Rebecca Welles

Welles's sibling was fashion designer Gustave Tassell.{{cite news|last1=Sheppard|first1=Eugenia|title=Verve in Latest No-Dress Dress|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5583899/the_kansas_city_times/|work=The Kansas City Times|agency=Publishers Newspaper Syndicate|date=July 5, 1964|location=Missouri, Kansas City|page=19|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = June 14, 2016}} {{Open access}} In 1944, she was the recipient of a $500 tuition award from the Theatre Guild to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.{{cite news|last1=Gaver|first1=Jack|title=Broadway|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5575029/dunkirk_evening_observer/|work=Dunkirk Evening Observer|agency=United Press|date=October 11, 1944|location=New York, Dunkirk|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = June 13, 2016}} {{Open access}} She spent two years at the academy while acting in stock theater in Philadelphia.{{cite news|last1=Butterfield|first1=C.E.|title=Television Is Developer Of Own Talent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5575110/the_bee/|work=The Bee|agency=Associated Press|date=February 8, 1951|location=Virginia, Danville|page=25|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = June 13, 2016}} {{Open access}}

As a youngster, she was a member of the Bessie V. Hicks Players in Philadelphia.{{cite news |title=Playlet Aids S.P.C.A. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22388850/the_philadelphia_inquirer/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=April 20, 1939 |location=Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |page=15|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 31, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Welles' first TV appearance was in the episode "A Chill on the Wind" on Studio One in 1951, where she was credited under her birth name, but subsequently worked under the surname Welles. (A newspaper source in February 1951 says of Welles, "Last November she had a walk-on in the Studio One drama of A Letter to Cairo.)

Active from 1951 to 1964, Welles made appearances on about 50 TV shows, including 77 Sunset Strip, Gunsmoke (S2E33 “Moon”), Boots and Saddles, Bat Masterson, Alcoa Theatre, and four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She made five appearances on Perry Mason, including three roles as defendants: in 1959 she played Carol Delaney in "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop", and Carol Taylor in "The Case of the Frantic Flyer." She played Rita Norge in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Runaway Corpse." In her other two appearances, she played the role of murderer Edith Bristol in the 1961 episode "The Case of the Waylaid Wolf" and murderer Leslie Eden in the 1964 episode "The Case of the Illicit Illusion." In addition, Welles appeared in four feature films, including Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955) and Desire Under the Elms (1958). She made her last onscreen appearance in a 1964 episode of Arrest and Trial.

In a reversal of sorts{{Clarify|reason=reversal of what?|date=July 2024}}, Welles was the inspiration for an episode of Big Town on CBS. A newspaper article in The Bridgeport Telegram on February 21, 1951, reported "Susan Douglas stars as Miss Cinderella ... which was inspired by the experience of Reba Tassell, the TV Cinderella girl who made such a hit on Studio One last month."{{cite news|title=Television Topics|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5575300/the_bridgeport_telegram/|work=The Bridgeport Telegram|date=February 21, 1951|location=Connecticut, Bridgeport|page=58|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = June 13, 2016}} {{Open access}}

Welles married Barton Goldberg in 1946. They had two daughters together, Elizabeth and actress Gwen Welles, before they divorced in 1961.{{cite news |last1=Panitt |first1=Merrill |title=Jimmy Durante Hailed As Greatest Comedian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22414723/the_philadelphia_inquirer/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=January 26, 1951 |location=Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |page=36 |via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = August 1, 2018}} {{Open access}} Welles married television director Don Weis on August 25, 1961, in Los Angeles.California, Marriage Index 1960-1985

File:The Brass Legend (1956) Press Photo of Rebecca Welles.jpg (1956)]]

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• {{IMDb name|id=0850974|name=Rebecca Welles}}

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Category:1928 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from Philadelphia

Category:21st-century American women

Category:Western (genre) television actors