Pert Kelton

Pert Kelton
Kelton in 1942
Born(1907-10-14)October 14, 1907
DiedOctober 30, 1968(1968-10-30) (aged 61)
OccupationActress
Years active1925 (professionally) –1968
SpouseRalph Bell (19??-1968; her death)
Children2

Pert L. Kelton (October 14, 1907[1] – October 30, 1968) was an American stage, movie, radio, and television actress.[2] She was the original Alice Kramden in The Honeymooners with Jackie Gleason. During the 1930s, she was a prominent comedic supporting and leading actress in Hollywood films such as Gregory La Cava's Bed of Roses with Constance Bennett and Raoul Walsh's The Bowery with Wallace Beery and George Raft (both released in 1933). She performed in a dozen Broadway productions between 1925 and 1968. Most famously, she created the role of 'Mrs. Paroo' in the original production of the musical The Music Man, which she reprised in the movie adaptation. In the early 1950s, her career was interrupted as a result of Hollywood blacklisting,[3][4] leading to her departure from The Honeymooners.

  1. ^ "The Story of Pert Kelton". Edward F. Kelton. 2002. Archived from the original on May 1, 2006.
  2. ^ Obituary Variety, November 6, 1968, page 71.
  3. ^ Cullen, Frank; Florence Hackman; Donald McNeilly (206). Vaudeville, Old and New. New York: Routledge. pp. 629–630. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYTobit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).