Barbara Billingsley
| Barbara Billingsley | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born |
Barbara Lillian Combes December 22, 1915 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | October 16, 2010 (aged 94) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Polymyalgia rheumatica |
| Resting place |
Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Education | Washington Preparatory High School |
| Alma mater | Los Angeles Junior College |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1945–2007 |
| Spouse(s) |
Glenn Billingsley (m. 1941; div. 1947) Roy Kellino (m. 1953; d. 1956) William Mortensen (m. 1959; d. 1981) |
| Children | 2 |
Barbara Billingsley (born Barbara Lillian Combes; December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American film, television, voice, and stage actress.
She gained prominence in the 1950s movie The Careless Years, acting opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best known role, that of June Cleaver, the mother in the television series Leave It to Beaver (1957–63) and its sequel The New Leave It to Beaver (1983–89).
Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes on December 22, 1915, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lillian Agnes (née McLaughlin; 1891–1956) and Robert Collyer Combes (1891–1950), a police officer. She had one elder sibling, Elizabeth (1911–1992). Her parents divorced sometime before her fourth birthday, and her father, who later became an assistant chief of police, remarried. After her divorce, Lillian Combes went to work as a foreman at a knitting mill.
After attending Los Angeles Junior College for one year, Billingsley traveled to Broadway, when Straw Hat, a revue in which she was appearing, attracted enough attention to send it to New York City. When the show closed, after five days, she took an apartment on 57th Street and went to work as a $60–a–week fashion model. In 1941, she married Glenn Billingsley, Sr. She landed a contract with MGM Studios in 1945 and moved with her husband to Los Angeles the following year. That same year, Glenn Billingsley opened a restaurant There.
She had mostly uncredited roles in major motion pictures in the 1940s. These roles continued into the first half of the 1950s with supporting roles in Three Guys Named Mike (1951), opposite Jane Wyman; The Bad and the Beautiful (1952); and the science-fiction film Invaders from Mars (1953). In 1952, Billingsley had her first role as a guest star, in an episode of The Abbott and Costello Show.
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