Barbara Pepper

Acting · 1.0 popularity

Age

111

Movies

Born: May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969
From: New York City, New York, USA

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Barbara Pepper (born Marion B. Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first "Doris Ziffel" on the sitcom Green Acres. Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper. At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met lifelong friend Lucille Ball. Pepper began making movies. Among her later film parts were small roles in My Fair Lady and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She also performed radio parts. In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né Harold Hugh Enfield), and the couple later had two sons. After Reynolds died in 1949 in a California motorcycle accident, Pepper was left to raise their children alone. She never remarried. After gaining weight, her roles were mostly confined to small character parts on television, including several appearances on I Love Lucy, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Petticoat Junction, and The Jack Benny Program. She made four appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Martha Dale, mother of the title character, in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Vagabond Vixen". A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Barbara was considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy," but was passed over due to the fact that she was reportedly a drinker. William Frawley ("Fred Mertz") was, likewise, reportedly, a drinker and was already cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so they auditioned and found Vivian Vance to play Ethel instead. She may be best remembered as the first Doris Ziffel on Petticoat Junction in 1964, although her character's name on the "Genghis Keane" episode of Petticoat Junction was Ruth Ziffel. Her role as Doris Ziffel continued on Green Acres from 1965 to 1968, until heart ailments finally forced her to leave that weekly series. Veteran actress Fran Ryan replaced her on Green Acres, which would continue to run for another three years. Her final performance was in the 1969 film Hook, Line & Sinker, in which she played Jerry Lewis's secretary.

Works

96 films

The Women

19397.2

The Music Man

19627.1

A Star Is Born

19547.1

Auntie Mame

19587.0

The Westland Case

19376.7

Foreign Correspondent

19407.0

The Lady Eve

19417.3

The Snake Pit

19487.1

Kiss Me, Stupid

19647.0

A Child Is Waiting

19636.8

The Return of Frank James

19406.3

No Way Out

19506.9

After the Thin Man

19367.3

The Inspector General

19496.6

The Naughty Nineties

19456.7

It's Only Money

19626.2

Manpower

19416.5

Of Mice and Men

19397.3

Who's Minding the Store?

19636.8

Show Boat

19366.7

Army Girl

19386.8

Our Daily Bread

19346.7

Trouble Chasers

19458.0

The Fuller Brush Girl

19506.1

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

19456.2

Sex Kittens Go to College

19603.3

Roman Scandals

19335.9

Bachelor Mother

19397.2

Once Upon a Time

19445.8

Girls in Chains

19434.7

Carry Harry

19424.2

The Crooked Way

19496.2

Mummy's Boys

19365.0

Inferno

19536.1

Sailor's Lady

19406.5

Murder, He Says

19456.8

My Blue Heaven

19507.5

The Girl Downstairs

19384.7

So This Is Love

19534.3

Winterset

19366.0

Music for Madame

19376.3

Too Many Wives

19377.3

Hollywood Stadium Mystery

19386.3

The D.I.

19577.1

They Made Me a Criminal

19396.3

Out of the Fog

19416.3

One Thrilling Night

19425.4

South of Tahiti

19416.5

Dark Meeting

1956

Let 'em Have It

19357.6

Colorado Sunset

19397.0

The Bramble Bush

19605.3

You Can't Buy Luck

19374.7

Forgotten Girls

19405.6

Off the Record

19396.4

Flight at Midnight

19395.8

The Amazing Mr. Williams

19396.0

A Maid Made Mad

19437.0

The Big Game

19366.6

Portia on Trial

19375.8

Taming the Wild

19366.0

Birth of the Blues

19416.2

Let's Face It

19435.4

Waterfront Lady

19355.3

Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid

194410.0

Forty Naughty Girls

19375.6

Castle on the Hudson

19407.0

Wide Open Faces

19389.0

Blonde and Groom

19438.0

The Chaser

19388.0

The Strange Case of Dr. Meade

19386.5

My Favorite Spy

19425.7

Three Sons o' Guns

19417.0

So This Is Washington

19435.3

M'Liss

19366.0

Strictly Dynamite

19346.5

Wanted: Jane Turner

19366.0

I Love Lucy: The Movie

19537.7

Aerial Gunner

19435.0

Forced Landing

19358.0

The Eddie Cantor Story

19537.5

The Big Shot

19376.5

The Lady in the Morgue

19387.0

Many Unhappy Returns

1937

Frisco Waterfront

19359.0

The Outcasts of Poker Flat

19376.3

Unmasked

19505.0

The Sagebrush Troubadour

19356.4

Framed

19406.2

The Singing Vagabond

19357.5

Ghost Buster

19528.0

The Rogues' Tavern

19366.4

Sappy Pappy

19428.0

What Becomes of the Children?

19366.0

Three Sons

19394.5

Terror Trail

19467.0