Submit|archive-date=October 2, 2013|access-date=January 29, 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://petticoat.topcities.com/scrapbook21.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523043122/http://petticoat.topcities.com/scrapbook21.htm|title=The Henning Family Scrapbook|author=Dave Stein|date=1999|archive-date=May 23, 2012|page=4|access-date=January 29, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/13475%7C18383/Bea-Benaderet/|title=Bea Benaderet – Biography|work=TCM.com|access-date=July 22, 2017}}{{#tag:ref|Birth year varied in census records.{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCN4-899|title=United States Census, 1930|work=FamilySearch.org|access-date=July 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9MT-N7MN?cc=2000219|title=United States Census, 1940|work=FamilySearch.org|access-date=July 18, 2017}}|group="note"}} in New York City.Aaker (2000), pp. 34–35 Her mother, Margaret ({{nee}} O'Keefe), was Irish American,J. Cox (2000), pg. 191{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Site-Early-Radio/Archive-Radio-Mirror-IDX/IDX/50s/55/Radio-Mirror-1955-08-OCR-Page-0010.pdf|title=Information Booth|author=|work=Radio Mirror|date=August 1955|access-date=January 27, 2020}} and her father, Samuel David Benaderet,[http://www.imgrum.org/media/1341013789784778724_1797116743 Crypt of Samuel D. Benaderet (1884–1954)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923004455/http://www.imgrum.org/media/1341013789784778724_1797116743 |date=2017-09-23 }}, imgrum.org. Retrieved July 15, 2017. a Sephardic Jewish emigrant from what is now Turkey,Blythe & Sackett (1989), pp. 70–72 was a tobacconist who relocated the family from New York City to San Francisco in 1915 after his participation in the Panama–Pacific International Exposition.Ristow (1980), p. 251 The same year, he opened a smoke shop that operated for 65 years, making it the oldest such retailer in California at the time of its closure in 1980.

Benaderet was raised in her mother's Catholic faith and attended grade school at a Dominican convent. She studied voice and the piano;{{cite magazine|title=Meet Millie and Her Friends|magazine=Radio-TV Mirror|date=June 1953|volume=40|issue=1|page=19|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/53/Mirror-1953-Jun.pdf|access-date=November 28, 2014}} her first acting performance came at 11 when she portrayed a bearded old man in a school play.

The following year, her participation in a children's production of The Beggar's Opera resulted in a local radio station manager inviting her to a one-time performance on one of his programs, for which she was paid $10. Benaderet made her professional theatre debut at 16 in a production of The Prince of Pilsen,{{cite web|url=http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2010/09/betty-rubble-meets-orson-welles.html|author=Ecksan, K.L.|title=Untitled|work=Oakland Tribune; reprinted on yowpyowp.blogspot.com|date=September 1, 1935|access-date=July 24, 2017}} and, after graduating from the Academy of St. Rose, a private, all-girls' high school,{{cite magazine|last1=Westhoff|first1=Jeffrey|title=From A to Bea|magazine=Nostalgia Digest|publisher=Funny Valentine Press|date=Winter 2014|volume=40|issue=1|pages=42–48}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bayareasportsstars.com/Counties/Celebs%20copy%202.pdf|title=Celebs & Notable Alumni|work=bayareasportsstars.com|page=13|access-date=July 18, 2017|archive-date=September 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923050722/http://www.bayareasportsstars.com/Counties/Celebs%20copy%202.pdf|url-status=dead}} she attended the Reginald Travers School of Acting and joined his stock company The Players' Guild,{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/sanfranciscothea194012sanf#page/n338/mode/1up/|title=Little Theatres|first=Alan|last=Harrison|work=San Francisco Theatre Research|date=1940|volume=12|page=160}} appearing in stage productions of works such as Polly, Lysistrata, and Uncle Tom's Cabin.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/pacificcoastmusi5127sanf#page/n32/mode/1up|title='Polly' – Players' Guild Opera|author=|work=Pacific Coast Music Review|page=14|date=November 5, 1926|access-date=August 20, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/insidefacts12-1930-09-13#page/n6/mode/1up|title=Greek Play Given at Tiny Theatre|first=Harold J.|last=Bock|work=Inside Facts of Stage and Screen|date=September 13, 1930|page=7|access-date=August 20, 2017}}{{cite book|title=The Reginald Travers Repertory Players announce an extraordinary attraction ... a gala revival of Uncle Tom's cabin : a drama in six acts and eighteen scenes|date=1939|via=WorldCat.org|oclc = 874727574}}

File:Gale Gordon Bea Benaderet Granby's Green Acres 1950.jpg on Granby's Green Acres in 1950]]

In 1926, Benaderet joined the staff of San Francisco radio station KFRC, which was under the new ownership of Don Lee and where her duties included acting, singing, writing, and producing.{{cite web|url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Broadcast-Weekly/1935/Broadcast-Weekly-1935-04-14.pdf|title=Stars of the Radio Theatre: Beatrice Benaderet, Comedienne|work=Broadcast Weekly|date=April 14, 1935|access-date=July 28, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://bayarearadio.org/schneider/kfrc1.shtml|title=The History of 610 KFRC Radio|first=John F.|last=Schneider|work=bayarearadio.org|access-date=July 19, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526043446/https://bayarearadio.org/schneider/kfrc1.shtml|archive-date=May 26, 2018}}

Initially seeking work as a dramatic actress, she switched to comedy and performed on multiple programs, in particular the Blue Monday Jamboree variety show, where her castmates included Meredith Willson, Elvia Allman, and future I Love Lucy producer Jess Oppenheimer.{{cite news|last1=Gabriel|first1=Walter|title=Why There're No Blues on Mondays|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Guide/1935/Radio-Guide-35-05-18.o.pdf|access-date=December 11, 2016|work=Radio Guide|date=May 18, 1935|pages=3, 22}}{{cite web|url=https://www.radioarchives.com/Komedy_Kingdom_p/ra068d.htm|title=The Komedy Kingdom|work=Radio Archives|access-date=July 19, 2017}}Oppenheimer (1999), p. 124 Benaderet honed a variety of dialects such as French, Spanish, New York City English, and Yiddish, the latter from voicing a character named "Rheba Haufawitz". She additionally hosted the musical variety show Salon Moderne and gained attention for her work as a female announcer,{{cite magazine|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/30s/1936/BB-1936-01-11.pdf|title=Program Reviews: Salon Moderne|author=D.H.G.|magazine=The Billboard|date=January 11, 1936|page=8|access-date=July 30, 2017}} a rarity in 1930s radio.{{cite web|url=http://ncrtv.org/wp-content/uploads/DialsChannels/VOL-10-No-4-Radio-Television-Museum-News-December-2004.pdf|title=Early Radio Announcers|first=Brian|last=Belanger|work=Radio and Television Museum News|date=December 2004|page=6|access-date=July 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127091404/http://ncrtv.org/wp-content/uploads/DialsChannels/VOL-10-No-4-Radio-Television-Museum-News-December-2004.pdf|archive-date=January 27, 2018|url-status=dead}}

Benaderet relocated to Hollywood in 1936 and joined radio station KHJ,{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1939/1939-10-01-BC.pdf|title=Purely Previews: For Night Listeners |work=Broadcast Advertising|date=October 1, 1939|page=60|access-date=July 30, 2017}} making her network radio debut with Orson Welles for his Mercury Theatre repertory company heard on The Campbell Playhouse.{{cite web|url=http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2010/09/betty-rubble-meets-orson-welles.html|title=Betty Rubble Meets Orson Welles|work=yowpyowp.blogspot.com|date=September 9, 2010|access-date=July 19, 2017}} The following year she received her first big break in the industry on The Jack Benny Program, where she played Gertrude Gearshift, a wisecracking telephone operator who gossiped about Jack Benny with her cohort Mabel Flapsaddle (Sara Berner).{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Life/40s/47/Radio-Life-1947-11-09.pdf|title=Benny's Switchboard Sweeties|last=Maguire|first=Judy|date=November 9, 1947|work=Radio Life|page=7|access-date= July 16, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2012/05/rise-of-sara-berner.html|title=Transradio Star Gazer|first=Bob|last=Kalb|work=source unknown; reprinted on tralfaz.blogspot.com|date=January 21, 1949|access-date=July 27, 2017}}Busch, Noel F. (February 3, 1947). "Jack Benny, Inc.: Comedian mixes a fiddle, a feud and stock characters in formula which has paid off for 15 years". Life, pg. 85. Retrieved July 16, 2017. Intended as a one-time appearance, the pair became a recurring role starting in the 1945–46 season, and in early 1947, Benaderet and Berner momentarily took over the NBC switchboards in Hollywood for publicity photos. She performed in as many as five shows daily,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/54900025/|title='Higgins' Keeps Petticoat Junction Cast on Its Toes|first=Erskine|last=Johnson|author-link=Erskine Johnson|agency=Associated Press|publisher=North Adams Transcript|page=24|date=November 19, 1964|access-date=August 11, 2017}} causing her rehearsal dates to conflict with those of The Jack Benny Program and resulting in her reading live as Gertrude from a marked script she was handed upon entering the studio.

Other recurring characters Benaderet portrayed were Blanche Morton on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; school principal Eve Goodwin on The Great Gildersleeve; Millicent Carstairs on Fibber McGee & Molly; maid Gloria on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet;{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/149359703/|title=Boss at Shady Rest|first=Vince|last=Leonard|work=The Pittsburgh Press|date=May 31, 1964|access-date=August 6, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/10/18/page/295/article/display-ad-229-no-title|title=Voice as Famous as Face|work=Chicago Tribune|first=Larry|last=Wolters|date=October 18, 1964|access-date=August 6, 2017}} and Iris Atterbury on the Lucille Ball vehicle My Favorite Husband, opposite Gale Gordon. Benaderet voiced various one-time parts before joining the main cast as Iris, neighbor and friend of Ball's character Liz Cooper. The 1950 CBS program Granby's Green Acres, a perceived spinoff of My Favorite Husband,{{cite web|url=http://mercurie.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-50th-anniversary-of-green-acres.html|title=The 50th Anniversary of Green Acres|work=A Shroud of Thoughts|first=Terence|last=Towles Canote|date=September 15, 2015|access-date=July 17, 2017}} was her one radio lead role and reunited her with Gordon as a husband and wife who abandon city life to become farmers, but it lasted only eight episodes.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Granby%27s+Green+Acres|title=Granby's Green Acres|author=J. David Goldin|work=radioGOLDINdex|access-date=July 17, 2017|archive-date=September 23, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923003021/http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Granby%27s+Green+Acres|url-status=dead}}

Beginning in 1943, Benaderet became Warner Bros.' primary voice of adult female supporting characters for their Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes animated shorts, initially sharing duties with Sara Berner. Her characterizations included an obnoxious teenaged bobbysox version of Little Red Riding Hood in Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944);Goldmark & Granata (2002), pg. 146 (Segment by Kevin Whitehead: "Carl Stalling, Improviser & Bill Lava, Acme Minimalist") Witch Hazel in Bewitched Bunny (1954);{{cite web|url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/top-stories/which-witch-is-which/|title=Which Witch is Which?|first=Michael|last=Mallory|work=Animation Magazine|date=October 23, 2014|access-date=July 28, 2017}} the spinster hen Miss Prissy in several Foghorn Leghorn cartoons;{{cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-lovelorn-leghorn-1951/|title=Robert McKimson's "Lovelorn Leghorn" (1951)|first=Devon|last=Baxter|work=Cartoon Research|date=February 10, 2016|access-date=January 22, 2020}} Tweety's owner "Granny" including the Academy Award-winning Tweetie Pie (1947); and Mama Bear in a series of Three Bears shorts, which animator Chuck Jones called one of his favorite portrayals.Jones & Furniss (2005), p. 80 Benaderet did not receive onscreen credit for her work because she was employed by Warner Bros. as a freelance actor{{#tag:ref|Her occupation is listed as such in the 1940 U.S. census.|group="note"}} who voiced peripheral characters, and unlike Mel Blanc, was not under contract with the studio.{{cite web|url=http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/mel-blanc-from-anonymity-to-offscreen-superstar-the-advent-of-on-screen-voice-credits/|title=Mel Blanc: From Anonymity To Offscreen Superstar (The advent of on-screen voice credits)|first=Keith|last=Scott|author-link=Keith Scott (voice actor)|work=cartoonresearch.com|date=September 12, 2016|access-date=July 21, 2017}} In 1955, she was succeeded by June Foray as Warner's premier female voice artist.{{cite web|url=http://nerdist.com/june-foray-animation-legend-rip/|title=Remembering Animation Legend June Foray (1917–2017)|first=Kyle|last=Anderson|work=The Nerdist|url-status=dead|date=July 27, 2017|access-date=July 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616035337/http://nerdist.com/june-foray-animation-legend-rip/|archive-date=June 16, 2018}}

Benaderet was Lucille Ball's first choice as Ethel Mertz for the sitcom I Love Lucy; Ball said in a 1984 interview that she had "no other picture of anyone" for the role.Edelman & Kupferberg (1999), pp. 140–141 However, Benaderet had to turn down the offer since she was contracted to the television adaptation of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, so Vivian Vance was eventually cast. Benaderet guest-starred on the January 21, 1952, first-season episode "Lucy Plays Cupid" as the character of Miss Lewis, a love-starved spinster neighbor.

Benaderet continued her Burns & Allen radio role of the Burns' neighbor Blanche Morton, Gracie's friend and staunchest supporter in her escapades.Irvin (2014), pg. 17 She was the only secondary cast member who appeared in every episode and the first six shows were shot live in New York, resulting in Benaderet commuting to Los Angeles, where she was working several radio assignments at the time.{{cite web|url=http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2010/09/betty-rubble-meets-orson-welles.html |title=Oil Wells and Gold Mines|first=Alan|last=Gill|work=Unknown|via=yowpyowp.blogspot.com |date=July 29, 1963|access-date=July 28, 2017}}

Blanche Morton's long-suffering husband, Harry, was played by four actors over the show's eight-year run; the last, Larry Keating, was introduced on the October 5, 1953 fourth-season premiere when George Burns entered the set and halted a scene of an angered Blanche preparing to hit Harry with a book. Burns introduced Keating to Benaderet and the audience, and she broke character to exchange pleasantries with Keating. The segment then resumed and Benaderet struck Keating with the book.Blythe & Sackett (1989), pp. 127–129 Benaderet and Gracie Allen regularly shopped for their own on-set wardrobeBlythe & Sackett (1989), pg. 141 and she developed a high-pitched laugh for Blanche that became a staple of the character and was used for comic effect: "When we had a scene with some silent spots in it, George would say to me, 'Laugh there, Bea.{{'"}}Karol (2006), pg. 53{{cite web|url=http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201963%20%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201963%20%20Grayscale%20-%205819.pdf|title=Bea Benaderet Gets Own Series|first=Charles|last=Witbeck|work=Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY)|date=July 1, 1963|access-date=August 15, 2017}} Benaderet garnered two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1954 and 1955.Tucker (2007), pg. 10 Following Allen's retirement in 1958 at the end of the eighth season, the program continued as The George Burns Show in 1958–59 with Blanche repackaged as George's secretary, but it was canceled after one season due to low ratings. Benaderet worked sparsely in 1959,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30663734/|title=Petticoat Junction Lead Actress Claims She's 'Character'|first=Bert|last=Resnik|work=Independent Press-Telegram|page=189|date=July 4, 1965|access-date=August 11, 2017}} filming one-time appearances on General Electric Theater and The Restless Gun.{{cite news|title=Bea Benaderet On 'Restless Gun'|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2727292/the_progressindex/|work=The Progress-Index|date=May 2, 1959|access-date = July 1, 2015}}

Benaderet became a fixture on television in the 1960s, which included working on two shows simultaneously from 1960 to 1964. She played housekeeper Wilma in the lone season of the 1960 sitcom Peter Loves Mary, a part she received because of references from Burns.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/147815302/|title=Stardom, Phooey!|first=Harold|last=Hefernan|work=The Pittsburgh Press|date=February 12, 1961|access-date=July 20, 2017}} Benaderet considered herself "lucky" to be cast in another series out of fear that she had become too closely associated with Burns & Allen.Tucker (2010), pg. 199 The same year, she was then cast as the voice of Betty Rubble in the Hanna-Barbera primetime animated series The Flintstones. Benaderet auditioned with past radio coworker Jean Vander Pyl for Betty and Wilma Flintstone by exchanging dialogue before the show's co-creator Joseph Barbera, who asked afterward what part they preferred. Vander Pyl recalled in 1994: "I said, 'Oh, I want to be Wilma!' [and] Bea said, 'That's fine with me.{{'"}}{{cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-318/|title=Wilma Speaks!|first=Mark|last=Voger|work=Asbury Park Press|via=Cartoon Research|date=May 29, 1994|access-date=August 1, 2017}} Benaderet voiced guest spots on the side for fellow Hanna-Barbera productions Top Cat and The Yogi Bear Show during 1961 and 1962.{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/10/the_hangover_part_iii.html|title=Dean Martin, 'Hangover III,' 'Beverly Hillbillies,' 'Petticoat Junction' on DVD|first=Mark|last=Voger|work=nj.com|date=October 11, 2013|access-date=August 12, 2017}} While filming the debut season of her show Petticoat Junction the next year, she continued voicing Betty by recording her part alone or with her Flintstones castmates during evening hours until scheduling conflicts forced her to drop the role at the end of the fourth season in 1964. She was replaced by Gerry Johnson.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/98897661/|first=Bettelou|last=Peterson|title=2 Shows, 2 Stars, But Only 1 Voice|work=Detroit Free Press|date=March 25, 1964|page=18|access-date=July 28, 2017}}

In the late 1940s, Benaderet befriended Paul Henning, a scriptwriter on the radio production of Burns & Allen.{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/henningpaul.htm|title=Paul Henning|work=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|access-date=August 1, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180730080400/https://museum.tv/eotv/henningpaul.htm|archive-date=July 30, 2018}} She appeared on the 19 episodes of the show he had written between 1947 and 1951.{{cite web|url=http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Henning,%20Paul&ArtistNumber=36979|title=Paul Henning|author=J. David Goldin|work=radioGOLDINdex|access-date=September 20, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109172644/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Henning,%20Paul&ArtistNumber=39754|archive-date=January 9, 2020}} She became one of his regular players in the first two seasons of Burns & Allen, a two-episode guest appearance on The Bob Cummings Show in 1956–57, and her involvement in three of the most successful sitcoms of the 1960s.Gitlin (2013), pg. 292{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-26-me-henning26-story.html|title=Paul Henning, 93; Created 'Beverly Hillbillies,' Other Comedies for TV|first=Dennis|last=McLellan|website=Los Angeles Times |date=March 26, 2005|access-date=August 21, 2017}} After reading the 1961 first script for The Beverly Hillbillies, Benaderet wanted to audition for the role of Granny. Despite considering her to be too buxom for his vision of the character as a small and wiry woman, Henning allowed her to test anyway.S. Cox (1993), pg. 7 Irene Ryan ultimately won the role; according to Henning, "Bea took one look at the way Irene did the part and said to me, 'There's your Granny!{{'"}} He additionally took Benaderet's suggestion of casting Harriet MacGibbon as Granny's rival Margaret Drysdale.S. Cox (1993), pg. 89 Henning created for Benaderet the supporting character of Cousin Pearl Bodine, the middle-aged widowed mother of Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) and cousin of main character Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), whom she convinces to move from his humble home in the Ozarks after he strikes oil on his property and becomes a millionaire. Prior to shooting the pilot, Benaderet enlisted a dialect coach to help her learn a hillbilly accent.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/44381704/|title=Bea Benaderet Worked to Perfect Cousin Pearl Role|work=The Ottawa Journal|date=April 20, 1963|access-date=August 12, 2017}} Impressed with her performance while screening the pilot to potential sponsors, Henning made Cousin Pearl a recurring character in the 1962–63 first season as she moved into the Clampetts' Beverly Hills mansion, feuded with Granny, and pursued oil tycoon Mr. Brewster (Frank Wilcox) as a love interest. Bluegrass duo Flatt and Scruggs, who performed the show's opening theme, recorded a comedic serenade in 1963 titled "Pearl Pearl Pearl" and Benaderet was pictured on the single's cover.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/countrymusichof/status/800926803359633409|title=We couldn't do #MemberMonday on Flatt & Scruggs without the Beverly Hillbillies! Who was 'Pearl Pearl Pearl' used as a love song for?|work=Country Music HOF|publisher=Twitter|date=November 21, 2016|access-date=September 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101194727/https://twitter.com/countrymusichof/status/800926803359633409|archive-date=January 1, 2020|url-status=live}} Benaderet described Pearl's curly hair as "just my mental image of the character. ... Pearl played the piano for the silent movies and she saw such high fashion and ridiculous hairdos. She could read and write, and the curled hair seemed to Pearl the height of smartness."{{#tag:ref|In the 15th episode of the first season, "Jed Rescues Pearl" (aired January 2, 1963), Pearl plays the piano during a screening of the 1925 Rudolph Valentino film The Eagle.|group="note"}}

Henning had long admired Benaderet's talents and strove to create a starring vehicle for her, as he felt she was worthy of headlining her own series after years of supporting parts.Marc (1996), p. 58 When CBS granted him an open time slot after the massive success of Beverly Hillbillies, he crafted the 1963 rural sitcom Petticoat Junction around Benaderet, starring as Kate Bradley, the widowed proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel.{{cite web|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1963/11/20/page/75/article/display-ad-68-no-title|title=Character Actress Finally Is a Star|first=Marion|last=Purcelli|work=Chicago Tribune|date=November 20, 1963|access-date=August 11, 2017}} Cousin Pearl was consequently written out of the Beverly Hillbillies storyline as having moved back home.Mansour (2005), p. 356{{#tag:ref|Benaderet made one final appearance as Pearl in the October 11, 1967 fifth-season episode "Greetings From the President".|group="note"}} The character of Kate represented Benaderet's first straight role: "Kate Bradley is different from the characters I've played in the past. She has to walk a fine line between being humorous and tender. The other women I've played were strictly for laughs." Benaderet and director Richard Whorf auditioned the young actresses who would play Kate's three teenaged daughters;Kulzer (1992), pp. 55–57 she persuaded Henning to let his 18-year-old daughter Linda read (successfully) for the role of Betty Jo Bradley.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-dec-16-et-petticoat16-story.html|title=Back to the 'Junction'|first=Susan|last=King|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 16, 2008|access-date=May 15, 2017}} Linda Henning and Benaderet's son, Jack Bannon, were members of a young actors' theater group at the time. CBS promoted the show's September 22, 1963, premiere with a print ad featuring an Al Hirschfeld caricature of Benaderet as Cousin Pearl.[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/142121823/ "8:00–8:30 pm on CBS: Petticoat Junction], St. Louis Post-Dispatch (September 22, 1963), pg. 256. Retrieved August 10, 2017. Petticoat Junction was an immediate hit, peaking at fourth in the Nielsen ratings, and remained in the top 30 during Benaderet's four full seasons on the show from 1963 to 1967.Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present (Ballantine, 2007), pp. 1683–85. Her former Flintstones costars Alan Reed and Jean Vander Pyl filmed guest spots in later seasons.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Henning was again given free rein for a new show with no pilot needed, which he bestowed to colleague Jay Sommers due to his busy schedule. Sommers created the 1965 sitcom Green Acres, adapted from his 1950 radio program Granby's Green Acres that had starred Benaderet, thus making it a spinoff of her own television show. Benaderet filmed six appearances as Kate in the first season as both shows' casts intermingled on several episodes in a process dubbed "cross-pollination".{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-05-ca-19451-story.html|title=The Way We Rural : 'Hillbillies' Creator Paul Henning, to Be Honored in Santa Ana, Looks Back|first=Randy|last=Lewis|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 5, 1994|access-date=August 19, 2017}}

Benaderet played bit parts in six motion pictures from 1946 to 1962, four of which were uncredited. She was chosen from 200 actresses for the part of a government file clerk in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) and completed filming in half an hour, but her scenes were cut from the final print.{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Life/40s/46/Radio-Life-1946-07-07.pdf|title=Nice Work...If You Can Get It|first=Tod|last=Fredericks|work=Radio Life|page=33|date=July 7, 1946|access-date=August 4, 2017}} She told Radio Life magazine that year that after having struggled to remember her lines, "Mr. Hitchcock looked me right in the eye and asked 'You want to go back to radio?' I said yes". Her first onscreen appearance, also uncredited, was in the film On the Town (1949), as one of two women whom the main characters (played by Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra) encounter while riding the subway.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/355/on-the-town#notes|title=On the Town (1949) – Notes|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=September 3, 2017}}

In 1945, Benaderet and fellow voice actresses Janet Waldo and Cathy Lewis were to appear on a televised fashion show on her former KFRC employer Don Lee's W6XAO network before the project fell through.{{cite web|url=http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-birthday-judy.html|title=Happy Birthday, Judy|work=yowpyowp.blogspot.com|date=February 4, 2010|access-date=July 25, 2017}} On Irving Taylor's novelty album Drink Along with Irving (1960), she duetted with Elvia Allman and Mel Blanc, respectively, on tracks titled "Sub-Bourbon Living" and "Separate Bar Stools".Karol (2006), p. 130

Benaderet and her first husband, actor Jim Bannon, met while employed at KHJ in Los Angeles. They married in August 1938 and had two children: Jack (1940–2017),{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jack-bannon-dead-lou-grant-actor-was-77-1052238|title=Jack Bannon, Actor on 'Lou Grant,' Dies at 77|first=Mike|last=Barnes|work=The Hollywood Reporter|date=October 26, 2017|access-date=October 26, 2017}} and Maggie (b. 1947).{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Life/40s/47/Radio-Life-1947-03-16.pdf|title=Off Mike: Miss Bannon Debuts|work=Radio Life|page=13|date=March 16, 1947|access-date=August 3, 2017}} However, Bannon's heavy filming and touring schedule required for his portrayal of fictional cowboy hero Red Ryder took a toll on their marriage and she filed for divorce in September 1950. In 1958, Benaderet married Eugene Twombly,{{cite web|url=http://petticoat.topcities.com/scrapbook20.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523043115/http://petticoat.topcities.com/scrapbook20.htm|title=The Henning Family Scrapbook|author=Dave Stein|date=1999|archive-date=May 23, 2012|page=3|access-date=March 29, 2021}} a sound-effects technician for movies and television who had worked on The Jack Benny Program, and they remained together until her death in 1968. Her son Jack became an actor, making his television debut in bit parts on Petticoat Junction (and working on the show as a dialogue coach), later appearing in Lou Grant.

In 1961, Benaderet dressed in a Flintstones-inspired leopard-print costume to collect donations for City of Hope and March of Dimes{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/98356087/|title=Knock, Knock, Who's There?|work=Detroit Free Press|date=March 12, 1961|access-date=August 8, 2017}} and worked with Welcome Wagon in the San Fernando Valley. On February 5, 1964, she was named an honorary sheriff of Calabasas, California, with her daughter Maggie accepting a badge on her behalf that was presented by her Petticoat Junction co-star Edgar Buchanan in a public ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/22960578/|title=Calabasas Inaugurates New 'Sheriff'|work=Van Nuys News|page=77|date=February 6, 1964|access-date=August 5, 2017}}

File:Bea Benaderet Grave.JPG, with incorrect year of birth]]

During a routine checkup in 1963, a spot was discovered on one of Benaderet's lungs.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/54194641/|title=Benadaret Licks Tumor, Looks Forward To Petticoat Junction|first=Bob|last=Thomas|agency=Associated Press|publisher=Playground Daily News|date=March 25, 1968|access-date=August 24, 2017}} It was no longer visible at the time of her follow-up visit, but by November 1967, it had returned and grown in size. She resisted immediate exploratory surgery, as she was filming the fifth season of Petticoat Junction and feared the show would be affected by her absence. On November 26, she underwent the surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, when it was discovered the tumor could not be removed. Diagnosed with lung cancer, Benaderet underwent six weeks of radiation treatment via a linear particle accelerator at Stanford University Medical Center. A longtime smoker, she cut down her multiple-pack-a-day habit following her initial checkups and quit entirely after her surgery.

"heisner">Heisner, John (October 15, 1968). "Bea Benaderet Remembered". Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (p. 49). Retrieved June 24, 2017.

Benaderet's treatment was initially successful and concluded in January 1968. She had missed 10 episodes of the show as she recuperated, during which her character of Kate Bradley was vaguely described in the storyline as being out of town. Expectations were that Benaderet would eventually recover and be able to resume filming.{{cite news |url=http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn88074101/1968-01-24/ed-1/seq-16/ |title=Preminger tags Carol for role |first=Dorothy |last=Manners |newspaper=Press-Republican |date=January 24, 1968 |access-date=May 15, 2017 |via=NYS Historic Newspapers}} Rosemary DeCamp (Kate's sister Helen) and Shirley Mitchell (Kate's cousin Mae Jennings) filled in as temporary mother figures during her absence; Mitchell had previously worked with Benaderet on The Jack Benny Program in 1954–55 as Mabel Flapsaddle.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/100781630/|title=Gertie and Mabel|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=April 25, 1967|access-date=August 4, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/62935192/|title=Reunion at Switchboard|work=San Bernardino County Sun|date=April 2, 1967|access-date=August 4, 2017}} Benaderet returned for the March 30 fifth-season finale "Kate's Homecoming","Bea Benaderet Returns to Role". Independence Examiner (p. 8). March 30, 1968. Retrieved June 24, 2017. but five months later, after shooting the first three episodes of the sixth season, she took leave from the series due to being too ill to continue. Initial plans were for her to record her voice to be inserted into future episodes.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/77648902/|title=Bea Benaderet May Tape Voice|work=San Antonio Express-News|date=September 8, 1968|access-date=August 26, 2017}} However, her condition dramatically declined; on September 26, chest pains related to her illness forced her to return to the hospital for the final time.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30357084/|title=Last Rites Set Tomorrow for Bea Benaderet|work=Valley News (Van Nuys, CA)|date=October 15, 1968|access-date=August 26, 2017}} The fourth show of the sixth season, "The Valley Has a Baby", marked Benaderet's last episode and featured only her voice with her stand-in filmed from the rear.

Benaderet died on October 13, 1968, of lung cancer and pneumonia, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.{{cite news|title=Pneumonia, Cancer Kills 'Petticoat Junction' Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2725954/the_daily_mail/|agency=Associated Press|work=The Daily Mail|date=October 14, 1968|page=8|access-date=July 1, 2015}} She was entombed in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood. On October 17, four days after her death and the day after her funeral, her husband Eugene Twombly died at the age of 54 from a massive heart attack{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8867523/jack_bannon_resident_son_of_bea/|title=E. Twombley, Widower of Actress, Dies|work=Los Angeles Times|date=October 18, 1968|access-date=August 1, 2017}} and was interred beside her.

{{quote box|align=right|width=25%|quote="I think it is the most wonderful profession in the world. I can walk on the set in the morning not thinking I can put one foot in front of the other, and then on stage, something happens. You come to life right away. I would die if I didn't work."|source=—Benaderet in 1965 on her love of acting.}}

When Benaderet was cast in Petticoat Junction, she was hailed as having "finally" become a star.{{cite news|last1=Langley|first1=Frank|title=Star System Ended|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2727368/the_decatur_herald/|work=The Decatur Herald|date=September 6, 1963|page=26|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = July 1, 2015}}{{cite web|url=https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2018/04/mama-bea.html|title=Bea Benaderet: Mama of the Year|first=Harry|last=Harris|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|via=tralfaz.blogspot.com|date=May 10, 1964|access-date=April 18, 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/151246960/|title=She's Finally Top Banana|first=Jack|last=Major|work=Akron Beacon Journal|via=newspapers.com|date=September 29, 1963|access-date=January 22, 2020}} She had previously played supporting roles throughout her career, usually as a next-door neighbor,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/29602797/|title=Bea Benaderet's Own Star Shines Brightly As Any|work=San Antonio Express-News|page=84|date=January 19, 1964|access-date=August 23, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15832276/|title=A Long-Term Next-Door Neighbor Gets Own Show|first=Hal|last=Humphrey|work=Los Angeles Times; reprinted in the Beckley Post-Herald|date=July 15, 1963|access-date=July 20, 2017}} and had been openly averse to leading roles. However, in January 1963, following CBS' acquisition of Petticoat Junction, she enthused to columnist Eve Starr of The Mercury: "Isn't it nice? After all these years. ... [It] just never occurred to me that it might...golly, my own show!" Benaderet often discussed facets of the acting profession in promotional interviews for the show,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/68857572/|title=Bea Benaderet 'Airs' a Theory|work=El Paso Herald|page=27|date=January 21, 1967|access-date=August 31, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/40712379/|title=Bea Benaderet Hates to See Anyone Lose|work=Salina Journal|page=11|date=March 14, 1967|access-date=August 31, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/113217382/|title=Bea Likes Canadian Methods|work=The Tennessean|page=140|date=October 2, 1966|access-date=September 2, 2017}} and believed that leading a series required a "feeling of responsibility", including her being more observant of on-set activity and her costars' performances, while continuously evolving her character.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161157652/|title=Stardom: Bea spells it out|first=Aleene|last=MacMinn|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 13, 1966|access-date=August 19, 2017}}

Benaderet garnered praise for her mastery of dialects{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/137081190/|title=The Lady with the Versatile Voice|work=Rochester Democrat and Chronicle|page=116|date=January 31, 1965|access-date=August 8, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/71723247/|title=Bea Benaderet's Dialect Returns Her to TV Work|work=The Cumberland News|page=15|date=December 22, 1962|access-date=August 22, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/?spot=4724698&fcfToken=7477436c695637355065424a4647447a79474f5a795069784e6f4568526d773577506f7a4d4744425a4f644b6f5855426d73762b6775514c474837733343524d|title=Comedy Veterans Head Cast of Petticoat Junction|work=Standard-Speaker|page=19|date=October 5, 1963|access-date=August 22, 2017}} and her work as a comedienne and character actress,{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48713241/|title=Petticoat Junction Star Likes Activity|first=Edna Mae|last=Herman|work=Daily Independent (Kannapolis, NC)|date=August 13, 1967|access-date=August 21, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/24086078/|title=Star of TV, Radio Bea Benaderet Dies|work=The Independent|page=2|date=October 14, 1968|access-date=August 22, 2017}} while she is recognized for her voice characterizations in animation.{{cite web|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/voices-experience|title=Voices of Experience|first=Martin|last=Goodman|work=Animation World Network|date=April 1, 2000|access-date=August 7, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-june-foray-appreciation-20170727-story.html|title=June Foray: From Rocky the flying squirrel to Cindy Lou Who, she was a master|first=Robert|last=Lloyd|work=latimes.com|date=July 30, 2017|access-date=August 7, 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-hot-job-in-hollywood-voice-overs/2013/08/07/27ee2160-fb7e-11e2-9bde-7ddaa186b751_story.html|title=The hot job in Hollywood? Voice overs.|first=Roger|last=Moore|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 10, 2013|access-date=August 7, 2017}} MeTV considered her an "icon" of 1960s television.{{cite web|url=http://www.metv.com/stories/bea-benaderet-was-both-the-best-and-the-worst-guest-ever-on-password|title=Bea Benaderet was both the best and the worst guest ever on Password|author=|work=MeTV|date=July 13, 2017|access-date=August 31, 2017}} Donna Douglas said, "Watching her timing is like watching a ballerina. She's so effortless."{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48388923/|title=Inside Television|first=Eve|last=Starr|work=The Mercury|page=4|date=January 28, 1963|access-date=August 22, 2017}} Benaderet credited George Burns with mentoring her in comedy acting,Staff (September 1, 1965). "Today's Channel Check". The Cincinnati Enquirer (p. 16). Retrieved September 21, 2017. but claimed that television scriptwriters focused more on her voice and delivery than her characters, which she believed stunted opportunities for her to play more dramatic roles. For her contributions to television, Benaderet received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, on 1611 Vine Street,{{cite web|title=Bea Benaderet|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/bea-benaderet|work=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=July 1, 2015}} and she was the recipient of a Genii Award in 1966.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161681028/|title=Stars Join to Fete Genii Winner|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 11, 1966|page=76|access-date=August 31, 2017}}

She is credited with over 1000 combined radio and television episode appearances,Karol (2006), p. 15-16 ("One of the most prolific actresses ever, she appeared in more than 600 series episodes — all sitcoms, one [The Flintstones] as a voice actor only."){{cite web|url=http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Benaderet,%20Bea&ArtistNumber=03486|title=Bea Benaderet|author=J. David Goldin|work=RadioGOLDIndex.com|date=April 27, 2017|access-date=July 28, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114210141/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p4.cgi?ArtistName=Benaderet,%20Bea&ArtistNumber=03486|archive-date=January 14, 2019}} which earned her the nickname of "Busy Bea" from members of the press.{{cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Life/40s/44/Radio-Life-1944-05-14.pdf|title=Busy Bea|first=Shirley|last=Gordon|author-link=Shirley Gordon (writer)|work=Radio Life|date=May 14, 1944|pages=29, 31|access-date=January 27, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/68879887/|title=Somebody Built a Hotel around Bea Benaderet|work=El Paso Herald|date=July 29, 1967|access-date=August 21, 2017}} The Pantagraph columnist Ernie Kreiling remarked in 1965 that "probably no Hollywood personality has spent as many hours in our homes".{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/70721006/|title=Petticoat's Aunt Kate Gaining in Stardom|first=Ernie|last=Kreiling|work=The Pantagraph|page=26|date=July 3, 1965|access-date=August 23, 2017}} Benaderet was good friends and a frequent collaborator with Mel Blanc, who wrote in his 1988 biography That's Not All Folks!: "[We] spent so much time together in studios that I used to refer jokingly to her as the 'other woman' in my life."Blanc & Bashe (1988), p. 81

Keeping the spelling of her surname, which has been misspelled as Benederet or Benadaret, was a choice she insisted on.{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/77245953/|title=Bea Benederet Dies|agency=Associated Press|work=The Evening Times|location=Sayre, Pennsylvania|date=October 14, 1968|access-date=July 28, 2017}} She first resisted requests to change it early in her radio career: "[T]hey'd say, 'Anything's better than Benaderet—How about Smith?'" When she was introduced to Orson Welles in 1936, he remarked that her name "sounded like something you ad lib in a mob scene." It was misspelled in a 1946 press release created specifically about its proper spelling,{{cite web|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Life/40s/47/Radio-Life-1947-01-05.pdf|title=Don't Care|author=|work=Radio Life|page=11|date=January 5, 1947|access-date=September 6, 2017}} and Radio Life wrote in 1947: "If someone were to conduct a survey to decide the radio personality with the most frequently misspelled name, Bea Benaderet would probably win hands down." Early in the first season of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, her full name appeared as "Bee Benadaret" in the closing credits.

{{Portal|Biography|New York City|California|Los Angeles|Radio|Film|Television|Comedy}}

• List of comedians
• List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

{{#tag:ref|Click on archived link for complete listing.|group="note"}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=22em|

• Blue Monday Jamboree (1927–1936)
• The Jack Benny Program (1937–1955)
• Fibber McGee and Molly (1939–1951)
• The Campbell Playhouse (1939–1940)
• Lux Radio Theatre (1940–1944)
• The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1942–1949)
• Cavalcade of America (1942–1944)
• A Date with Judy (1942)
• Mayor of the Town (1942)
• Lights Out (1943)
• Command Performance (1943–1946)
• Suspense (1943–1944)
• The Great Gildersleeve (1943–1949)
• The Red Skelton Program (1944)
• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1944–1945)
• The Adventures of Maisie (1945–1952)
• This is Your FBI (1945–1953)
• The Mel Blanc Show (1946–1947)
• A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (1946–1951)
• The Lum and Abner Show (1948)
• Hallmark Playhouse (1948–1951)
• My Favorite Husband (1948–1951)
• Granby's Green Acres (1950)
• The Penny Singleton Show (1950)
• Broadway Is My Beat (1950–1951)
• The Halls of Ivy (1950–1952)
• Hollywood Star Playhouse (1951)
• Meet Millie (1951–1954)

}}

• Little Red Riding Rabbit (1944) (voice)
• Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears (1944) (voice)
• Baseball Bugs (1946) (voice)
• Tweetie Pie (1947) (voice)
• Chow Hound (1951) (voice)
• A Bear for Punishment (1951) (voice)
• Gift Wrapped (1952) (voice){{cite web|url=https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2018/12/drop-it-drop-it.html|title=Drop It! Drop It!|work=tralfaz.blogspot.com|date=December 18, 2018|access-date=January 22, 2020}}
• Feed the Kitty (1952) (voice)
• Bewitched Bunny (1954) (voice)
• The Hole Idea (1955) (voice){{cite web|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/robert-mckimsons-the-hole-idea-1955/|title=Robert McKimson's "The Hole Idea" (1955)|work=Cartoon Research|first=Devon|last=Baxter|date=May 17, 2017|access-date=January 9, 2020}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{reflist|group=note|30em}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|40em}}

• {{cite book|title=Television Western Players of the Fifties: A Biographical Encyclopedia of All Regular Cast Members in Western Series, 1949–1959 |first=Everett|last=Aaker|date=2007|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn= 978-0-7864-3087-1}}
• {{cite book|title=That's Not All Folks!|first1=Mel|last1=Blanc|author-link=Mel Blanc|first2=Philip|last2=Bashe|date=1988|publisher=Warner Books|isbn=978-0-446-51244-2|url=https://archive.org/details/thatsnotallfolks00blan}}
• {{cite book|title=Say Goodnight, Gracie!: The Story of George Burns and Gracie Allen|first1=Cheryl|last1=Blythe|first2=Susan|last2=Sackett|date=1989|publisher=Prima Publishing|isbn=978-1-55958-019-9|url=https://archive.org/details/saygoodnightgrac00blyt}}
• {{cite book |last= Cox |first= Jim |title= The Great Radio Sitcoms|year= 2007 |publisher= McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-3146-5}}
• {{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Cox|author-link=Stephen Cox (writer)|title=The Beverly Hillbillies: From the Small Screen to the Big Screen|date=1993|publisher=Harper Perennial|isbn=978-0-06-097565-4|url=https://archive.org/details/beverlyhillbilli00coxs}}
• {{cite book |last1= Edelman |first1= Rob|last2=Kupferberg|first2=Audrey |title= Meet the Mertzes: The Life Stories of I Love Lucy's Other Couple|year= 1999 |publisher= Renaissance Books|isbn=978-1-58063-095-5}}
• {{cite book|first=Martin|last=Gitlin|title=The Greatest Sitcoms of All Time|date=2013|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-8724-4}}
• {{cite book|first1=Daniel|last1=Goldmark|first2=Charles L.|last2=Granata|title=The Cartoon Music Book|year=2002|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn= 978-1-55652-473-8}}
• {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Irvin|title=George Burns Television Productions: The Series and Pilots, 1950–1981|date=2014|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-9486-6}}
• {{cite book|first1=Chuck|last1=Jones|author-link1=Chuck Jones|first2=Maureen|last2=Furniss|title=Chuck Jones: Conversations|date=2005|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn= 978-1-57806-728-2}}
• {{cite book|first=Michael|last=Karol|title=Sitcom Queens: Divas of the Small Screen|year=2006|publisher=iUniverse|isbn= 978-0-595-40251-9}}
• {{cite book|first=Dina Marie|last=Kulzer|title=Television Series Regulars of the Fifties and Sixties in Interview|date=1992|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-89950-722-4}}
• {{cite book|first=David|last=Mansour|title=From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century|date=2005|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn= 978-0-7407-5118-9}}
• {{cite book|first=David|last=Marc|title=Demographic Vistas: Television in American Culture|date=1996|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-1560-1|url=https://archive.org/details/demographicvista00marc}}
• {{cite book|last1=Oppenheimer|first1=Jess|last2=Oppenheimer|first2=Greg|author-link1=Jess Oppenheimer|title=Laughs, Luck – and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time|year=1999|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-0584-3|url=https://archive.org/details/laughslucklucyho00oppe}}
• {{cite book|first=William|last=Ristow|title=San Francisco Free & Easy|date=1980|publisher=Downwind Publications|isbn=978-0-913192-02-3}}
• {{cite book|title=The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms|first=David C.|last=Tucker|date=2007|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn= 978-0-7864-2900-4}}
• {{cite book|title=Lost Laughs of '50s and '60s Television: Thirty Sitcoms That Faded Off Screen|first=David C.|last=Tucker|date=2010|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn= 978-0-7864-4466-3}}

{{refend}}

• {{IMDb name|0070153}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080829024349/http://www.cafes.net/beetle/bea.htm Partial article published in The Woman magazine, March 1968]
• [https://aurorasginjoint.com/2016/03/06/tv-sidekicks-bea-benaderets-blanche-to-gracie-allens-gracie/ TV Sidekicks: Bea Benaderet's Blanche to Gracie Allen's Gracie]

{{Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benaderet, Bea}}

Category:1906 births

Category:1968 deaths

Category:Actresses from San Francisco

Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:American people of Turkish-Jewish descent

Category:American radio actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Burials at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery

Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California

Category:Deaths from pneumonia in California

Category:Hanna-Barbera people

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:American women comedians

Category:Comedians from New York City

Category:Comedians from San Francisco