Betty Lou Gerson
| Betty Lou Gerson | |
|---|---|
Gerson in 1941.
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| Born |
April 20, 1914 Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | January 12, 1999 (aged 84) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Occupation | Actress, voice actress |
| Years active | 1935-1966; 1997 |
| Known for | Voice of Cruella de Vil in Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) |
| Spouse(s) | Joe Ainley (m. 1937-1965; his death) Louis R. Lauria (m. 1966-1994; his death) |
| Children | 3 stepchildren |
| Awards | Disney Legends (1996) |
Betty Lou Gerson (April 20, 1914 – January 12, 1999) was an American actress, predominantly active in radio, but also in film and television, and as a voice actress. She is best known as the voice of Cruella de Vil from the Disney animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1996.
Gerson was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was an executive with a steel company. She was Jewish. She was educated in private schools in Birmingham and Miami, Florida. At age sixteen, Gerson moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois where she performed in the radio serial The First Nighter Program. She later moved again to New York City, New York.
She began her acting career in radio drama in 1935, while still in her 20s, and became a mainstay of soap operas during this period, appearing on Arnold Grimm's Daughter (as the titular daughter Constance in 1938),Midstream (in the leading role, Julia),Women in White (as Karen Adams)Road of Life (as Nurse Helen Gowan), Lonely Women (as Marilyn Larimore), and the radio version of The Guiding Light, as Charlotte Wilson in the mid-1940s. She co-starred with Jim Ameche in the 1938 summer drama Win Your Lady and was the resident romantic lead on such romantic anthologies as Curtain Time, and Grand Hotel.
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