Arlene Golonka is dead to me!!!

OP scoured the internet looking to drag a dead person. She has a polish name which is catnip for OP.

R.I.P.

I enjoyed her on the MTM show. She was in an episode about singles' bars, which also starred Penny Marshall & Rhoda's real-life husband, IIRC.

How am I "dragging" her, r1? The "dead to me" is standard here. You must be a newbie

I'm surprised that she retained that name.

She won the guest star Triple Crown:

Love Boat

Fantasy Island

Murder She Wrote

I like that she kept her name: Golonka.

The only reason she's known, if at all now, would be from Mayberry R. F. D. Which is better than nothing.

She had a hot golonka, but she couldn't live forever.

She also played the daughter of Chuckles the Clown on MTM. She was the girlfriend of Ted Baxter for one episode, several seasons before Georgette showed up.

[quote]She also played the daughter of Chuckles the Clown on MTM. She was the girlfriend of Ted Baxter for one episode, several seasons before Georgette showed up.

And she died so soon after Gavin MacLeod.

I blame Betty White.

I always confused her with Constance Forslund.

[quote] She was the girlfriend of Ted Baxter for one episode, several seasons before Georgette showed up.

I prefer Arlene to Georgia Engel. However, it made sense that Ted would end up with a doormat-type of woman.

I remember her as Jerry’s wife Margie on That Girl.

RIP

Arlene Golonka was Valerie Harper's roommate before either of them made it to the bigtime.

Arlene Leanore Golonka (January 23, 1936 – May 31, 2021), 85; was an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Millie Hutchins on the television comedy The Andy Griffith Show and Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D., and often portrayed bubbly, eccentric blondes in supporting character roles on stage, film, and television.

r14 Georgette wasn't a doormat. In the beginning yes but she grows into the dominant person in the relationship as the season progresses. There's a great episode "The Georgette Story" where Mary and Rhoda basically teach her how to have some self-respect.

Gavin MacLeod, BJ Thomas and now Arlene Golonka.

RIP

I don't imagine Susan Dey has sent her condolences yet. We'll give her a bit more time.

Maybe Susan will acknowledge Gavin MacLeod, BJ Thomas and Arlene Golonka with one message.

[quote] I blame Betty White.

Excellent... everything is going exactly according to plan....

I don't know how much more I can take!

I recognize the face from many tv shows of the 1960s and '70s, but I didn't know her name was Arlene Golonka.

With Bernie Kopell in "That Girl":

Arlene Golonka starred on Broadway in Neil Simon’s first big hit “Come Blow Your Horn” opposite Hal March and Warren Berlinger. Growing up in the 60s and 70s she used to be on everything - game shows, sitcoms - she was always bubbly and cheerful. Gosh - so many faces of my growing up years have gone the last year or so. Arlene Golonka almost always played “kooky” like Joyce Bulifont, Jackie Joseph and Sue Ann Langdon.

She actually did the Guest Star Quadruple Crown because she also did "Love American Style"....THREE TIMES plus she did a guest spot on the reboot in 86!

She really was a Queen of the Guest Spot for 45 years. And, never seemed to book a role as a regular on anything, poor thing.

....other than Mayberry RFD.

MTM would repeat guest stars. Funny, I guess they didn't think people would remember them from the previous episodes. Penny Marshall is on twice, Richard Schall a bunch of times (he plays Chuckles once and Golonka's ex-husband in the singles bar episode.) Beth Howland is on twice too.

She was on TAXI 🚕 as Louies fantasy girlfriend at his highschool reunion.

R23, meet R15

R27, like in "I Love Lucy" with the same character actors turning up again and again in different roles. This is common with acting troupes on the stage, but in ILL's case, I don't think they ever anticipated rerunning past episodes or going in syndication in those early days of television, so they probably thought audiences would've forgotten where they'd seen them before. With TMTMS, it is a little peculiar.

She was Uncle Ed's wife Maxine on [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic] The season they got married was the season NBC put the show up against [italic]The Love Boat[/italic].

Tracey Gold was the original choice for Samantha, and she ended up on that show B.J. Thomas sang the theme song from.

Millie is reconnecting with Rhoda.

[quote]Arlene Golonka almost always played “kooky” like Joyce Bulifont, Jackie Joseph and Sue Ann Langdon.

R24. FYI...Joyce (83), Jackie (86) and Sue Ann (85) are all still alive.

Has Priscilla Morrill issued a statement?

She was everywhere on 1970s TV. I associate her with Love American Style from childhood viewing.

Who was everywhere, r35?

I'm so old, I remember her from this.

Arlene and Clint (Eastwood, not Howard.)

[quote]MTM would repeat guest stars. Funny, I guess they didn't think people would remember them from the previous episodes. Penny Marshall is on twice,

Penny was on three episodes

[quote]Arlene Golonka was Valerie Harper's roommate before either of them made it to the bigtime.

No, Valerie was Arlene's roomate, also known as "muff mate"

She was like an old used up version of me

Here she is trying out cute Sally Field (also with Teri Garr) on "The Girl With Something Extra"

They should've kept Arlene at Ted's love interest, rather than that dippy boring Georgette.

r43

Valerie was afraid Arlene would steal her thunder as the breakout actress

Remember when they tried to pass of Millie as Howard's fiance??? Like Howard was straight.

Arlene Golonka sounds like a sarcastic response from Dorothy to Rose.

Dorothy: I don't want Ma to love in with my sister.

Rose: Your sister Gloria?

Dorothy: No Rose. My sister Arlene Golonka.

That Arlene had quite a pair of golonkas!

When acting roles were few, Arlene attempted to earn extra money via wet tarp contests.

"Golonka" always sounded to me like a type of Polish stuffed cabbage.

IT WOULD BE BETTER WITH ARLENE GOLONKA, ROSE! Now show you're damn movie.

One of my favorite end credits is "And Arlene Golonka as Betty Bowerchuck." It has such a 70s ring to it.

Why didn't they bring Arlene back for Chuckles Bites the Dust? Her and Joyce Bulifant's absence from that episode is jarring. Was Mary paranoid about Arlene stealing her thunder?

[quote]Was Mary paranoid about Arlene stealing her thunder?

No. but most of the women were paranoid about Joyce Bulifant stealing their husbands.

[quote]No. but most of the women were paranoid about Joyce Bulifant stealing their husbands

I wasn't afraid of her

Someone should've asked Patti Deutsch all about Joyce?

Have I released a statement yet?

Golonka means pig's knuckle in Polish.

Aww, this makes me kind of sad. As a kid of the 70s, I remember her being on everything but don't think I actually knew her name until I started visiting the DL!

She was by far the most tolerable of the kooky sitcom guest star blondes.

Did she ever work with Barbara Nichols?

Like the posters above, I also remember seeing Arlene Golonka on “Love American Style”. God help me, this is pathetic, I even remember the plot of one, wherein she and Harvey Lembeck were being honored as the millionth (or some impressive number) guests to check into a motel — except that Lembeck was married!

I knew she was in “Come Blow Your Horn” on Broadway, hadn’t known about “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. Rest In Peace, Ms. Golonka.

She was Nurse Ratched?

Was it just natural causes?

IMDB

Candy Starr, r62...

Damn. Saw her on Benson yesterday.

r64 Did you somehow manage to miss the ORIGINAL POST?

Talking about Mayberry RFD- My gaydar says that Ken Berry was a QUEEN.

She played Phoebes reincarnated mom on Friends.

r68, his wife of 16 years and his female companion of 24 years would beg to differ.

No, that was Teri Garr.

Why is no one discussing Constance Forslund?

R37 Valerie Harper was on the follow-up record, “When You’re in Love, the Whole World is Jewish” in 1966. There’s a sketch in which Valerie already uses her Rhoda voice playing an irate airplane passenger.

R70- That just makes Ken Berry a CLOSET QUEEN.

Was Ken fucking Dorothy Lyman?

Betty Walker & Val...

R76 Valerie and Betty Walker were like an early version of Rhoda and her mother Ida in this sketch.

Another “kooky” gal from this days was Fosse dancer Barbara Sharma. She had a great guest bit as “Randy” the the incompetent loser “FEEB” waitress that Mary got fired on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Ken Berry and Arlene Golonka both died at age 85.

For years, I thought Barbara Sharma and Sandra Gould were daughter and mother. They looked so much alike. Agreed, Sharma was terrific on that feeb ep of MTM.

Human sacrifice, r79?

Barbara Sharma works at a sexual health clinic in LA.

[quote]Why is no one discussing Constance Forslund?

Perhaps because this is MY damned thread?

For some weird reason this is making me feel really old. Arlene Golonka of all people. LOL!

The producers of sequel Mayberry RFD were so transparent in trading in on the success of The Andy Griffith Show that they gave her characters the same first name?!

R78 I didn’t know that Sharma had been a Fosse dancer. In retrospect, it adds some humor to her repeatedly tap dancing through scenes in Laugh-In rather than doing something more modern. I knew she sang well, as on the recording of “Hallelujah, Baby.”

RIP, Arlene.

Aww, that’s a shame.

I loved her on that What’s My Line show.

I can totally see Barbara Sharma as Sandra Gould's daughter - then you have to toss in Megan Mullally for good measure. I had no idea that Sharma worked at a sexual health clinic in LA .......I feel bad about Arlene Golanka = she was always so unassuming = like remembering an old class mate or neighbor. Arlene Golonka and Dawn Wells seemed perpetually 35 years old.

[quote]Arlene Golonka was Valerie Harper's roommate before either of them made it to the bigtime.

Valerie and Arlene remained close friends throughout their lives.

I'm sure Valerie helped Arlene get the roles she go on the MTM show.

Valerie said Arlene was the kind of friend who would call her from an audition and say, "Get down here now - you'd be way better for this part than me,"

They both worked as dancers and chorus girls, which was a brutal way to try to make it in show business at the time.

Miss Dey condoles no one at this time.

How is it any easier now, r90? I ask you.

I saw Miss Sharma in Vanities with Misses Ashley and Warren...

So did I, except Lesley Ann was not in it. Some nobody named Mary Ann Chinn replaced her, but she was good too.

She was on Gimme a Break today. She played Carl's brother's wife who was an ex prostitute.

I just watched a Dick Van Dyke episode with...wait for it...MISS SUE ANE LANGDON!

I only know Sue Ane Langdon from all those TV Guide crossword puzzles. Her name was a frequent clue and answer.

I always confused Sue Ann Langdon with Betsy Palmer.

R85, she actually played the same character in both. When she was on "Andy Griffith", she got engaged to Howard Sprague. Andy suggested they take a long trip together with Andy and Helen Grump along for the ride. As they got to know each other better,they knew they were mismatched. When "Millie" appeared in Mayberry RFD, Sam (ken Berry) asked Howard if it would be awkward for him if he started dating Millie. Howard said he was fine with it. I don't know why they changed her last name.

I liked Arnie, r97. Also she must of sung well as she was one of Barbara Harris' replacements in The Apple Tree.

[quote]I only know Sue Ane Langdon from all those TV Guide crossword puzzles. Her name was a frequent clue and answer.

In the early seasons of "Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine," before its name was changed to "The Jackie Gleason Show" and Gleason started doing hour-long "Honeymooners" episodes with Sheila MacRae as Alice, he and Art Carney did a few short "Honeymooner" sketches in which Alice was played by Sue Ane Langdon. She's on the left, with Patricia Wilson as Trixie.

It's not a given that a replacement sings well.

I always thought that Sue Ane Langdon was a hoot in Frankie and Johnny with Elvis & Donna Douglas = I remember get swiveling on a stool and spying on Elvis & Nancy kovack and then going to spill it to Donna D "Honey, I don't want to tell you no secrets - I don't want to all you no lies."

Sue Ane played a good-time girl who picks up Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda in the comedy western The Rounders. She and another floozy (played by the even more obscure Hope Holliday) make the movie watchable in their few scenes.

Ah - Hope Holiday = Marge McDougal from The apartment= she was Jack Lennon's Christmas Eve hook=up. What was the name of her jockey husband that she kept crying about? ...... I knew about Arlene Golanka playing Peggy in Come Blow Your Horn, but I didn't know she was in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest with Kirk Douglas.

R98. Betsy Palmer (born Patricia Betsy Hrunek; November 1, 1926 – May 29, 2015) 88 years old when she died.

I loved Betsy Palmer. When I was a kid, she was a panelist on the weeknight show, "I've Got A Secret" hosted by Bill Cullen. Henry Morgan was a panelist along with Jayne Meadows, who eventually relocated to the West Coast and was replaced by former Miss America, Bess Myerson.

I saw Betsy Palmer and Frank Converse with Kristoffer Tabori (Viveca Lindfors' son) in "The Shadow Box" at the Charles Playhouse in Boston in 1979. Outstanding acting by all. Betsy was superb.

R106, "I've Got a Secret" was hosted by Garry Moore (and later Steve Allen). Veteran game show host Bill Cullen was one of the panelists, not the host.

^^Bill Cullen hosted periodically when Gary Moore left the show.

[quote]Also she must of sung well

Oh, dear.

I saw Sue Ane Langdon and Gary Collins in "Same Time, Next Year" at a sumner theater.

R41: Teresa Ganzel....now there's a really obscure guest starring Bimbo. Did she replace Carol Wayne on the Tonight Show?

She was on one of my favorite Murder She Wrote episodes, "Trial By Jury" as one of the jurists

r112 She played a JUDGE?

The cast list is a feast of has beens: Arlene Golonka, plus Macdonald Carey, Alan Hale Jr, Tom Ewell, Vicki Lawrence. Truly peak "Murder She Wrote" for DL.

r99

Millie got married and divorced in between TAGS and MRFD

Valerie said Arlene was the kind of friend who would call her from an audition and say, G̶e̶t̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶ Go down on me now - you'd be way better ff̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶ at this than me,"

No, r116...you really didn't.

It was a surprise to see Arlene Golonka turn up in “Leather Jacket Love Story”!

Her “Love American Style” episode with Harvey Lembeck was pretty funny and clever.

Other than her friendship with Valerie Harper dating back to their days in New York together, I know very little about Golonka’s private life. Did she every marry or have children?

Arlene and Valerie were clearly lesbonic. Notice how Valerie ADOPTED a child.

With Diane.

"With Diane"

Oh, dear!

#98 = what a small world = I saw that production of the Shadow Box with Betsy Palmer in Boston in 1979! As I recall a touring co of Fiddler on the Roof with H Bernardi came through that season.

Why are we discussing the mostly forgotten Arlene Golanka instead of the iconic Karen Valentine?

I don't think that deserves an Oh Dear, r121. Tennessee Ernie's real first name was Diane.

[quote]Why are we discussing the mostly forgotten Arlene Golanka instead of the iconic Karen Valentine?

Because I'm not dead asshole

125 posts and counting in a thread dedicated to Arlene Golonka!

[quote]Bill Cullen hosted periodically when Gary Moore left the show.

You said Bill Cullen was the host, R106, not the fill-in host. Garry Moore was the host, until he left and was later replaced by Steve Allen. Cullen was primarily a panelist.

You think Jodie Foster's brother would have something to say.

Didn't he die?

Arthur Spooned seduced her whilst Doug and Carrie were out of town

My ex used to teach improv at a hotel near the Beverly Center = this was mid nineties during the Menendez Trial OJ Simpson Trial years = he rented out meeting space and held classes there. One night he came home and said there was some older blonde lady teaching an acting class in a room on the other side of him. He said I think this lady would be up your alley = you always like that stuff = have you ever heard of Arlene Um Gol? Gol? = To which I jumped in AR!ENE GOLONKA?????? = She was never there to teach again = I wanted to meet her.......A few months later I made up for it. I was looking at the New Arrivals section at Brentano's Books and I noticed a short older middle aged redheaded woman near me. I blurted out "Are you LINDA KAYE HENNING??? BETTY JO!!!"

Well, she was no Lois Nettleton.

But at least she wasn’t Susan Richardson.

"But at least she wasn’t Susan Richardson."

*

High praise indeed

Arlene was also good friends with Valerie Perrine.

Was she close to Natalie Wood?

Arlene looks like she's having fun, Natalie looks...guarded...

Lois Nettleton was a fine actress. She and Janice Rule probably guested on every hour long show of the 60s and 70s. Lois was even on a few Murder She Wrotes. Thankfully, they usually played different parts--Lois, usually the frustrated good girl. Janice, the more intense one with issues. Rule was married to Ben Gazarra for awhile--probably not fun. No wonder whe became a psychoanalystic therapist later on. I wonder if Lois and Janice were friends.

Back to Arlene--it would be funny if she was close to Sue Ane Langdon, Teresa Genzel and all the other guest starring blonde airheads.

Arlene was great friends with K Callen and Karen Morrow.

Arlene and Terry: The Coke Years?

Terry Moore is also still with us. She's 92.

Has anyone heard from Debralee Scott?

I'm still here too, a young 77-year-old ingenue

R124 Except he spelled it Diahann.

R120 The look on Diahann Carroll’s is like she saw a glass top coffee table in Danny Thomas’s dressing room!

She also played a prostitute on All In The Family. And had the misfortune of working with Bonnie Franklin AND Linda Lavin.

[quote]Has anyone heard from Debralee Scott?

You'd have to use Madame Mertzola to contact her.

Arlene screen-tested for the Sharon Tate role in Valley of the Dolls.

Ditto Tiffany Case in "Diamonds Are Forever."

Arlene was the first choice for Allison McKenzie on Peyton Place, but the producers didn't think she resembled Dorothy Malone enough.

Teresa Ganzel (born March 23, 1957, in Toledo, Ohio), 64, is an American actress and comedienne.

I love Teresa Ganzel. She was great with Jim Carrey in "the Duck Factory."

R122. Nice to virtually meet you. I always remembered that performance of 'The Shadow Box' at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. I just knew Betsy Palmer as a panelist on 'To Tell The Truth.' I had no idea she was such a great actress.

I don't remember a Playhouse production of 'Fiddler,' but if you were a theatregoer like me, you may recall a few classic Playhouse shows: 'Side By Side By Sondheim' (1979), the '70s classic, 'P.S. Your Cat is Dead' (1977) and the ever popular 'Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris' (1975), which songs Bobby Wetherbee also played/sung at JC Hillary's on Boylston Street/Prudential and at the Crown & Anchor in Provincetown. Good times.

Anyone remember Kathleen Nolan from the late '50s/early '60s?

Nolan's best-known television role was as Kate, the wife of Luke McCoy (Richard Crenna), on the popular sitcom The Real McCoys. Also starred three-time Oscar winner, Walter Brennan.

[quote]125 posts and counting in a thread dedicated to Arlene Golonka! —Why I love DL

And a fight almost broke out over Bill Cullen!

Kathleen Nolan was mostly known for SAG activities after her peak TV years. She's almost pre-Golonka.

[quote]Has anyone heard from Debralee Scott?

No one has heard a peep out of her since 2005.

Can we please discuss the glorious Sharon Spellman?

[quote]Anyone remember Kathleen Nolan from the late '50s/early '60s?

Kathleen Nolan created the role of Wendy on Broadway in Mary Martin's "Peter Pan" and repeated the role in the live television versions broadcast in 1955 and 1956. (She's not in the 1960 videotaped version, the one most people would have seen because it was rebroadcast several times.) She was president of SAG for a while. Her other TV series, "Broadside," ran for one season in 1964-65 and co-starred lesbionic Sheila James (Zelda from "Dobie Gillis") and Dick Sargent. It was the reason Sargent wasn't originally available to play Darrin on "Bewitched."

[quote] I just knew Betsy Palmer as a panelist on 'To Tell The Truth.' I had no idea she was such a great actress.

The game show on which Betsy Palmer was a regular panelist was "I've Got a Secret," the same show that almost caused a fight to break out over Bill Cullen earlier in this thread.

It wasn't Broadside so much as Sargent's contract with Universal, which was involved in the production of the show. Bewitched was made by Screen Gems (part of Columbia). Thankfully, it saved us from him as the "original Darren".

R159. I meant to say I've Got A Secret instead of To Tell The Truth. Don't want to cause a fight.

Did she work in the legitimate theater?

And here we have Aneta Corsaut, who played Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith Show. She died at 62.

Aneta Louise Corsaut (November 3, 1933 – November 6, 1995) was an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith Show (1963–1968), Judge Cynthia Justin on Matlock (1991-1992), and Jane in The Blob (1958). Corsaut never married or had children. According to the 2015 book Andy & Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show, she and Andy Griffith, who was married at the time, had an affair while working together on The Andy Griffith Show.

Speaking of Betsy Palmer, she (seen briefly at the 01:11 mark), joined her IGaS co-panelist Bess Myerson in this 1970 anti-war protest gathering.

I'm sorry...Betsy Palmer is Jason Vorrhees's mother. Anything else she did is not worth mentioning.

And someone told me she had just bought a farm.

The back story of Helen Crump:

I was a Broadside fan.

The darker side of Betsy Palmer playing camp cook-turned-killer, Mrs. Voorhees, in the movie, 'Friday the 13th.'

I'm sure she made a lovely Nellie Forbush, r165.

Betsy played Joan Of Ark's aunt on Knots Landing after they fired Julia Harris.

Betsy Palmer's co-panelist on I've Got a Secret: Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who became famous in 1945 as the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Myerson is the only Jewish woman to win the title to date.

I seem to recall that Donna Reed was also involved with Another Mother for Peace.

^ You left out the part about Bess Myerson being a shoplifter.

[quote] Myerson was arrested in May 1988 for shoplifting in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. She pleaded guilty to retail theft and was ordered to pay a fine.

[quote]^ You left out the part about Bess Myerson being a shoplifter.

Not to mention the "Bess Mess" scandal in NYC during the Koch administration.

[quote]I'm sure she made a lovely Nellie Forbush, R165.

A while back on Buzzr I saw an episode of "I've Got a Secret" (a New Year's episode) in which Betsy Palmer sang a song from "South Pacific" with whoever was playing Emile de Becque on the tour with her. She was quite good.

Arlene and Natalie

Arlene thought she was pretty hot stuff, didn’t she?

[quote]Arlene thought she was pretty hot stuff, didn’t she?

Well, she also worked in the legitimate theater, as did I.

Yes, they were indicted and later acquitted, but it sure seemed like they were guilty. The 'Bess Mess' was big news in the '80s:

After serving in the Koch administration in 1983 as Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Bess Myerson's career became overshadowed by controversy. She became romantically involved with a married sewer contractor, Carl Andrew Capasso. It soon emerged that Hortense Gabel (the judge involved in Capasso's divorce case) had started socializing with Myerson. Judge Gabel's daughter (Sukhreet) was also hired by Myerson. After Gabel cut Capasso's child support payments, investigations began as to whether or not Gabel had been bribed. In April 1987, after Myerson invoked the Fifth Amendment, she was forced to resign her position with the Koch administration. The scandal became known as the "Bess Mess"

Myerson, Capasso and Gabel were Indicted a year later and tried on federal charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and using interstate facilities to violate state bribery laws, accused of conspiring to reduce Capasso's child support payments. With Sukhreet as the prosecution's chief witness, the main issue at the U.S. District Court trial was whether Myerson's decision to hire Sukhreet constituted bribery. After four months of trial proceedings, all three defendants were acquitted. Capasso was separately convicted of unrelated tax charges.

I ate her pussy.

#157 - Sharon Spellman! Donna Pescow’s snooty sister in Law on Angie!! In the opening credits she did a big piece of physical comedy - I can’t remember if she got hit with birds or sprinklers. Tammy Lauren played her daughter for the first season and vanished in the 2nd season. Tammy Lauren played ingenue Ginger In ABC’s Homefront opposite Kyle Chandler. You don’t see much of Sharon Spellman or Tammy Lauren anymore.

[quote]I meant to say I've Got A Secret instead of To Tell The Truth.

You better watch what you say around here.

Arlene! Golonka!

No, no, no....

SHE WAS SO YOUNG!

Donna Reed was a co-founder of Another Mother for Peace with Norma Connolly (soap actress, wife of writer Howard Rodman) and Barbara Avedon (tv writer, co-creator of Cagney & Lacey). Reed did her own research and gave testimony to Congress.

Arlene was the only Jewish person in Mayberry....

She passed by pretending her pie-baking duties at the Cafe prevented her from attended the local Christian church on Sundays...

Then Howard started to notice little things, like the fact she didn't know words to Christmas Carols

Betsy goes for sultry...

Update from the Offices of Miss Susan Dey:

No announcements of condolences, or otherwise, are anticipated today.

Please check back for further developments.

Jackie & Ken!

Arlene spying Robert Culp's bulge at eye-level.

R188. Ha! We'll wait.

Have we heard from Barbara Parkins?

What about Patricia Morrow?

[quote]Another “kooky” gal from this days was Fosse dancer Barbara Sharma. She had a great guest bit as “Randy” the the incompetent loser “FEEB” waitress that Mary got fired on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

This made me think of another "kookie" actress, Pat Finley. She played Twinks McFarland, who went to summer camp with Mary. Though she barely knew them, she asked Mary and Rhoda to be her bridesmaids as she married a guy with the last name of Tvedt. Mary and Rhoda joked about how now she'd be known as Twinkls Tvedt.

Elaine Giftos and Victoria Carroll send their condolences.

Pat Finley had a recurring role for a few seasons as Bob's sister on The Bob Newhart Show. The sister was dating Howard, the neighbor and although Pat's character was supposed to be 'normal', compared to the childlike Howard, I could never get over the creepy vibe she gave off as Sparkie on a different episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where Mary and Rhoda join a club for divorced people in the hopes of getting a discount on a trip to Paris. Sparkie totally seemed like a Manson girl and was more unsettling than funny.

R194. I remember her. Very weird.

Yes - whatever happened to Pat Finley? Both of her episodes of Mary Tyler Moore were super - and yes she did that funny “Heeey! wait a minute!” Thing in the Divorce Club Episode. I don’t remember why she didn’t marry Howard on Bob Newhart - or did she? Anyway - I don’t recall seeing her in anything after that.

Pat Finley retired to France. And she had a sister whose name was Sparkle.

The late pianist Rick Unterberg at the Townhouse a couple of times referred to me as the "male Arlene Golonka". I think he meant it as a compliment.

^^Blond and perky?

Not blonde (well maybe in temperament), but definitely sang a lot of up-tempos and I guess perky, sure! I miss Rick; he was great.

There was also Pat Crowley from "Please Don't Eat the Daisies", a kind of comic mother back in the '60s, based on the Doris Day movie. Don't know what happened to her. Plus there was that cute girl Tina on "Courtship of Eddie's Father", kind of an redhead-auburn hair Arlene Golonka type.

Kristina Holland. She became a psychologist.

[quote]She passed by pretending her pie-baking duties at the Cafe prevented her from attended the local Christian church on Sundays...

Millie SOLD pies she didn't bake them.

I remember the episode where Alice Ghostley replaced Frances Bavier and Alice's character wanted to help Mayberry's celebration.

The town council which included Goober, Sam, Howard, Millie and Aunt Bee's freenemy Clara was all a tither because the needed someone to bake a cake.

I was like "IDIOTS, Millie WORKS AT A BAKERY." Yet they decided to let Alice's character bake it and she screwed it up.

I liked From a Bird's Eye View, r198.

Can someone please direct me to a Liz Torres thread? Search function is showing nothing.

I remember an episode of “Mayberry RFD” where stunning Marianna Hill showed up as a friend of Golonka’s setting her sights on Ken Berry. Arlene Golonka was cute and perky, but she was no Marianna Hill! Even soupruss John Simon commented on her beauty!

[R120] The look on Diahann Carroll’s is like she saw a glass top coffee table in Danny Thomas’s dressing room!

—Anonymous

R144, posts like yours are truly one of the reasons I still love Datalounge. I’m still laughing at your comment!

[quote]Arlene was the only Jewish person in Mayberry....

Arlene wasn't Jewish, and there's no indication her character was supposed to be.

R68, Ken Berry was not only a queen, he was a DANCING QUEEN!

Joyce Bulifant is not only still alive, but sounds and looks almost the same. Here she is, two years ago, sweetly bitching about losing the Mrs. Brady part to Florence Henderson...

I'm surprised that a thread on a veteran character actress has reached over 200 posts. Arlene would've been thrilled to know how well she's remembered.

Oh, hell, wasn't Joyce Bulifant married to some big television producer who got her lots of work on sit-coms and game shows? Think of all the roles she stole from other actresses who weren't sleeping with the producer! Florence Henderson actually had starred on Broadway. Bulifant sang "Buy-Yum Pum Pum" supporting Lesley Ann Warren in "The Happiest MIllionaire".

[quote]Oh, hell, wasn't Joyce Bulifant married to some big television producer who got her lots of work on sit-coms and game shows?

Sounds like that bitch all right

Liz, your father was also a big movie star back in the day, and a TV producer, too! (But at least you were very pretty and quite talented as an actress).

r208

This guy has a blog, where he has reviewed every episode of "Mayberry RFD." Here is the episode in question.

And it woulda killed ya to link it, r214?

Joyce's husbands:

James MacArthur (actor; Helen Hayes' son) ​ Edward Mallory (actor) ​ William Asher (producer; Elizabeth Montgomery's ex) ​ Glade Bruce Hansen (who?) ​ Roger Perry (actor; Jo Anne Worley's ex)

Why did Aunt Bee leave Mayberry RFD?

Golonka drove her outta town on a rail, r220.

[quote]Why did Aunt Bee leave Mayberry RFD?

Scandalous photos of her scissoring with Clara.

R218 And they dubbed me?!!

I just read that Arlene Golonka’s niece announced that she passed away from complications due to Alzheimer’s and had been living in a Memory Care Center in West Hollywood. That is so sad! I wonder how long she had it - 85 seems young to pass from it.

[Quote] 85 seems young to pass from it.

?

[quote]85 seems young to pass from it.

Not at all.

[quote] [R85], she actually played the same character in both. When she was on "Andy Griffith", she got engaged to Howard Sprague. Andy suggested they take a long trip together with Andy and Helen Grump along for the ride. As they got to know each other better,they knew they were mismatched. When "Millie" appeared in Mayberry RFD, Sam (ken Berry) asked Howard if it would be awkward for him if he started dating Millie. Howard said he was fine with it. I don't know why they changed her last name.

There was probably an ill-fated rebound marriage after she saw the golden opportunity to be Mrs. Howard Sprague slip from her fingers. Imagine the anguish her character must have endured.

Ken Berry seemed to be a go-to guest on our beloved Mitzi Gaynor spectaculars.

I just mean that you often hear that people were diagnosed with it 5 to ten years prior - at 85 she must have been suffering quite a while. my mom and Arlene were both born in 1936 - my mom has been great until this year - I think Alzheimer’s and thyroid - she suddenly began aging rapidly. I guess I just didn’t want to face the thought that my mom could be following Arlene’s path. Both funny sunny ladies.

Aunt Bee’s full first name was said to be Beatrice. Why, then, wasn’t she Aunt Bea?!

Because they don't spell so well in NC.

R212. I always wondered...If Joyce Bulifant had been cast in the role of Carole on The Brady Bunch (before Florence Henderson), and the 'Brady' writer envisioned the Mrs. Brady character to be more like a zany Lucy Ricardo--but the studio wanted a more traditional "mom" role for Mrs. Brady, why couldn't they just ask Joyce to play the role straighter and not zany?

After all, as limited as it was, Joyce did play more of a traditional wife and mother as Murray Slaughter's wife and Helen Hunt's mother on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I mean, even with that annoying voice, Joyce was an actress, and playing a traditional Mrs. Brady for her wouldn't have been all that difficult.

They wanted Henderson. End of story.

Joyce doesn't do warm and fuzzy, and she wasn't conventionally attractive like Florence Henderson. She kind of looks and sounds like a cartoon character come to life. It's almost like trying to visualize Georgia Engel in the Meredith Baxter role on Family Ties. I caught Joyce on a Perry Mason a few weeks ago. It was obviously a straight dramatic role, but she still came off as kooky, no matter how hard she tried to play it straight, bless her heart.

Did you ever see Joyce on "Match Game"? Her answers were the dumbest probably among the rotation of non-regular stars, besides Patti Deutsch, whose answers were just usually bizarre. Joyce was probably who everyone thought of when they had one of those Dumb Dora questions.

R226, Alzheimer's used to be what they called 'early onset dementia'. That's why Rita Hayworth made Alzheimer's a household word back in 1981 when she was only 62. And she was diagnosed at least 15 years too late, but they didn't know any better. Thought she was a drunk.

Now almost anyone with dementia gets the false diagnosis of Alzheimer's, even though it's "just" dementia.

You mean like this R235?

r237 Joyce gave a dirty answer and then played dumb.

No wonder Brett despised her.

Did Joyce ever play a sibling of Sandy Duncan?

Wasn't Joyce also notorious throughout the 1970s for pooping in the purses of most every Beverly Hills matrons worth mentioning? Word was, invite JB to your soiree and wind up with a gift in your handbag!

No. That was Kevin Spacey R240.

How did a thread memorializing the great Arlene Golonka morph into a discussion about that twit Joyce Bulifant?

Well, how many women's husbands has Arlene had?

Hill seems rather a kook.

R242, it's morphed into several directions. I mean, who the hell is Marianna Hill and WTF does SHE have to do with Arlene?

Marianna guested on Arlene's sitcom.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the gold standard for television shows. I've always been rather shocked that MTM producers ever hired someone like that dopey, helium sounding Joyce Bulifant.

^^I guess straight guys liked Bulifant. She married enough of them, and she worked fairly steadily throughout her career. It's the mystery of life.

Arlene was married twice - no children. Unless her illness sidelined her longer than we know, it is surprising that her acting credits fell off. She looked great in that King of Queens episode in the early 2000s. She was a versatile actress who up until at least that time stayed trim and kept her looks. With so many channels and so much tv you could even see her as an older character on a show like Sex and the City or Weeds or Desperate Housewives.

Joyce was not an actress who was going to generate sexual heat with Mike, while also being wholesome. That is why Florence Henderson got the job. She and Robert Reed had amazing sexual chemistry.

And as for Joyce's goofy answers, that was was that seat was for, except for Betty who was kind of the straight woman to everyone else's goofiness when she was in that seat.

R209 Thank you! I usually bomb on Twitter, but here on DL there are people that get the references well enough to understand my sense of humor.

Arlene was a sweet and lovely woman. 85 is so young.

What did Arlene think of Valerie's step-parenting skills when it came to Wendy Schaal? Asking for a friend.

R250: By that time, wacky wives had been replaced by having a wacky neighbor. Bulifant and Robert Reed wouldn't have worked as a pair. His actor-y nonsese would ahve bothered her more than it bothered Henderson. What she and Reed had in common was being relative old pros who could play leading roles.

[quote]I always wondered...If Joyce Bulifant had been cast in the role of Carole on The Brady Bunch (before Florence Henderson), and the 'Brady' writer envisioned the Mrs. Brady character to be more like a zany Lucy Ricardo--but the studio wanted a more traditional "mom" role for Mrs. Brady, why couldn't they just ask Joyce to play the role straighter and not zany?

A lot of that stuff Sherwood Schwartz said was not accurate. You can read how he changed stories on the Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island time after time. So don't expect it to add up. The best one is how they chose the children on the basis of hair color. Which was wrong. Schwartz says Susan Olsen was hired before anyone (including Robert Reed) also Mike Lookinland has red hair and dyed it for most of the run. Both Susan Olsen and Florence Henderson dyed their hair at the start as well.

That was Liza, r240. At the height of her fame

Whatsh goodsh ish shitting...

Joyce Butt-Full-iFant was Hollywood's vengeful pooper

I have the ruined purses to prove it...that nasty bitch

Elizabeth Montgomery left Bill Asher - their marriage was over by the end of the run of "Bewitched" in 1972

But she was not thrilled to see him fall into the arms of that nutty bitch, Joyce Bullifant

Joyce Bulifant must have one magic snapper to get all that Hollywood dick.

Bill Asher really traded down from Elizabeth when he married Joyce. That's like going from filet mignon to a big mac.

I've got the secret sauce!

Stars are demanding. Joyce was probably much less so.

Don't forget, r261, Liz got the Foxworth.

"Joyce was not an actress who was going to generate sexual heat with Mike, while also being wholesome. That is why Florence Henderson got the job. She and Robert Reed had amazing sexual chemistry."

Thanks for the laugh R250. Amazing sexual chemistry!

Sheesh, what's with all the Bulifant hate? She played a part, seemed like a decent person, made a decent living.

Some of you sound like you're talking about Kate Jackson!

Her perkiness is manufactured and relentless, r266. Miss Golonka had an organic effervescence that never ceased to charm.

Two pages of Joyce screen caps.

Who is Joyce's hot stud muffin "Guest" at the 4th Annual Roger Neal Oscar Viewing Dinner-Icon Awards and After Party at The Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA on February 24th, 2019?

Ya gotta hand it to Joyce. She aged really beautifully. She looks terrific. If she had any work done, it's very subtle and was really well done.

Wow. Time has been good to Joyce.

Joyce, Joyce, Joyce!

It's too bad Joyce never got an "and" credit. I would've shaved 10 years off my life to see her do the "Barrie Youngfellow pivot" that always went hand in hand with the "and" credit.

Before there was Brangelina, there was Royce

Joyce Bulifant is Jenny McCarthy's former mother-in-law:

Joyce then married William Asher (August 28, 1976 – 1993; divorced) and Asher adopted her son John which gave him the last name of Asher. Bulifant has a grandson, Evan Joseph Asher, from John's marriage to Jenny McCarthy.

Jenny McCarthy didn't give a grandson to Arlene Golonka.

Any word yet from Susan Dey? I'm anxiously awaiting her statement.

Does Arlene have any blaxploitation credits?

More to the point, does Joyce Bulifant?

R269, "stud muffin"? Someone needs their prescription checked ASAP.

Agreed R270, R271. Ironically, that's in part how this thread went off into Joyce-land about 60-70 posts ago. She looks GREAT...

"Jenny McCarthy didn't give a grandson to Arlene Golonka."

*

Jenny offered, r275, and Arlene hit her in the head with a fondue pot.

Miss Dey is otherwise engaged.

There will be no further statements from her office today.

You may continue to check back with us.

But is Miss Dey able to lunch today?