Frances Bavier

{{Infobox person

| name = Frances Bavier

| image = Frances Bavier 1964.JPG

| caption = Bavier, 1964

| birthname = Frances Elizabeth Bavier

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|12|14}}

| birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1989|12|6|1902|12|14}}

| death_place = Siler City, North Carolina, U.S.

| resting_place = Oakwood Cemetery, Siler City, North Carolina, U.S.

| alma_mater = Columbia University
American Academy of Dramatic Arts

| occupation = Actress

| known for = The Andy Griffith Show
Mayberry R.F.D.
It's a Great Life

| spouse = {{marriage|Russell Carpenter|1928|1933|reason=divorce}}

| yearsactive = 1927–1974

}}

Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role as Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. from 1960 to 1970. Aunt Bee logged more Mayberry years (ten) than any other character. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Comedy Actress for the role in 1967. Bavier was also known for playing Amy Morgan on It's a Great Life (1954–1956).

Early life and career

Bavier was born in New York City in a brownstone on Gramercy Park{{cite journal|title=Childhood Jealousy Leads Frances Bavier to Stage|journal=The Ogden Standard-Examiner|date=June 26, 1936|page=13}} to Charles S. Bavier, a stationary engineer, and Mary S. (née Birmingham) Bavier. She originally planned to become a teacher after attending Columbia University. She first appeared in vaudeville, later moving to the Broadway stage.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/08/obituaries/frances-bavier-dead-tv-performer-was-86.html|title=Frances Bavier Dead; TV Performer Was 86|date=1989-12-08|work=The New York Times|access-date=2009-05-14}}

After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1925, she was cast in the stage comedy The Poor Nut.{{cite web|url=http://fans-pages.com/aunt-bee-sex-symbol-and-diva|title=Aunt Bee: Sex Symbol and Diva?|last1=Carp|first1=Randy|work=Fans Pages|access-date=March 13, 2013}} Bavier's big break came in the original Broadway production of On Borrowed Time. She later appeared with Henry Fonda in the play Point of No Return.

Bavier had roles in more than a dozen films, and played a range of supporting roles on television. Career highlights include her turn as Mrs. Barley in the classic 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. In 1955, she played the rough and tough "Aunt Maggie" Sawtelle, a frontier Ma Barker-type character, in the Lone Ranger episode "Sawtelle's Saga End". In 1957, she played Nora Martin, mother of Eve Arden's character on The Eve Arden Show, despite the fact that Arden was less than six years younger than Bavier. That same year, Bavier guest-starred in the eighth episode of Perry Mason as Louise Marlow in "The Case of the Crimson Kiss".

She was in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show, which featured Andy Griffith as Andy Taylor and Ron Howard as Opie Taylor. She played a character named Henrietta Perkins. The episode led to The Andy Griffith Show, and Bavier was cast in the role of Aunt Bee. Bavier had a love-hate relationship with her famous role during the run of the show. As a New York City actress, she felt her dramatic talents were being overlooked, yet after playing Bee for eight seasons, she was the only original cast member to remain with the series in the spin-off, Mayberry R.F.D., for two additional seasons.{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=Richard Michael|title=The Andy Griffith Show|year=1985|pages=13–14|publisher=J.F. Blair |isbn=0-89587-043-6}}

Bavier was easily offended on the set of The Andy Griffith Show and the production staff took a cautious approach when communicating with her. Series star Andy Griffith once admitted the two sometimes clashed during the series’ run.{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/12/07/Frances-Aunt-Bea-Bavier-dead-at-86/6743629010000/ |title=Frances 'Aunt Bee' Bavier dead at 86|work=United Press International|date=December 7, 1989|access-date=5 October 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://statelineobserver.com/stories/columns/37-nowhere-road/6915-2014-05-29-aunt-bea-s-studebaker-and-other-fine-vehicles|title=Aunt Bee's Studebaker and other fine vehicles|work=State Line Observer|last=Foley|first=Rich|date=October 23, 2014|access-date=5 October 2018|archive-date=December 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211120656/https://statelineobserver.com/stories/columns/37-nowhere-road/6915-2014-05-29-aunt-bea-s-studebaker-and-other-fine-vehicles|url-status=dead}} On an appearance on Larry King Live (November 27, 2003), Griffith said Bavier phoned him four months before she died and apologized for being "difficult" during the series’ run. Bavier confessed in an interview with Bill Ballard for Carolina Camera that "it is very difficult for an actress ... to create a role and to be so identified that you as a person no longer exist and all the recognition you get is for a part that is created on the screen."[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyhkr9nI88k Carolina Camera: Aunt Bee Retires. Ballard, Bill. www.youtube.com]

Bavier won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Comedy in 1967.

Later years

In 1972, Bavier retired from acting and bought a home in Siler City, North Carolina. On choosing to live in North Carolina instead of her native New York, Bavier said, "I fell in love with North Carolina, all the pretty roads and the trees." Bavier was said to have married Russell Carpenter briefly in her early career, but there is no proof of this having actually occurred. According to a 1981 article by Chip Womick, a staff writer of The Courier Tribune, Bavier enthusiastically promoted Christmas and Easter Seal Societies from her Siler City home, and often wrote inspirational letters to fans who sought autographs.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Additionally she left a $100,000 trust fund for the police force in Siler City, North Carolina whose interest is divided among the approximately 20 employees as a bonus every December.{{Cite web|url=https://www.courier-tribune.com/news/20190112/did-aunt-bee-leave-100k-for-siler-city-police-here8217s-answer|title=Did Aunt Bee leave $100K for the Siler City police? Here's the answer|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020024200/https://www.courier-tribune.com/news/20190112/did-aunt-bee-leave-100k-for-siler-city-police-here8217s-answer|url-status=dead}}

Death

File:Gravestone on actress Francis E. Bavier image 1.jpg

Bavier was described "as living a sparse life in her later years, a very quiet life".{{cite news|title='Andy Griffith' Aunt Bee Recluse in Final Years|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-17-ca-368-story.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 17, 1990}} On November 22, 1989, she was admitted to Chatham Hospital, where she was kept in the coronary care unit for two weeks. She was discharged on December 4, 1989. Bavier died at 7 p.m. on December 6, 1989, two days after being released from the hospital and eight days before her 87th birthday. The immediate causes of death were listed as congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, and atherosclerosis, with supporting factors being breast cancer, arthritis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).{{cite news|title=The cast of 'Griffith Show' mourns Frances Bavier|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1989/12/08/page/125/article/cast-of-griffith-show-mourns-frances-bavier|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|date=December 8, 1989}}[http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/deathcert/bavier,%20frances_dc.pdf Frances Bavier death certificate], autopsyfiles.org; accessed September 28, 2016. Bavier is interred at Oakwood Cemetery in Siler City.{{cite book|last=Hoffman|first=James L.|author2=Grizzle, Ralph|title=Day Trips From Raleigh-Durham|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2007|pages=184–86|isbn=978-0-7627-4543-2}} Her headstone includes the name of her most famous role, "Aunt Bee", and reads, "To live in the hearts of those left behind is not to die."

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title: ! Role: ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1931 \| Girls About Town \| Joy \| Uncredited
1943 \| O, My Darling Clementine \| Mrs. Asbury \|
1951 \| The Day the Earth Stood Still \| Mrs. Barley \|
1951 \| {{sortname\|The\|Stooge}} \| Mrs. Rogers \|
1952 \| The Lady Says No \| Aunt Alice Hatch \|
1952 \| Bend of the River \| Mrs. Prentiss \| Alternative title: Where the River Bends
1952 \| Sally and Saint Anne \| Mrs. Kitty "Mom" O'Moyne \|
1952 \| My Wife's Best Friend \| Mrs. Chamberlain \|
1952 \| Horizons West \| Martha Hammond \|
1953 \| Man in the Attic \| Helen Harley \|
1956 \| {{sortname\|The\|Bad Seed\|The Bad Seed (1956 film)}} \| Woman in dinner party scene \| Uncredited
1958 \| A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed \| Mrs. Solitaire \| Alternative title: How to Rob a Bank
1959 \| It Started with a Kiss \| Mrs. Tappe \|
1974 \| Benji \| Lady with cat \| (final film role)

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title:

! Role:

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1931

| Girls About Town

| Joy

| Uncredited

1943

| O, My Darling Clementine

| Mrs. Asbury

1951

| The Day the Earth Stood Still

| Mrs. Barley

1951

| {{sortname|The|Stooge}}

| Mrs. Rogers

1952

| The Lady Says No

| Aunt Alice Hatch

1952

| Bend of the River

| Mrs. Prentiss

| Alternative title: Where the River Bends

1952

| Sally and Saint Anne

| Mrs. Kitty "Mom" O'Moyne

1952

| My Wife's Best Friend

| Mrs. Chamberlain

1952

| Horizons West

| Martha Hammond

1953

| Man in the Attic

| Helen Harley

1956

| {{sortname|The|Bad Seed|The Bad Seed (1956 film)}}

| Woman in dinner party scene

| Uncredited

1958

| A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed

| Mrs. Solitaire

| Alternative title: How to Rob a Bank

1959

| It Started with a Kiss

| Mrs. Tappe

1974

| Benji

| Lady with cat

| (final film role)

Television credits

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1952 \| Racket Squad \| Martha Carver \| 1 episode
1952– 1953 \| Gruen Guild Playhouse \| Sarah Cummings \| 2 episodes
1953 \| Hallmark Hall of Fame \| Lou Bloor \| 1 episode
1953– 1954 \| City Detective \| Various roles \| 3 episodes
1953– 1954 \| Letter to Loretta \| Various roles \| 3 episodes
1953– 1955 \| Dragnet \| Hazel Howard \| 3 episodes
1954 \| {{sortname\|The\|Pepsi-Cola Playhouse}} \| Thelma \| 2 episodes
1954– 1955 \| Waterfront \| Martha Amy \| 2 episodes
1954– 1956 \| It's a Great Life \| Mrs. Amy Morgan \| 62 episodes
1955 \| {{sortname\|The\| Lone Ranger\|Lone Ranger#Television\|sort=Lone Ranger}} \| Aunt Maggie Sawtelle \| Season 4 Episode 29: "Sawtelle Saga's End"
1955 \| Soldiers of Fortune \| Amelia Lilly \| 1 episode
1955 \| Damon Runyon Theater \| \| 1 episode
1955 \| Alfred Hitchcock Presents \| Mrs. Fergusen \| Season 1 Episode 1: Revenge
1956 \| Lux Video Theatre \| \| 1 episode
1956 \| Cavalcade of America \| Mrs. Hayes \| 1 episode
1957 \| Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre \| \| 1 episode
1957 \| General Electric Theater \| Miss Trimingham \| 1 episode
1957 \| Perry Mason \| Louise Marlow \| 1 episode
1957– 1958 \| {{sortname\|The\|Eve Arden Show}} \| Mrs. Nora Martin \| 5 episodes
1958 \| Colgate Theatre \| \| Season 1 Episode 8: "If You Knew Tomorrow"
1959 \| {{sortname\|The\|Ann Sothern Show}} \| Mrs. Wallace \| 1 episode
1959 \| {{sortname\|The\|Thin Man\|nolink=1}} \| \| 1 episode
1959 \| Sugarfoot \| Aunt Nancy Thomas \| 1 episode
1959 \| Wagon Train \| Sister Joseph \| 1 episode - "The Sister Rita Story"
1959 \| 77 Sunset Strip \| Grandma Fenwick \| 1 episode
1960 \| {{sortname\|The\|Danny Thomas Show}} \| Henrietta Perkins \| 1 episode
1960 \| Rawhide \| Ellen Ferguson \| 1 episode
1960– 1968 \| {{sortname\|The\|Andy Griffith Show}} \| Aunt Beatrice "Bee" Taylor \| 175 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series (1967)
1967 \| Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. \| Aunt Bee Taylor \| 1 episode
1968– 1970 \| Mayberry R.F.D. \| Aunt Bee Taylor \| 24 episodes

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1952

| Racket Squad

| Martha Carver

| 1 episode

1952–
1953

| Gruen Guild Playhouse

| Sarah Cummings