Virginia Gregg

Virginia Gregg (Harrisburg, Illinois, March 6, 1916 - Encino, California, September 15, 1986) was an American actress, who lent her voice to the films Psycho (1960), Psycho II (1983) and Psycho III (1986).

Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, she was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg. She had a stepsister, Mary.

Her family and she moved to Pasadena, California when she was five years old. She attended Jefferson High School, Pasadena Junior College, and Pacific Academy of Dramatic Art.

Gregg was a prolific radio actress, heard on such programs as The Adventures of Sam Spade, Dragnet, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program, Let George Do It, Lux Radio Theatre, One Man's Family, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, The Screen Guild Theater, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, The Zero Hour, and Mutual Radio Theater.

On the radio series Have Gun–Will Travel (starring John Dehner as Paladin), Gregg portrayed Miss Wong (Hey Boy's girlfriend), and also appeared in very different roles in the concurrent television series with Richard Boone. She had the role of Betty Barbour on One Man's Family and played Richard Diamond's girlfriend, the wealthy Helen Asher, on the radio series Richard Diamond, Private Detective (starring Dick Powell as Diamond). She later guest-starred in an episode of the television version of Richard Diamond, starring David Janssen.

Virginia Gregg made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 Les Enchaînés (a small uncredited role). She reunited with the director on Psycho (1960), where she was the voice of Norma, the mother of Norman Bates (note that in the first two sequels to this film, Psycho 2 in 1983 and Psycho 3 in 1986 - her last big-screen performance - she was once again the voice of Norma Bates). In the first film, she also stabbed Janet Leigh in the famous shower scene, Anthony Perkins being in New York at the time of filming.

In all, she contributed to forty-two American films, including westerns. Notable films include Robert Rossen's Blood and Gold (1947, with John Garfield and Lilli Palmer, in which she played her first credited role), Daniel Mann's A Woman in Hell (1955, with Susan Hayward and Richard Conte), Blake Edwards' Operation Petticoats (1959, with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis), and Delmer Daves' Spencers' Mountain (1963, with Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara).

On television, Virginia Gregg appeared from 1952 to 1983, in nineteen TV movies, two soap operas and, above all, one hundred and forty-two series, particularly in the Western genre. Notable series include Badge 714 (eleven episodes, 1952-1955), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (four episodes, 1955-1957), Gunsmoke (seven episodes, 1958-1969) and The Iron Man (four episodes, 1969-1974).

Finally, during her career, the actress was also very active on the radio, collaborating on numerous series and programs.

Gregg married producer Jaime del Valle in 1948 (another source says October 15, 1947, in Las Vegas, Nevada). They had three children, Gregg, Jaime, and Ricardo. They were divorced on December 22, 1959.

Gregg was active with Recording for the Blind, making recordings as a volunteer and serving on the group's board of directors.

Gregg died from lung cancer in Encino, California, on September 15, 1986.

Betty Lou Gerson

Betty Lou Gerson was born on April 20, 1914. She was an American film, television, and voice actress. She provided the voice of the villain Cruella de Vil in the Disney animated film 101 Dalmatians.

Gerson was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but was raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was an executive at a steel company. She was Jewish. She was educated at private institutions in Birmingham and Miami, Florida. At age 16, Gerson moved with her family to Chicago, Illinois, where she began providing her voice on the radio show The First Nighter Program. She later moved to New York City.

She began working in radio dramas in 1935, where she gained notoriety. She moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, where she worked on radio dramas such as The Whistler, I Love Adventure, Mr. President, Crime Classics, Escape, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

She was the narrator of Walt Disney's 1950 film Cinderella. Eleven years later, she provided the voice of the villain Cruella de Vil in the animated film 101 Dalmatians, also from Disney. Her few film appearances include films such as The Fly (1958), The Miracle on the Hills (1959), and Mary Poppins (1964). On television, she had small roles in the series Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series), The Dick Van Dyke Show, Hazel, and The Rifleman.

Gerson retired from acting in 1966. She briefly returned in 1997 as a voice actress in the film Cats Don't Dance. On January 12, 1999, she died of a stroke at the age of 84. Her remains were cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

Parley Baer

Parley Baer was born on August 5, 1914 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. He was a film and radio actor, known for Dad Cadillac (1988), A Fever in the Blood (1961) and Dave, President for a Day (1993). He was married to Ernestine Clark. He died on November 22, 2002 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

He was the voice of Ernie Keebler on the Keebler cookies commercials.

He served in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific theater in WWII, earning seven battle stars and a presidential citation. Attained rank of captain.

During his struggling years, he served as a ringmaster for Circus Vargas and Barnum & Bailey. He would later serve on the board of the community L.A. Circus, and as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo. Wrote publicity for Al. G. Barnes Circus, in winters. Announcer at Salt Lake City radio station, KSL.

He created and toured with his own circuses, doubling as ringmaster and performance director, roles he filled with other circuses as well.

In addition to the role of Chester on the Gunsmoke radio series which ran from 1952 to 1961 (the part was played by Dennis Weaver in the long-running television series), Baer was frequently heard on the Lux Radio Theater, Escape and Suspense radio programs, among others.

In the 1930s, Baer served on radio as director of special events for KSL. His first network show was The Whistler, which was soon followed by appearances on Escape (notably narrating "Wild Jack Rhett" and as the title patriot in an adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benét's "A Tooth for Paul Revere"), Suspense, Tales of the Texas Rangers (as various local sheriffs), Dragnet, The CBS Radio Workshop, Lux Radio Theater, The Six Shooter, and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, to name a few.

In 1952, he began playing Chester, the trusty jailhouse assistant to Marshal Matt Dillon on the radio version of Gunsmoke, eventually ad-libbing the character's full name, "Chester Wesley Proudfoot" (later changed to "Chester Goode" in the televised version of the series, which featured Dennis Weaver in the role of Chester). Baer also worked as a voice actor on several other radio shows produced by Norman MacDonnell, performing as Pete the Marshal on the situation comedy The Harold Peary Show, as Doc Clemens on Rogers of the Gazette, and as additional characters on Fort Laramie and The Adventures of Philip Marlowe.

Other recurring roles included Eb the farm hand on Granby's Green Acres (the radio predecessor to television's Green Acres), Gramps on The Truitts, and Rene the manservant on a radio version of The Count of Monte Cristo. His later radio work included playing Reginald Duffield and Uncle Joe Finneman on the Focus on the Family series Adventures in Odyssey in the 1980s and 1990s.

Radio playwright and director Norman Corwin cast Baer as Simon Legree in the 1969 KCET television reading of his 1938 radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas.

As an on-camera performer, Baer was recognizable by his distinctive voice, his paunchy appearance, and his balding head. Often he portrayed fussy, bossy, and/or obstinate officials or neighbors. Extended television roles included blustering, by-the-book Mayor Stoner on The Andy Griffith Show, the neighbor Darby on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, frequent guest appearances on The Addams Family as insurance man and city commissioner Arthur J. Henson, and in the late 1990s, Miles Dugan on The Young and the Restless. He also appeared as a telephone executive on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

On November 22, 2002, Parley died from complications from a stroke at age 88.

Arnold Moss

Arnold Moss was born on January 28, 1910 and was an American character actor.

Born in Flatbush, Moss was a third-generation Brooklyn native. He attended Brooklyn's Boys High School. His first involvement with acting came when he was in college, after which he joined the Eva Le Gallienne Apprentice Group.

Moss was an announcer at two Baltimore, Maryland, radio stations, moving to WCAO in 1931 after having worked at WTAM. In 1932, he was the youngest announcer at CBS.

He played Dr. Fabian in Cabin B-13 on CBS radio in 1948–49, played in Cafe Istanbul on ABC radio in 1952, was Ahmed on Stella Dallas, was Philip Cameron in Against the Storm and was the first voice of the character of Ted White on the radio serial, The Guiding Light, from April 1948 to May 1949. Moss’s radio work included appearances on Columbia Workshop, Theater of Romance, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Molle Mystery Theater, Cabin B-13 and CBS Radio Mystery Theatre.

Moss appeared in dozens of television programs during the golden age of TV. On November 22, 1950, he starred in "Lord Mountdrago" on Somerset Maugham TV Theatre. He appeared on television in Star Trek (1966) as mysterious actor Anton Karidian, alter-ego of the tyrannical Gov. Kodos of Tarsus IV, in the episode "The Conscience of the King". He also played in The Rifleman as the school teacher, Mr. Griswald, and as Chief Lonespear in Bonanza episode "In Defense of Honor" in 1968. Other television appearances include The Time Tunnel, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and the anthology series The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, General Electric Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Suspense, Tales of Tomorrow, Studio One, and Kraft Television Theatre. He played Prospero in Margaret Webster's 1945 production of Shakespeare's The Tempest for a combined total of 124 performances, the longest run of the play in Broadway history. He appeared in the original Broadway production of the Hal Prince/Stephen Sondheim musical Follies.

Moss died from lung cancer at his home in New York City on December 15, 1989.