Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton (born September 15, 1908 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † November 12, 2003 in Los Angeles , California ; actually Mariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty ) was an American singer and film actress .
Life
Penny Singleton, a native of Mariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty, was born in Philadelphia in 1908 as the daughter of Irish-born journalist Benny McNulty. Her uncle was the US politician and temporary post office secretary James Farley . As a child, she sang songs in silent movie theaters in her hometown and appeared in vaudeville shows with Milton Berle, among others . After she attended Alex McClue School and briefly studied at Columbia University , she decided to become an actress. In 1925 she made her Broadway debut as Dorothy McNulty in the musical Sky High with music by Robert Stolz . She had her first speaking role in 1926 alongside Jack Benny in The Great Temptations . Four years later she stood for the first time in front of the film camera for Belle of the Night (1930) alongside Frank Morgan . In her second film, Good News , she repeated the role she played in the 1927 musical of the same name on Broadway. After another film, she was initially no longer on screen until the mid-1930s. During this time she worked as a night club singer and dancer. It was not until 1936 that she starred again in a film with William Powell and Myrna Loy in Thin Man, 2. Fall ( After the Thin Man ) . This was followed by small productions such as the comedy Swing Your Lady (1938), in which Humphrey Bogart received his first kiss on the screen from her.
After she married the dentist Laurence Singleton in 1937, she took her stage name Penny Singleton. When Columbia Pictures in 1938 for a suitable actress for the film version of Chic Young's popular Blondie - comic strip searched, to colored Singleton, which was actually a brunette, blonde her hair to audition for the title role of Blondie Bumstead. She eventually got the role and starred alongside Arthur Lake as her husband Dagwood Bumstead in 28 episodes of the Blondie film series between 1938 and 1950 . Singleton and Lake also played the Bumsteads on the radio in a series of radio plays of the same name.
During the 1950s, Penny Singleton turned her back on Hollywood and instead toured the United States again as a nightclub singer . It wasn't until the early 1960s that she started working again as an actress. From 1962 to 1985 she lent her voice to Jane Jetson in the American animated series The Jetsons ( The Jetsons ). As a member and later Vice President of the American Guild of Variety Artists, an artists' association, she campaigned for better working conditions and higher salaries for professional dancers and for this purpose led a successful strike by the Radio City Roquettes in 1967 against the operators of Radio City Music Hall in New York .
After her divorce from Laurence Singleton in 1939, she married the film producer Robert Sparks in 1941, who was also responsible for the Blondie series and with whom she remained together until his death in 1963. Both marriages had a daughter, Dorothy (married Henry) and Susan Sparks (* 1942). Penny Singleton died in 2003 of complications from a stroke in Los Angeles. She was buried in the local San Fernando Mission Cemetery. She received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (6811 Hollywood Boulevard and 6547 Hollywood Boulevard) for services to radio and film .
Filmography (selection)
- 1930: Belle of the Night
- 1930: Good News
- 1936: Thin Man, 2nd Case ( After the Thin Man )
- 1938: Swing Your Lady
- 1938: The Little Star ( Boy Meets Girl )
- 1938: In the garden of the moon ( Garden of the Moon )
- 1938: Blondie
- 1939: Blondie Meets the Boss
- 1939: Blondie Takes a Vacation
- 1939: Blondie Brings Up Baby
- 1940: Blondie on a Budget
- 1940: Blondie Has Servant Trouble
- 1940: Blondie Plays Cupid
- 1941: Blondie Goes Latin
- 1941: Blondie in Society
- 1942: Blondie Goes to College
- 1942: Blondie's Blessed Event
- 1942: Blondie for Victory
- 1943: It's a Great Life
- 1943: Footlight Glamor
- 1945: Leave It to Blondie
- 1945: Life with Blondie
- 1946: Blondie's Lucky Day
- 1946: Blondie Knows Best
- 1947: Blondie's Big Moment
- 1947: Blondie's Holiday
- 1947: Blondie in the Dough
- 1947: Blondie's Anniversary
- 1948: Blondie's Reward
- 1948: Blondie's Secret
- 1949: Blondie's Big Deal
- 1949: Blondie Hits the Jackpot
- 1950: Blondie's Hero
- 1950: Beware of Blondie
- 1962-1985: The Jetsons ( The Jetsons ) (animated series, 23 episodes)
- 1986: Murder is Her Hobby ( Murder, She Wrote ) (TV series, episode)
Web links
- Penny Singleton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Penny Singleton in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Penny Singleton in the All Movie Guide (English)
- Penny Singleton in the database of Find a Grave (English)
- Information on the Blondie film series (English)
- Penny Singleton in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Ronald Bergan: Penny Singleton. Actor Who Saved Cartoon Fools and Mafia hit Dancers . In: The Guardian , November 15, 2003.
- ^ Penny Singleton Dies at 95; Played Blondie in Film Series . In: The New York Times , November 15, 2003.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Singleton, penny |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | McNulty, Mariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer and film actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 15, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 2003 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California , United States |