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Phyllis Avery(1922-2011)

  • Actress
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Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Blue-eyed, blonde, demure-looking 50s leading lady, the daughter of screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery and his wife Evelyn. Phyllis was said to have spent her childhood in France and in California. After graduating, she studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and first appeared on Broadway in 'Orchids Preferred' in 1937. Her screen debut happened quite a long time later in Queen for a Day (1951), adapted from a popular daytime Mutual Broadcasting Company radio program. In her next film, the high voltage melodrama Ruby Gentry (1952), she was cast as 'the other woman' (the one of 'socially acceptable' standing) opposite muscular Charlton Heston and fiery Jennifer Jones. Her only other notable big screen outing was the musical biopic The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956) in which she played the wife of composer/songwriter Ray Henderson. When interviewed, Phyllis balked at being called 'sweet' and proudly proclaimed to have played plenty of bad girls, at least on television (citing an episode of Peter Gunn (1958) in which she tries to frame her gangster husband for murder). Still, she remained typically featured as wholesome gals, never more so than as Peggy McNutley (the name was changed to 'McNulty' in season 2), wife of a punctilious, hopelessly absent-minded English and Drama (Ray Milland) professor at a fictitious all-girls college in The Ray Milland Show (1953). Phyllis continued her career as a prolific guest star of TV anthologies and crime dramas and reinvented herself as a successful real estate broker in west L.A. during the 60s (often selling houses to people she had worked with in her acting past). Her second husband was Don Taylor with whom she had once co-starred on Broadway in a 1943 U.S. Army Air Forces production of 'Winged Victory'.
BornNovember 14, 1922
DiedMay 19, 2011(88)
BornNovember 14, 1922
DiedMay 19, 2011(88)
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Photos8

Clint Eastwood, Phyllis Avery, and Eric Fleming in Rawhide (1959)
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s
Phyllis Avery circa 1950s

Known for

Red Skelton in The Red Skelton Hour (1951)
The Red Skelton Hour
8.1
TV Series
  • Daisy June
  • Elaine
The only authorized DVD edition of all episodes in  Season One.
The Rifleman
8.3
TV Series
  • Leona Pickford Bartell
The Ray Milland Show (1953)
The Ray Milland Show
8.0
TV Series
  • Peggy McNulty
  • Peggy McNutley
  • Peggy McNutly
Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson in Made in America (1993)
Made in America
5.1
  • White Woman #1
  • 1993

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • The Secret Life of Girls (1999)
    The Secret Life of Girls
  • Coach (1989)
    Coach
  • Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson in Made in America (1993)
    Made in America
  • Robert Blake in Baretta (1975)
    Baretta
  • Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson, and Jaclyn Smith in Charlie's Angels (1976)
    Charlie's Angels
  • Bea Arthur in Maude (1972)
    Maude
  • Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Carroll O'Connor, and Jean Stapleton in All in the Family (1971)
    All in the Family
  • Michael Cole and Janet Margolin in The Last Child (1971)
    The Last Child
  • Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)
    Daniel Boone
  • Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963)
    Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
  • Brooke Adams, Brian Corcoran, Joel Davison, and Burl Ives in O.K. Crackerby! (1965)
    O.K. Crackerby!
  • James Franciscus in Mr. Novak (1963)
    Mr. Novak
  • Summer Playhouse
  • Jack Palance, Tuesday Weld, and Russ Tamblyn in The Greatest Show on Earth (1963)
    The Greatest Show on Earth
  • Angela Lansbury and Tuesday Weld in The Eleventh Hour (1962)
    The Eleventh Hour

Personal details

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    • November 14, 1922
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • May 19, 2011
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(heart failure)
    • Don TaylorSeptember 14, 1944 - February 1, 1956 (divorced, 2 children)
  • Other works
    Stage Play: Orchids Preferred. Musical comedy. Music by Dave Stamper [final Broadway credit]. Book by Fred Herendeen. Lyrics by Frederik Herendeen. Based on "Taxi Fare" by Fred Herendeen. Additional music by Henry Russell. Additional lyrics by Morry Olsen. Musical Director: Louis Gress. Music orchestrated by Paul Sprosty. Scenic Design by Frederick Fox. Costume Design by Jenkins. Choreographed by Robert Sanford. Directed by Alexander Leftwich. Imperial Theatre: 11 May 1947- 15 May 1937 (7 performances). Cast: Leslie Austin (as "Richard Hope, Sr."), Phyllis Avery (as "Goldie") [Broadway debut], James Babbitt (as "Bobbie"), Bob Borger (as "Dr. Sommers"), Lillian Carson (as "Sally"), Violet Carson (as "Edithe"), William Chalmers (as "Doorman"), Jack Clifford (as "Henry Warrenton"), Ethel Colt (as "Penelope Halchester"), Margie Conradi (as "Margie"), Vicki Cummings (as "Marion Brown"), Jack Curry (as "Footman"), Frew Donald (as "Hortense Chatfield"), John Donaldson (as "Richard Hope, Jr."), Elsie Edwards (as "Elsie"), Audrey Elliott (as "Mary Ann Miller"), Eddie Foy Jr. (as "Bubbles Wilson"), Joanne (as "June"), Hilda Knight (as "Gertrude Devereaux"), Helen Leftwich (as "Elizabeth Hope"), Fay Long (as "Helene Windsor"), Verna Long (as "Dorothy Charters"), Helen Martin (as "Evy"), Dilys Miles (as "Eva"), Bill Pillick (as "Chauffeur"), Bob Rice (as "Henry Monroe"), Lucille Rich (as "Sunny"), Henry Russell (as "Teddy Barber"), Frances Smith (as "Chorus"), Julie Sterling (as "Evangeline Landreth"), Frances Thress (as "Violet Manning"), Virda Twiford (as "Eve"), Benay Venuta (as "Lillian Mahoney"), Doris Vinton (as "Billie"), Jules Walton (as "July"), Jack Whittridge (as "Elmer Traun"). Produced by Charles H. Abramson.

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Became a Los Angeles real estate agent upon her retirement from acting.

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