Mary Lee Robb Cline (February 15, 1926, – August 28, 2006) was a radio actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Her name is sometimes seen as Marylee Robb.

Early life

Robb was born in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle County, Illinois, LaSalle and Livingston County, Illinois, Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River (Illinois River tributary), Vermilion River approximately so ...

, and lived much of her early life in Chicago. Her father, Alex S. Robb, was an executive at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. In 1939 her family moved to Los Angeles, California, where she attended University High School and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Career

Robb made her radio debut in 1947 on the '' Lum and Abner'' program. She also appeared on '' The Penny Singleton Show''. As Mary Lee Robb, she is best known for playing Marjorie, Gildersleeve's niece, on ''

The Great Gildersleeve ''The Great Gildersleeve'' was a radio situation comedy broadcast in the United States from August 31, 1941 to 1958. Initially written by Leonard Lewis Levinson, it was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. The series was buil ...

,'' replacing Louise Erickson in that role. A small role in a 1948 episode of that program led to the full-time role of Marjorie, which she played until 1954.

Personal life

Robb's first marriage, to Charles Vance Smith, ended in divorce. Robb left acting in the mid-1950s in order to raise their son, Robb Smith, and daughter Alexandra. In 1983 she married William H. Cline, who died in 2005. A year later, she died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

at Desert Regional Medical Center in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

. Mary Lee Robb was survived by her daughter Alexandra, son Robb, son-in-law Alex, and daughter-in-law Melissa. Robb also left behind her two grandchildren, Robbyn and Tyler.

References

1926 births 2006 deaths American radio actresses 20th-century American actresses University of California, Los Angeles alumni University High School (Los Angeles) alumni People from Streator, Illinois Burials at Pacific View Memorial Park 21st-century American women {{US-radio-bio-stub