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Barbara Pepper
Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barbara Pepper (born Marion B. Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first "Doris Ziffel" on the sitcom Green Acres. Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper. At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met lifelong friend Lucille Ball.
Pepper began making movies. Among her later film parts were small roles in My Fair Lady and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She also performed radio parts. In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né H…
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Barbara Pepper (born Marion B. Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first "Doris Ziffel" on the sitcom Green Acres. Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper. At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met lifelong friend Lucille Ball. Pepper began making movies. Among her later film parts were small roles in My Fair Lady and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She also performed radio parts. In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né Harold Hugh Enfield), and the couple later had two sons. After Reynolds died in 1949 in a California motorcycle accident, Pepper was left to raise their children alone. She never remarried. After gaining weight, her roles were mostly confined to small character parts on television, including several appearances on I Love Lucy, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Petticoat Junction, and The Jack Benny Program. She made four appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Martha Dale, mother of the title character, in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Vagabond Vixen". A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Barbara was considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy," but was passed over due to the fact that she was reportedly a drinker. William Frawley ("Fred Mertz") was, likewise, reportedly, a drinker and was already cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so they auditioned and found Vivian Vance to play Ethel instead. She may be best remembered as the first Doris Ziffel on Petticoat Junction in 1964, although her character's name on the "Genghis Keane" episode of Petticoat Junction was Ruth Ziffel. Her role as Doris Ziffel continued on Green Acres from 1965 to 1968, until heart ailments finally forced her to leave that weekly series. Veteran actress Fran Ryan replaced her on Green Acres, which would continue to run for another three years. Her final performance was in the 1969 film Hook, Line & Sinker, in which she played Jerry Lewis's secretary.
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BODY OF WORK
Barbara Pepper's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
Kiss Me, Stupid
as Big Bertha
The Best Man
as Delegate (uncredited)
Who's Minding the Store?
as Customer at Bargain Sale (uncredited)
A Child Is Waiting
as Miss Brown (uncredited)
It's Only Money
as Fisherwoman
The Music Man
as Mrs. Hawkes
Sex Kittens Go to College
as Circe
The Bramble Bush
as Polly Welk
Auntie Mame
as Mrs. Krantz (uncredited)
The D.I.
as Woman Customer
Dark Meeting
as Clara
A Star Is Born
as Esther's Neighbor (uncredited)
The Eddie Cantor Story
as Beer Garden Patron
Inferno
as Waitress (uncredited)
So This Is Love
as Fat Girl with Sailor in Nightclub (uncredited)
I Love Lucy: The Movie
as Party Guest (archive footage)
Ghost Buster
as Mrs. Nolan
The Fuller Brush Girl
as Wife Watching TV (uncredited)
My Blue Heaven
as Susan (uncredited)
No Way Out
as Woman (uncredited)
Unmasked
as Mrs. Schmidt
The Inspector General
as Buxom Villager (uncredited)
The Crooked Way
The Snake Pit
as Asylum Patient (uncredited)
Terror Trail
as Karen Kemp, the Louisville Lady
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
as Annie
Murder, He Says
as Bonnie Fleagle
The Naughty Nineties
as Gilded Cage Hostess (uncredited)
Trouble Chasers
as Goldie
Once Upon a Time
as Cabbie (uncredited)
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
as Miss LaRue ("Wild Rose")
Let's Face It
as Daisy (uncredited)
So This Is Washington
as Betty - Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Girls in Chains
as Barbara Pepper
No Poster
Blonde and Groom
as Rex's Fiancée
Aerial Gunner
as Blonde at Shooting Gallery (uncredited)
A Maid Made Mad
as Blonde
Sappy Pappy
as Female Customer
Carry Harry
as Edith, Harry's Girl Friend
My Favorite Spy
as Speedy
One Thrilling Night
as Lettie
Birth of the Blues
as Maizie
South of Tahiti
as Julie
Manpower
as Polly
Three Sons o' Guns
as Francie LaRue
Out of the Fog
The Lady Eve
as Lady Wrestler Type on Ship (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent
as Dorine
The Return of Frank James
as Nellie Blane
Sailor's Lady
as Maude
Forgotten Girls
as Eve Abbott
Framed
as Goldie Green
Castle on the Hudson
as Goldie
Of Mice and Men
as Second Girl (uncredited)
The Amazing Mr. Williams
as Muriel - Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Three Sons
as Viola
The Women
as Tough Girl (uncredited)
Flight at Midnight
as Mildred
Colorado Sunset
as Ginger Bixby
Bachelor Mother
as Dance-Hall Hostess (uncredited)
They Made Me a Criminal
as Budgie Massey
Off the Record
as Flossie - Telephone Operator (uncredited)
The Girl Downstairs
as Woman at bar (uncredited)
The Strange Case of Dr. Meade
as Mattie
Army Girl
as Riki
The Chaser
as Mabel, Drunken Girl
The Lady in the Morgue
as Kay Renshaw
Wide Open Faces
as Belle
Hollywood Stadium Mystery
as Althea Ames
Portia on Trial
as Evelyn
The Westland Case
as Agatha Hogan
Many Unhappy Returns
as Sophie - Cigar Store Counter Girl
Music for Madame
as Blonde on Bus (Uncredited)
Forty Naughty Girls
as Alice
The Big Shot
as Mamie
You Can't Buy Luck
as Store Clerk
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
as Blonde Saloon Lady (uncredited)
Too Many Wives
as Angela Brown
After the Thin Man
as Party Guest (uncredited)
What Becomes of the Children?
as Elsie Ford
Wanted: Jane Turner
as Marge Sanders
Winterset
as Girl
The Big Game
as Lois
Mummy's Boys
as Mary Browning
M'Liss
as Clytie Morpher
The Rogues' Tavern
as Marjorie Burns
Show Boat
Taming the Wild
as Hazel White
The Singing Vagabond
as Honey
Frisco Waterfront
as The Blonde Stranger
Forced Landing
as Nancy 'Dusty' Rhodes
The Sagebrush Troubadour
as Joan Martin
Waterfront Lady
as Gloria Vance
Let 'em Have It
as Milly Adams
Our Daily Bread
as Sally
Strictly Dynamite
as Party Girl (uncredited)
Roman Scandals
as Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)