Jean Byron (born Imogene Audette Burkhart; December 10, 1925February 3, 2006) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother in ''

The Patty Duke Show ''The Patty Duke Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Sidney Sheldon and William Asher. The series ran on ABC from September 18, 1963, to April 27, 1966. The series was developed as a vehicle for teenage star Patty Duke, who h ...

''. She was also known as Jean Audette and Jean Burkhart early in her career.

Early life

Byron was born in

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, the daughter of Anna Gertrude (née Bastin; 19061988) and Edward Burkhart (18921958). Her family moved to

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

when she was still quite young, and then to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

when she was 19 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. As a teenager, Byron tap danced and performed comedy. In the summer of 1939, she sang with a production company at the Iroquois Amphitheater in Louisville.

Career

Byron sang on radio stations WGRC and WHAS, both in Louisville. In 1939, she was one of two winners of the regional '' Gateway to Hollywood'' competition in Louisville, which enabled her to go to Hollywood to compete at the program's next level. Byron sang on alternate days on ''Kentucky Karnival'', a program that originated at WGRC beginning on August 30, 1943, and was distributed nationally via the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. ra ...

. She also sang with

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

's band, followed by a stint with

Jan Savitt Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and ...

's group. She then studied drama from 1947 to 1950, followed by a run with the Players Ring, a theater group that did not pay well, but offered the performers needed exposure. There, in a play titled '' Merrily We Roll Along'', she came to the attention of Harry Sauber, talent adviser for

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. E ...

. She was asked to read from the script and imitate a British accent, which she did. She got her union card then and there. When asked her name, she replied Imogene Burkhart. Katzman rejected that name, so she volunteered the stage name, Jean Byron, which she had already been using and which the

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

brass found more palatable. Byron's first film was '' Voodoo Tiger'' (1952). In the 1950s, Byron appeared in several

B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

, including ''

The Magnetic Monster ''The Magnetic Monster'' is a 1953 independently made American black-and-white science fiction film, produced by Ivan Tors and George Van Marter, directed by Curt Siodmak and (uncredited) Herbert L. Strock. The film stars Richard Carlson, Kin ...

'' and ''

Serpent of the Nile ''Serpent of the Nile'' is a 1953 Technicolor historical adventure film produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle. The film starred Rhonda Fleming, Raymond Burr, William Lundigan and Michael Ansara. In an early role, actress Julie Ne ...

'', in addition to guest roles on '' The Millionaire'', '' The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse'', '' Science Fiction Theatre'', '' Fury'', and ''

Bourbon Street Beat ''Bourbon Street Beat'' is a private detective television series that aired on the ABC network from October 5, 1959, to July 4, 1960, starring Richard Long as Rex Randolph and Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, with Arlene Howell as detective agen ...

''. Byron also served as spokeswoman for

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brother ...

and

Lux The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by ...

products on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' The Rosemary Clooney Show''. She played Minnie in the syndicated TV series '' Mayor of the Town'' (1954). In 1959, Byron landed a semiregular spot on CBS's ''

The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' (also known as simply ''Dobie Gillis'' or ''Max Shulman's Dobie Gillis'' in later seasons and in syndication) is an American sitcom starring Dwayne Hickman that aired on CBS from September 29, 1959, to June 5 ...

'' playing Dr. Imogene Burkhart, her real name. During her time on the show, she was cast in a spinoff pilot about Dobie Gillis' girlfriend, Zelda, where she would have played the girl's mother. However, the pilot was not picked up. In the show's final season, Byron convinced producers to allow her character to discard the plain, repressed appearance she presented, and show a more modern version of a schoolteacher. The following year, she starred in the short-lived

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

''Full Circle''. In 1963, she won the role of Natalie Lane on ''

''. After the series ended in 1966, she continued appearing in guest roles on ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

'', ''

Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl ...

'', '' Maude'', and ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

''. She also was a regular on '' Pat Paulsen's Half a Comedy Hour'' (1970). Byron's last on-screen role was in the 1999

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

''The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights''. In addition to film and television roles, Byron worked in regional theater. She portrayed Mama Rose in '' Gypsy'' and appeared in a production of ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...

''.

Personal life and death

Byron was married to actor

Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...

from 1955 to 1956. Some sources have it as 1949 to 1956. The couple had no children and Byron never remarried. On February 3, 2006, Byron died in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama ...

, of complications following

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement o ...

surgery.

Filmography

References

Bibliography

External links

The Official Jean Byron Site
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byron, Jean American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses People from Paducah, Kentucky Actresses from Louisville, Kentucky 1925 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women