Lucille Benson

Lucille Benson (July 17, 1914 – February 17, 1984) was an American character actress.
Biography
Personal life
Born in Scottsboro, Alabama, on July 17, 1914, Benson was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. John Benson, after her mother died of tuberculosis. She was valedictorian and president of her class at Jackson County High School. She attended Huntingdon College in Montgomery, and later attended Northwestern's School of Drama in Evanston, Illinois. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York in the 1930s.
Acting career
Benson's career began in New York in the 1930s. She appeared on Broadway in several plays including Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath, Walking Happy, Hotel Paradiso, Good Night, Ladies, The Doughgirls, The Day Before Spring, Happy Birthday, As The Girls Go, Hotel Paradiso, and Period of Adjustment. She performed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, appearing in the Tennessee Williams play Orpheus Descending.
Benson's break in motion pictures came while performing with Donald O'Connor in the play Little Me during a three-month run in Las Vegas. She said "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come to Hollywood to try out for a Paramount film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy."
Benson played a lady running a roadside "Snakerama" exhibit in Steven Spielberg's 1971 movie Duel, starring Dennis Weaver. She worked with Spielberg again in 1979, in 1941, as a gas station owner whom John Belushi orders to refuel his fighter plane.
In Silver Streak (1976), Benson portrayed rancher Rita Babtree, who comes to Gene Wilder's rescue by ferrying him in her bi-plane.
Benson portrayed Birdie Huff in the crime drama Nashville 99 (1977). She had a recurring role on the sitcom The Ropers as Helen's mother. Her big commercial break was Bosom Buddies, a situation comedy based on Some Like It Hot. During the show's first season (1980–1981), Benson played Lilly Sinclair, the manager of the female-only hotel where two young men (Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari) dress as women to take advantage of the inexpensive rent.
Benson played Mrs. Elrod in the 1981 John Carpenter horror movie Halloween II.
Death
Benson died on February 17, 1984, in a hospital in Scottsboro, Alabama, aged 69, from liver cancer. She was cremated and her remains are buried under a modest bronze headstone, at Cedar Hill Cemetery, in her hometown of Scottsboro.
Filmography
The Fugitive Kind (1960) - Beulah Binnings
WUSA (1970) - Second Matron
Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970) - 'Mom' Fauss
Women in Chains (1972) - Billie
Escape (1971) - Trudy
Duel (1971) - Lady at Snakerama
Cactus in the Snow (1971) - Mrs. Sawyer
Delphi Bureau (1972) - Mrs. Loveless
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) - Billy's Mother
Private Parts (1972) - Aunt Martha
The Devil's Daughter (1972) - Janet Poole
Tom Sawyer (1973) - Widow Douglas
The Blue Knight (1973) - Elmira Gooch
Mame (1974) - Mother Burnside
Huckleberry Finn (1974) - Widow Douglas
The Day the Earth Moved (1974) - Miss Virginia Porter
Reflections of Murder (1974) - Mrs. Turner
Betrayal (1974) - Eunice Russell
Collision Course (1976) - Bess Truman
Silver Streak (1976) - Rita Babtree
The Greatest (1977) - Mrs. Fairlie
Black Market Baby (1977) - Mrs. Krieg
Charleston (1979) - Miss Fay
Ebony, Ivory and Jade (1979) - Mrs. Stone
Concrete Cowboys (1979) - Peg the Madam
1941 (1979) - Gas Mama (Eloise)
Amy (1981) - Rose Metcalf
Halloween II (1981) - Mrs. Elrod
When Your Lover Leaves (1983) - Greta
Moon Face (released after her death in 1984)
Television appearances
The New Andy Griffith Show (1971) - Mrs. Gaddis
Cannon (1971) - Proprietress
Bonanza (1972) - Mrs. Melody
Mannix (1972-1974) - Myra / Ida
Emergency! (1973-1976) - Annie / Martha
The Day the Earth Moved (1974 TV movie) - Miss Virginia Porter
Police Woman (1976) - Aunt Benjamin
The Waltons (1976) - Tilly Shanks
Petrocelli (1974-1976) - Lucille Davis / Madge Briar / Lucille Field / Angie Crawford
Nashville 99 (1977) - Birdie Huff
The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (1978) - Flo
Eight Is Enough (1978)
How the West Was Won (1978-1979) - Miss Agnes / Miss Walker
Trapper John, M.D. (1979) - Clarissa Mae Purcell
Little House on the Prairie (1979) - Miss Trimble
The Ropers (1979-1980) - Mother
The Dukes of Hazzard (1980) - Mama Coltrane
Bosom Buddies (1980-1981) - Lilly Sinclair
The Love Boat (1981) - Doris
Simon & Simon (1982) - Mrs. Dorothy Bartlett
The Wonderful World of Disney (1978-1982) - Mrs. Levelor / Grandma Hopkins
Bring 'Em Back Alive (1982)
Alice (1982-1983) - Grace / Lucille
References
External links
1914 births
1984 deaths
People from Scottsboro, Alabama
Actresses from Alabama
American film actresses
American television actresses
Huntingdon College alumni
Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Deaths from cancer in Alabama
Deaths from liver cancer
20th-century American actresses