Jean Byron

Paducah, Kentucky, USA

Biography

Jean Byron (born Imogene Audette Burkhart; December 10, 1925 – February 3, 2006, Height 5 feet 9 inches [1.75 meters]) was an American film, television, and stage actress. She was best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane's mother in the sitcom The Patty Duke Show. Byron was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and raised in Louisville. She began her career as a singer on radio, and then moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She made her film debut in 1952's Voodoo Tiger. She appeared in several other films, including The Magnetic Monster (1953), Serpent of the Nile (1953), and The Opposite Sex (1956). Byron's most famous role was as Natalie Lane on The Patty Duke Show. She appeared in all three seasons of the show, from 1963 to 1966. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1964. After The Patty Duke Show, Byron continued to work in television, appearing in shows such as The Wild Wild West, The Love Boat, and Murder, She Wrote. She also appeared in several films, including The Sting (1973) and The Muppet Movie (1979). Byron retired from acting in the early 1990s. She died in Mobile, Alabama, in 2006, at the age of 80. In addition to her acting career, Byron was also a talented singer and dancer. She was a member of the Actors Studio and the Screen Actors Guild. She was also a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.

Movies

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

More info
Matinee Theater
1955