Biography

Best known in the 50s and 60s as the shrewish foil/nemesis to the top comic stars of the day: Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, George Burns, et al.

She was the original voice of Clarabelle Cow, a character that appeared in Disney cartoons. (Although Clarabelle appeared in 28 Disney cartoons between 1928 and 1942, she only spoke in three of them.) Ironically, it was both her first and last role. Her first speaking role as Clarabelle (uncredited) was in the Disney short, Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933). Her last speaking role as Clarabelle was in the Mickey Mouse short, The Prince and the Pauper (1990), 57 years later.

Made her debut on "The Pepsodent Show" starring Bob Hope on September 27, 1938, as man-chasing Cobina, a parody of society débutante Cobina Wright. She wound up portraying the popular role in motion pictures and even spoofed it in the Merrie Melodies cartoons.

Her first husband, Wesley B. Tourtellotte, was a musician whom she married in 1930. The marriage was short-lived and produced one child. Her second was Charles "C.C." Pyle (March 25, 1882 - February 3, 1939), who was often called Cash and Carry Pyle, an Illinois theater owner and sports agent who represented American football star Harold 'Red' Grange and French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen. They married in 1937 but he died of a heart attack two years later.

Her first two marriages were brief. Her third and last, to Jerome Bayler, lasted 33 years until his death in 1978.