Lucille Benson (July 17, 1914 – February 17, 1984) was an American actress known for her roles in commercials, television, and movies in the 1970s and 1980s.
Born in Scottsboro, Alabama, on July 17, 1914, Benson was the adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Benson, of Scottsboro, and adopted by her aunt after her mother died of tuberculosis. She was valedictorian and president of her Jackson County High School class. She attended Huntingdon College, in Montgomery, and later attended Northwestern's School of Drama, in Evanston, Illinois. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York around 1930. After a long career and many memorable performances, she died February 17, 1984, in Scottsboro, Alabama, of liver cancer.
Her career started in New York in the 1930s. She appeared on Broadway in several plays including, The Doughgirls, The Day Before Spring, Happy Birthday, As The Girls Go, Hotel Paradiso, Period of Adjustment and Walking Happy. She performed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, appearing in the Tennessee Williams play, Orpheus Descending.
Benson's break in motion pictures occurred while performing with Donald O'Conner in the play Little Me during a three-month run in Las Vegas. She said, "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come up Hollywood to tryout for a Paramount film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy."
Her big commercial break was Bosom Buddies, a situation comedy based on Some Like It Hot. During the show's first season (1980-1981), Benson played "Lilly Sinclair," the manager of the Susan B. Anthony Hotel where two young men (Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari) dressed as women to take advantage of the dirt-cheap rent.
She is thought to be the actress seen reciting the Lord's Prayer in the memorable train holdup scene of the classic western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). However, she is uncredited, and no such role is listed in the Internet Movie Database. She did work with the stars of that film in the following year: with Paul Newman in WUSA, and with Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy.
