Barbara Luddy (May 25, 1908 – April 1, 1979) was an American actress best known for her voiceover work for
Walt Disney Studios in the 1950s and 1970s.
Biography
Born in
Great Falls, Montana
Great Falls is the third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 census. The city covers an area of and is the principal city of the Great Falls, M ...
, Luddy was the daughter of Will
[ and Molly Luddy of ]Helena, Montana
Helena (; ) is the capital city of Montana, United States, and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County.
Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would be ...
.[ ] She sang in vaudeville as a child.[DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 170.] She attended Ursuline Convent in Great Falls, Montana.[ ]
Career
Stage
In 1929, Luddy toured with Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (; August 6, 1880 – September 10, 1961), known professionally as Leo Carrillo, was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.
He was best known for playing Pancho in the television ...
in Australia as part of a touring company that presented the play ''Lombardi, Ltd.'' A review in the Sydney Morning Herald cited Luddy's work portraying a mannequin as "a role in which Miss Barbara Luddy made a great hit by her pert audacity and vivaciousness."
Radio
Luddy was a member of the dramatic cast of the '' Chicago Theater of the Air''.[Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 74.] One of Luddy's better known roles on radio was being a regular performer on '' The First Nighter Program'' from 1936 until the series ended in 1953. In 1937, she and fellow ''First Nighter'' actor Les Tremayne set what a contemporary newspaper article called "a precedent ... when these signed long term contracts calling for their exclusive services" on the program."
She also played Veronica Gunn in the comedy ''Great Gunns''. In soap operas, she played Judith Clark in '' Lonely Women'' Carol Evans Martin in ''The Road of Life'', and Janet Munson in ''Woman in White''.[
]
Film
Luddy's film career began with silent pictures in the late 1920s. She is perhaps best remembered for her voice work in Disney animated films
This list of theatrical animated feature films consists of animated films produced or released by The Walt Disney Studios, the film division of The Walt Disney Company.This list does not include films or specials streamed on Disney+ as Disne ...
such as ''Lady and the Tramp
''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. The 15th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and ...
'' (in which she played the titular Lady), ''Sleeping Beauty
''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...
'', '' One Hundred and One Dalmatians'', ''Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...
'' and the Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes including '' Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree'', ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' is a 1968 American animated featurette based on the third, fifth, ninth, and tenth chapters of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' and the second, eighth, and ninth chapters from ''The House at Pooh Corner'' by A. A. Milne ...
'', and '' Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too'',[ ] all of which were edited into the composite feature '' The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh''.
Her other film credits include ''Terrified'' (1962) and the TV film ''Lost Flight'' (1969).
Television
Luddy guest starred in episodes of such television programs as ''Hazel
The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
'', '' Dragnet'', ''Adam-12
''Adam-12'' is an American television police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol the st ...
'', and '' Kolchak: The Night Stalker''.
Personal life
Luddy married R. Ned LeFevre, an actor and announcer, on September 18, 1942.lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...
in Los Angeles, California, in 1979, at age 70.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Luddy, Barbara
1908 births
1979 deaths
Actresses from Montana
American radio actresses
American silent film actresses
People from Great Falls, Montana
Deaths from lung cancer in California
20th-century American actresses
Disney people