Betsy Palmer
| Betsy Palmer | |
|---|---|
Palmer in 1960
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|
| Born |
Patricia Betsy Hrunek November 1, 1926 East Chicago, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | May 29, 2015 (aged 88) Danbury, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | DePaul University, Goodman School of Drama |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1951–2007 |
| Notable work | Various films and Broadway shows |
| Television | I've Got a Secret, and numerous other television shows |
| Spouse(s) | Vincent J. Merendino,M.D. (m. 1954–71) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent(s) | Rudolph Vincent Hrunek (father) Marie Love (mother) |
Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) was an American actress, known as a regular supporting movie and Broadway actress and television guest star, as a panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Jason Voorhees' mother, Pamela Voorhees, in the popular slasher film Friday the 13th.
Betsy Palmer was born on Monday, November 1, 1926, as Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, the daughter of Marie (née Love), who launched the Chicago Business College, and Rudolph Vincent Hrunek, an industrial chemist who was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. She graduated from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University, (now, The Theatre School at DePaul University) where she studied theater.
Palmer got her first acting job in 1951 when she joined the cast of the 15-minute weekday television soap opera Miss Susan, which was produced in Philadelphia. She was "discovered" for this role while attending a party in the apartment of actor Frank Sutton. She had been in Manhattan less than one week.
A life member of The Actors Studio, Palmer's stage work included a tour of South Pacific (as Nellie Forbush) and a summer-stock season in the title role in Maggie, the 1953 musicalization of What Every Woman Knows by William Roy and Hugh Thomas. In 1953, she created the role of Virginia in the original teleplay version of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty. Also in 1953 she appeared in a Studio One television broadcast of Hound-Dog Man with Jackie Cooper and others. She would become a familiar face on television as a news reporter on Today in 1958 (the Today Girl), and a long-running regular panelist on the quiz show I've Got a Secret. She joined the show's original run, replacing Faye Emerson in 1958 and remaining until the show's finale in 1967. She did not reprise her role in any of the various revivals of the show. Palmer was the last surviving member of the I've Got a Secret first version's cast.
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