Norma Jean Nilsson

Norma Jean Nilsson was born on January 1, 1938 in Hollywood, California, United States. She is an actress, known for The Actress (1953), The Green-Eyed Blonde (1957) and Lux ​​Video Theatre (1950).

Nilsson was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur V. Nilsson. Her father was a professor of anatomy at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Acting on radio from the age of three, she had become the highest paid radio child actress in America by 1947. From the mid-50s, she acted in juvenile roles on television. She has an older brother, Arthur Jr. She began performing when she was 3 years old and was active during World War II, entertaining troops at Army camps across the United States.

Nilsson attended Victory Garden School and Bancroft Junior High School. Newspaper columnist Louella Parsons wrote in 1946 that Nilsson had an IQ of 162.

When Nilsson was 4 years old, she won a talent contest on Tune-Out Time on KECA. At 5, she made her "first big-time radio appearance", portraying a dying girl on Free World Theatre. At 8, her picture was featured on the cover of the July 21, 1946, issue of Radio Life magazine.

Nilsson was reading a commercial on an Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy episode when guest Cecil B. DeMille recognized her talent, and she performed on many Lux Radio Theatre episodes. In 1947, Nilsson was the highest paid child actor.

An article published in Radio and Television Mirror in 1951 reported that she was "a charter member of the Five Hundred Club, an organization of children who have appeared on five hundred or more radio broadcasts."

Nilsson played Cookie (the Bumsteads' daughter) in the radio version of Blondie, Kathy (the Andersons' younger daughter) on the radio version of Father Knows Best, Glory Mae (the "little girl who lives next door") on The Jack Carson Show.,and as the lead actress Lois to Raymond Burr's antagonist in the "Murder on Mike" (1957) episode of Suspense.

Nilsson’s other OTR credits include Cavalcade of America, Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Have Gun, Will Travel, Stars Over Hollywood, The Doctor Fights, This My Best.

She was also heard on Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Cavalcade of America and the radio version of Have Gun, Will Travel.

Nilsson passed away at age 87.

Rhoda Williams

Rhoda Elaine Williams (born on July 19, 1930) was an American actress who provided the voice of Drizella Tremaine in Walt Disney's Cinderella.

Williams learned to read at age three, and radio acting came natural to her. She soon had her own weekly program on KMPC, We Who Are Young.

Williams graduated from Hollywood Preparatory School at 14, after which she earned a bachelor's degree in theater arts from the University of California.

In 1949, Williams began playing Robert Young's eldest daughter, Betty, on the NBC radio show Father Knows Best for five years.

She also appeared in films such as National Velvet, Meet John Doe, and That Hagen Girl.

In Walt Disney's Cinderella, she voiced the evil stepsister, Drizella. She attended Hollywood Preparatory School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA at age 18.

With the advent of television, Williams entered the new medium on early live programs such as Lights, Camera, Action! and Slice of Life, and with the advent of film television, on Date With Judy, Chrysler Theatre, Laredo, The Big Valley, Run for Your Life, Dragnet, Ironside, Project UFO, Marcus Welby, M.D., Policewoman, and Barnaby Jones. She appeared on Superior Court and General Hospital and voiced aliens in Star Trek IV and Star Trek V.

She also specialized in voices and dialects and was the "voice" of Brigitte Bardot in the American version of The Night Heaven Fell, as well as voicing a 9-year-old French boy in The Jayhawkers!. She returned to Walt Disney Studios as the voice and model for the AudioAnimatronic mother and teenage daughter in General Electric's "Carousel of Progress" at Disneyland. She also did uncredited voice work for an episode of The Twilight Zone, "Little Girl Lost".

In 1968, she began her master's degree at California State University, Northridge. While there, she began a second career as a teacher of dialects and speech, first at the CSUN Summer Theatre Workshop for Teenagers, and later during regular sessions. She also created a film about "Medieval Theatre," which Oleson Films distributed to colleges and universities nationwide. In 1972, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and continued to teach at CSUN intermittently. She also taught voice and speech at Estelle Harman's Actor's Workshop in Hollywood.

She began a long association with various civic and professional organizations in 1959, when she served as PTA President of the Alexandria Avenue School in Los Angeles. Since then, however, most of her activities have been linked to her unions, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) since 1938 and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) since 1937. While a member of the Los Angeles Local, she served on the Local and National Board, as Chair of the Local Education Committee, Co-Chair of the Los Angeles Women's Caucus, as Chair of the Western Region of the National Women's Caucus, and as a member of the AFTRA-SAG Merger Study Committee. She also served as editor of the local Los Angeles publication, DIALLOG, from 1974 to 1987.

From 1978 to 1981, she served as the West Coast Coordinator for a CETA project to increase employment for performing arts professionals. From 1981 to 1982, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the Los Angeles Local of AFTRA. In January 1993, after moving to Oregon, Williams was elected to the AFTRA Portland Local Board, where she served as Treasurer and Alternate to the AFTRA National Board. She and her husband also served as editors of the SAG/AFTRA Portland newsletter for AFTRA and SAG.

In Los Angeles, she served as Vice President and Secretary of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Coalition of Trade Union Women (CLUW). She also served for several years as a member of the State Broadcasting Industry Wage Board and as an AFTRA delegate to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO). For the California State Federation of Labor, she coordinated and led the communication skills workshop at the Federation's "Women in the Workforce" conferences from 1977 to 1989. She also taught communication skills at the AFL-CIO Western Section's Summer School for Trade Union Women.

From 1984 to 1992, she served as Secretary-Treasurer of the UCLA Theater, Film, and Television Alumni Association and was one of the organization's founding members. She also served as Secretary of the InterGuild Women's Caucus, an organization of women from guilds and unions in the entertainment industry, which awarded her its Distinguished Service Award. She was a founding member of the Los Angeles Music Center Education Board, with a special interest in the Music Center on Tour program; a former member of the Glendale Arts Council; a founding member of Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters; and an honorary member of REPS (Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound) and SPERDVAC (The Society for the Preservation of Radio Drama, Variety, and Comedy).

Williams performed at local theaters in Eugene, Oregon. She starred in "Pirates" at the Lord Leebrick Theater (now Oregon Contemporary Theatre), and "70 Girls 70" at the Very Little Theater.

On March 8, 2006, Williams died of heart attack at his home in Eugene, Oregon at the age of 75.

Sam Edwards

Sam George Edwards was born on May 26, 1915. He was an American actor. 

Born into an artistic family. He appeared on radio in the 1930s in the Adventures of Sonny and Buddy one of the first radio serials ever syndicated, and later in The Edwards Family, a series based on the life of Sam, brother Jack, who was also an actor, sister Florida, and his parents, Edna Park and Jack Edwards Sr. Sam was also an early cast member of one of the first radio soap operas, One Man's Family.

Edwards worked on a variety of radio programs. He co-starred in the comedy The First Hundred Years on ABC in 1949 and landed a starring role playing Dexter Franklin opposite Janet Waldo in the long-running Meet Corliss Archer series. Also he participated in Crime Classics, Dr. Paul; Father Knows Best, Guiding Light,Fort Laramie; Gunsmoke; Dragnet; Suspense; Escape; This Is Your FBI; The Six Shooter; and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. 

Edwards appeared on many television series starting in the mid-1950s: Dragnet and Gunsmoke throughout their long runs, series likeThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Straightaway, The Andy Griffith Show, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, The Streets of San Francisco, Adam-12, The Red Skelton Show, Happy Days, The Dukes of Hazzard, and even Days of Our Lives. 

Edwards died of a heart attack in Durango, Colorado on July 28, 2004.