Cathy Lewis | |
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Lewis in 1959
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Born |
Spokane, Washington, U.S. |
December 27, 1916
Died | November 20, 1968 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 51)
Cause of death | cancer |
Years active | 1940–1966 |
Spouse(s) | Elliott Lewis (m. 1943–58) (divorced) |
Cathy Lewis (December 27, 1916, Spokane, Washington–November 20, 1968) was an American actress remembered best for numerous radio appearances but making a number of film and television appearances in the last decade of her life.
According to Ron Lackmann's The Encyclopedia of American Radio, Lewis moved from Spokane to Chicago and found work on The First Nighter Program. Other accounts say she first hoped to make it as a singer. Eventually, Lewis moved to Hollywood, and had leading roles with the Pasadena Playhouse in productions of Stage Door, To Quito and Back, and Winterset, appearing with Robert Preston, Victor Mature, Dana Andrews, and Victor Jory. Then came a year's tour with Alexander Woollcott's company in The Man Who Came to Dinner and with Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet.
She met and married radio actor/writer/director Elliott Lewis (they shared the common surname) in 1943. Both Lewises were staples of vintage American radio; radio historians Gerald Nachman and John Dunning have written of their numerous, genre-spanning works in comedy and drama (they were, for example, regulars among what was known as Hollywood's Radio Row group of performers, appearing often---together and separately---on such programs as The Whistler), especially their co-creation of the respected anthology series On Stage and their stewardship (with Elliott Lewis directing and both of the couple acting) of the venerable mystery series Suspense.