Bea Benaderet

On The Jack Benny Program she played Gertrude Gearshift, a wisecracking telephone operator who gossiped about Benny with fellow operator Mabel Flapsaddle (Sara Berner). Meant as a one-off, the pair became a recurring act from the 1945-46 season. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

Gertrude and Mabel traded barbs with Benny, and sometimes with each other, whenever he tried to put a call through, slipping current movie titles into their jabs, as in "Mr. Benny's line is flashing!" Source: Wikipedia: The Jack Benny Program

On The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show she played Blanche Morton, the Burns' neighbor and Gracie's closest friend and ally, on radio from 1942 to 1949. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

Her other recurring radio parts included principal Eve Goodwin on The Great Gildersleeve, Millicent Carstairs on Fibber McGee and Molly and the maid Gloria on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1944-1945); she also worked on Lux Radio Theatre (1940-1944) and This Is Your FBI (1945-1953). Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

She played Iris Atterbury, neighbor of Lucille Ball's Liz Cooper, on My Favorite Husband opposite Gale Gordon, and in 1950 had her only radio lead, again with Gordon, in Granby's Green Acres, which lasted eight episodes. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

She joined San Francisco station KFRC in 1926, acting, singing, writing and producing, and after moving to KHJ in Hollywood in 1936 made her network debut with Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre company on The Campbell Playhouse. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

She was in the regular cast of The Mel Blanc Show (1946-1947) as the rich socialite Mrs. Longneck. Source: Wikipedia: The Mel Blanc Show

On television she kept Blanche Morton on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950-1958), voiced Betty Rubble on The Flintstones and starred as Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet

Born in New York City on April 4, 1906, she died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles on October 13, 1968. Source: Wikipedia: Bea Benaderet