This talented actress was a veteran of the stage and screen for over forty years before landing the role that made her a global television icon.
While she is best remembered for playing a feisty, pipe-smoking matriarch with a penchant for “potions” and home-cooked vittles, she was actually a sophisticated and glamorous performer who got her start in the rough-and-tumble world of vaudeville.
Can you name them, not the character they played?
Born in Texas as Jessie Irene Noblitt, she was a gifted singer and dancer who was performing professionally by the age of eleven.
She spent years traveling the country with her husband in a popular musical comedy act, eventually becoming a radio star and a frequent guest on variety shows. She was a person of immense theatrical discipline who returned to her Broadway roots at the very end of her life, earning a Tony Award nomination for a show-stopping performance where she proved she could still out-dance performers half her age.
If you recognize this legendary lady, tell us your favorite memory of her in the comments.