Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Alice Pearce(1917-1966)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Alice Pearce in Bewitched (1964)
Making a career out of a post-nasal drip, this scene-stealing character comedienne was one of the best Broadway and Hollywood had to offer. It's too bad, then, that she wasn't utilized in films more often for this slight, chinless, parrot-faced, squawky-voiced bundle of (kill)joy could draw laughs from a well with a mere sniffle, gulp, or stare.

Plaintive Alice Pearce was born in New York City, the only child of a bank vice-president, but was raised in different European schools -- wherever her father had business. Eventually Alice settled back in NYC and began to gather experience in summer stock shows. She became a huge hit on the nightclub circuit which eventually paved the way to Broadway. She drew raves in the "New Faces of 1943" and was sensational in the role of Lucy Schmeeler, the sexless, adenoidal blind date, in the New York smash "On the Town" the very next year. As a testament to her talent, Alice was the only performer kept on board when Gene Kelly transferred the sailors-on-leave musical to film. Strangely, this did not lead to a slew of comedy vehicles, but Alice certainly sparked a number of fluffy films, even in the tiniest of roles -- never more so than as the hypochondriac patient who expounds on her physical ailments ad nauseam while overly-attentive Jerry Lewis suffers through a wrenching series of "sympathy pains" in The Disorderly Orderly (1964). It's slapstick comedy at its very best.

TV proved an attractive medium for her as well, hosting her own variety show briefly in 1949. Her career ended on a high note as the nagging, irrepressibly nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz in the Bewitched (1964) sitcom. Ideally teamed with George Tobias as her hen-pecked husband, Abner, the two provided non-stop hilarity -- her frightened gulps, blank gaze and confused exasperation coupled with his dour disgust was comedy heaven. Sadly, Pearce developed ovarian cancer and died in 1966, only two seasons into the show. She was only 48. She quite deservedly won an Emmy trophy for her work a few months after her death. Hollywood lost a treasured talent in Alice Pearce, gone way before her time.
BornOctober 16, 1917
DiedMarch 3, 1966(48)
BornOctober 16, 1917
DiedMarch 3, 1966(48)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Won 1 Primetime Emmy

Photos10

Gene Kelly and Alice Pearce in On the Town (1949)
Doris Day and Alice Pearce in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
Alice Pearce and George Tobias in Bewitched (1964)
Alice Pearce and George Tobias in Bewitched (1964)
Alice Pearce in Bewitched (1964)
Alice Pearce in Bewitched (1964)
Alice Pearce and George Tobias in Bewitched (1964)
Alice Pearce in Bewitched (1964)
"Bewitched" George Tobias and Alice Pearce c. 1965 ABC

Known for

Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, and Dick York in Bewitched (1964)
Bewitched
7.6
TV Series
  • Gladys Kravitz
Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen in On the Town (1949)
On the Town
7.3
  • Lucy Shmeeler
  • 1949
Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen in The Belle of New York (1952)
The Belle of New York
6.1
  • Elsie Wilkins
  • 1952
Leslie Nielsen, June Allyson, Joan Blondell, Joan Collins, Agnes Moorehead, Dolores Gray, Sam Levene, Ann Miller, and Ann Sheridan in The Opposite Sex (1956)
The Opposite Sex
6.1
  • Olga
  • 1956

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Vacation Playhouse (1963)
    Vacation Playhouse
  • Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, and Dick York in Bewitched (1964)
    Bewitched
  • The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
    The Glass Bottom Boat
  • Elinor Donahue, Mark Goddard, and Andrea Sacino in Many Happy Returns (1964)
    Many Happy Returns
  • Ann-Margret and Michael Parks in Bus Riley's Back in Town (1965)
    Bus Riley's Back in Town
  • Brigitte Bardot, James Stewart, John Williams, Fabian, Cindy Carol, Glynis Johns, Jack Kruschen, Bill Mumy, and Ed Wynn in Dear Brigitte (1965)
    Dear Brigitte
  • Dean Martin, Kim Novak, and Ray Walston in Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
    Kiss Me, Stupid
  • Jerry Lewis and Susan Oliver in The Disorderly Orderly (1964)
    The Disorderly Orderly
  • Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page in Dear Heart (1964)
    Dear Heart
  • The New Phil Silvers Show (1963)
    The New Phil Silvers Show
  • Whitney Blake, Shirley Booth, Bobby Buntrock, and Don DeFore in Hazel (1961)
    Hazel
  • The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962)
    The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
  • Shelley Fabares, Donna Reed, Carl Betz, and Paul Petersen in The Donna Reed Show (1958)
    The Donna Reed Show
  • Doris Day and James Garner in The Thrill of It All (1963)
    The Thrill of It All
  • Sandra Dee and Peter Fonda in Tammy and the Doctor (1963)
    Tammy and the Doctor

Soundtrack

  • Paige Cummings and Zachary Marra in Up All Night (2015)
    Up All Night
  • Elizabeth Montgomery, Agnes Moorehead, and Dick York in Bewitched (1964)
    Bewitched
  • Fred Astaire and Vera-Ellen in The Belle of New York (1952)
    The Belle of New York
    • (uncredited)
  • Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules Munshin, and Vera-Ellen in On the Town (1949)
    On the Town
    • (uncredited)

Personal details

Edit
    • October 16, 1917
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • March 3, 1966
    • Hollywood, California, USA(ovarian cancer)
    • Paul DavisSeptember 20, 1964 - March 3, 1966 (her death)
  • Other works
    One of the singers on the LP "Monster Rally", a Halloween album with Hans Conried.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    ABC broke into the prime-time broadcast of Bewitched (1964) to announce her death.
  • Quotes
    I feel the progress of the disease in my case is unusual because of my mental attitude. I am a supremely happy woman. I have never been beautiful, but I have been blessed with a rich career and the love of two fine men. The strength I have found in the devotion of my dear Paul is beyond measure.
    • Dear Heart
      (1964)
      $3,000

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.