Irene Tedrow

Remembering the life of Irene Tedrow for her Birthday! Denver-born supporting actress Irene Tedrow is another in a long line of "I know the face...but not the name" character actors. Born in 1907, beginning her acting career as a teen. She trained in drama at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, PA, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. A slim, handsome woman in her early days, her features grew more severe with age, which ultimately typed her as puritanical meddlers and no-nonsense matrons practically from her entrance into film in 1937. Tedrow studied with Ben Iden Payne, who directed the Memorial Theater at Stratford-on-Avon, in England. She also had three seasons' experience with Maurice Evans's troupe in New York City and touring nationally. Tedrow was a founding member of San Diego's Old Globe Theater and was cast as an ingénue in the beginning of her career. In 1934, she portrayed eighteen characters in multiple adaptations of Shakespearean plays at The Old Globe during the Chicago Fair. She later joined Orson Welles' Mercury Theater. She appeared on Broadway even through her eighties, in King Richard III (1937), Hamlet (1938-1939), King Henry IV, Part I (1939), Our Town (1969) and Pygmalion.

One of Tedrow's earliest roles as a regular cast member on a television program was that of Mrs. Ruggles on the first season of The Ruggles (1949-1950). In 1959 Tedrow played a small part as Mrs Adams in Maverick (TV series) in an episode called "Gun Shy". She had a recurring role as Mrs. Elkins on Dennis the Menace 1959 to 1963. In 1966 she appeared in The Addams Family as the governess Inez Thudd. As a character actor she appeared in many shows, including Lux Video Theatre, Jefferson Drum, The Real McCoys, Rawhide, Mannix, The Twilight Zone and The Andy Griffith Show. In 1955, she appeared on The Jack Benny Program as a contestant with Jack Benny on a mock You Bet Your Life segment with Groucho Marx. In the early 1960s, Tedrow made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Amy Douglas in "The Case of the Ominous Outcast", and a role in Bonanza in the episode "Abner Willoughby's Return". Later she would also appear in Dundee and the Culhane, Columbo, Quincy, Diff'rent Strokes, The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, Remington Steele, St. Elsewhere, Punky Brewster, Facts of Life, Three's Company, It's Garry Shandling's Show and two episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Congresswoman Margaret Geddes. In 1976, Tedrow played Mary Ludlow Hall, Eleanor Roosevelt's grandmother in Eleanor and Franklin. Tedrow's performance in Eleanor and Franklin garnered her one of the first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for "Best Supporting Actress in a Television Comedy or Drama Special". ("Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Comedy or Drama Special - 1976" per the Emmy Awards website) In 1979, she received her second Emmy Award nomination (Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a drama or comedy series) for her role in James at 15

Tedrow's work in radio dated back at least to 1929. As a drama student at Carnegie Institute of Technology, she was master of ceremonies and student director for "Carnegie Tech Day at Gimbel's," which was broadcast on WCAE. Her film work includes roles in Julius Caesar (1953) with Marlon Brando, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960) with Doris Day, The Cincinnati Kid (1965) with Steve McQueen and Ann-Margret, Mandingo (1975) with James Mason, the camp classic Empire of the Ants (1977) with Joan Collins, she was Goldie Hawn's fellow librarian, Mrs. Monk, in Foul Play (1978) and All Night Long (1981) with Barbra Streisand and Gene Hackman. Tedrow was married to William Kent, who originally had come to the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. The couple had two children, Roger and actress Enid Kent. On March 10, 1995, Tedrow died from stroke complications in Hollywood at age 87.