In the late 1940s to early 50s, Bea Benaderet worked with Lucille Ball on the radio show "My Favorite Husband." She played Iris Atterbury, the best friend to Lucille Ball's character, Liz Cooper. As the radio show became extremely popular, the writers and Lucy decided to turn it into a TV series, the beloved "I Love Lucy." Lucy's best friend in the TV series, Ethel Mertz, was played by Vivian Vance, as many know, but Bea was Lucy's first choice for the role. It turned out that Bea was more interested in the role of Blanche in "The Jack Benny Program," which is why she wasn't on "I Love Lucy."
As someone who is a huge fan of old time radio, and who really likes "My Favorite Husband," I would have LOVED to see Bea as Ethel. As Iris Atterbury, she was incredibly funny and used her signature bubbly cartoon voice to create an extremely likable character. I can just imagine the strict side of Kate Bradley mixing with the goofiness of Iris Atterbury to make a wonderful regular on one of the most famous sitcoms in history. Not to mention, it would have spiced up Bea's popularity and resume and maybe she would have become famous before Petticoat Junction, to the point that people would recognize her to the level that Lucy and Vivian Vance were known.
She was an amazing actress who died young and only has a cult following today. Thanks to Mel Blanc's contract with Warner Brothers, Bea wasn't credited for her voice work in hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons (Not to hate on Mel Blanc, he';s great). There's one great Bugs Bunny episode where she voices the villain Witch Hazel, where she's creepy and funny at the same time. In my opinion, one of the best actresses of the golden age who could have gone higher with a role in "I Love Lucy."
As someone who is a huge fan of old time radio, and who really likes "My Favorite Husband," I would have LOVED to see Bea as Ethel. As Iris Atterbury, she was incredibly funny and used her signature bubbly cartoon voice to create an extremely likable character. I can just imagine the strict side of Kate Bradley mixing with the goofiness of Iris Atterbury to make a wonderful regular on one of the most famous sitcoms in history. Not to mention, it would have spiced up Bea's popularity and resume and maybe she would have become famous before Petticoat Junction, to the point that people would recognize her to the level that Lucy and Vivian Vance were known.
She was an amazing actress who died young and only has a cult following today. Thanks to Mel Blanc's contract with Warner Brothers, Bea wasn't credited for her voice work in hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons (Not to hate on Mel Blanc, he';s great). There's one great Bugs Bunny episode where she voices the villain Witch Hazel, where she's creepy and funny at the same time. In my opinion, one of the best actresses of the golden age who could have gone higher with a role in "I Love Lucy."