Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926) is an American actress probably best known for her role as a panelist on the original run of the game show I've Got A Secret, and later for playing the part of madman Jason Voorhees's mother Pamela in the horror film Friday the 13th. She has appeared in numerous movies, TV programs and game shows.
Biography
Palmer was born in East Chicago, Indiana, the daughter of Marie (née Love), who headed the Chicago Business College, and Vincent R. Hrunek, an industrial chemist who was an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. She graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.
Palmer got her first acting job in 1951 when she joined the cast of a 15 minute long, daily soap opera, Miss Susan, which was produced in Philadelphia. She was "discovered" for this role while enjoying a party in the apartment of actor Frank Sutton (Sgt. Carter of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.). She had been in New York City less than one week.
She would later become a familiar face on television as 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 1967. She did not subsequently reprise her role in any of the various revivals of the show.
Palmer also played nurse Lt. Ann Girard (the most prominent female character) in the all-star cast of the film Mister Roberts (1955) starring Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon and James Cagney, which became an Oscar nominee for Best Picture and won one for Lemmon.
She was the character Carol Lee Phillips in the film Queen Bee (1956) starring the legendary actress Joan Crawford. She starred alongside Fonda again as well as Anthony Perkins in the Paramount production of The Tin Star (1957), a Western that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Story or Screenplay.
Palmer on I've Got A Secret
Palmer's need to purchase a new car was her reason for taking her most famous role in Friday the 13th. She recounted, in an interview, that her initial reaction to the experience was: "What a piece of junk! Nobody is ever going to see this piece of crap". She came to embrace her participation in the film, appearing in the 2006 documentary Betsy Palmer: A Scream Queen Legend. Palmer was asked to reprise her role as Mrs. Voorhees in Freddy vs. Jason movie in 2003 but turned it down due to low offered salary.
From 1989 to 1990, the actress appeared on the CBS prime time soap opera Knots Landing as "Aunt Ginny Bullock", the aunt of Valene Ewing (played by series star Joan Van Ark).
She acted in a Mayfield Dinner Theatre production of "On Golden Pond" in 1997 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, playing the role of Ethel Thayer. Now in her 80s, Palmer continues to act. In 2005, she provided the voice of the title character, the ghost of a witch, in Bell Witch: The Movie. In 2006, she appeared in the independent horror film Penny Dreadful and in 2007 as the older version of the title character in Waltzing Anna.
Palmer married Dr. Vincent J. Marandino on May 8, 1954, and the couple had one daughter, Missy, in 1962. The couple divorced in 1971.
TV appearances
From 1953 to 2001, Betsy Palmer was a guest star on 73 television programs, including (in no particular order):
Bell Witch: The Movie
Marty (the TV Adaptation)
Just Shoot Me!
Murder, She Wrote
Columbo (Death Hits the Jackpot - 1991)
Newhart
Charles in Charge
The Love Boat
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The Mike Douglas Show
The Joey Bishop Show
Toast of the Town
Password
Kraft Television Theatre
Philco Television Playhouse
Lux Video Theatre
Studio One
External links
Betsy Palmer at the Internet Movie Database
Betsy Palmer a SCREAM QUEEN LEGEND DVD
Betsy Palmer Myspace Page Email Betsy, and watch some of her videos.
Interview with Betsy Palmer on the podcast The Future And You (recorded Sept 4, 2005) (Assorted anecdotes about her career and the story of how she got her first acting job.)
v • d • e
Not Quite Human series
Films
Not Quite Human (1987) · Not Quite Human II (1989) · Still Not Quite Human (1992)
Cast
Jay Underwood (Chip Carson) · Alan Thicke (Dr. Jonas Carson) · Robyn Lively (Becky Carson) · Joseph Bologna (Gordon Vogel) · Robert Harper (J.J. Derks) · Kristy Swanson (Eron Jeffries) · Lili Haydn (Jenny Beckerman) · Brandon Douglas (Scott Barnes) · Sasha Mitchell (Bryan Skelly) · Lonny Price (Mr. Sturges) · Greg Mullavy (Dr. Phil Masters) · Katie Barberi (Roberta) · Dey Young (Prof. Victoria Gray) · Ty Miller (Austin, Bus Punk) · Eric Bruskotter (Rick, Bus Punk) · Christopher Neame (Dr. Frederick Berrigon) · Betsy Palmer (Aunt Mildred) · Veena Sood (Autograph Woman)
Crew
Alan Ormsby · Tom Scott · Eric Luke · John Debney ·
Ken Kirzinger
Filming locations
Coronado High School (Scottsdale, Arizona) ·
Arizona State University
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Palmer"
Categories: 1926 births | American film actors | American television actors | DePaul University alumni | Indiana actors | Living people | People from East Chicago, Indiana | Czech-AmericansHidden categories: Articles lacking sources from June 2008 | All articles lacking sources
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