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Bea Benaderet
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Bea Benaderet (April 4, 1906—October 13, 1968) was an American actress, born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, California. She is probably best remembered for starring in the hit 1960s television series Petticoat Junction and as the original voice of Betty Rubble on The Flintstones. Through the program, Benaderet reached stardom in her late fifties after over twenty years of active work as a supporting player on radio and early television, as well as a career doing voice work for 1940s and 1950s Warner Bros. cartoons, notably originating the role of Granny.
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Although Bea Benaderet is still billed as the star of the first few episodes of Petticoat Junction's sixth season, it was purely a gesture of kindness and sentiment on the part of producer Paul Henning. Everyone in the cast knew that Benaderet was mortally ill with cancer, but this tragic information was largely withheld from the public under the actress' death on October 13, 1968. Her last series "appearance" -- which consists of a telephone voice-over -- occurs in the episode "The Valley Has a Baby," in which Benaderet's character Kate Bradley offers best wishes to her daughter Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) and son-in-law Steve Elliott (Mike Minor) when their first child, Kathy Jo Elliott, is born (the infant is played this season by unbilled twin babies Barbara and Heather Whiter).
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In 1968, Bea Benaderet died of lung cancer. The storyline said she was on a trip. For a few episodes Paul Henning cast Rosemary DeCamp to play Kate's sister. Eventually, Joe became the proprietor of the Shady Rest. A new role was created of a female doctor in Hooterville, and June Lockhart joined the cast in the role of Janet Craig to serve as a replacement of sorts for Benaderet. The homey ambience of the Shadyrest was lost without a motherly figure.
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Bea Benaderet stars as widow Kate Bradley in this down-home sitcom set in the rural hamlet of Hooterville, a whistle stop on the Cannonball run. Along with her three lovely daughters (Linda Kaye, Jeannine Riley and Pat Woodell) and their eccentric Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan), Kate runs the town's Shady Rest Hotel, where urbanites come to escape their frenzied city lives. This premier season collection contains 20 classic episodes and a featurette.
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Bea Benaderet was born in New York City, and moved to San Francisco with her parents when she was five. She entered show business there at 12 when the manager of radio station KGO discovered her singing in a children's production of "The Beggar's Opera" and hired her as a singer.
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Bea Benaderet was the original voice of Betty Rubble on "The Flintstones" cartoon series. Ms.Benaderet was ... the uncredited female voice of many female characters from the "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" cartoons. (edit)
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Bea Benaderet