Background
Benson, Lucille was born on July 17, 1914 in Richard City, Tennessee, United States. Daughter of John B. and Elma Lee (Kirby) B. Bachelor of Arts Huntington College Appeared in: Broadway plays Hotel Paradiso.
Benson, Lucille was born on July 17, 1914 in Richard City, Tennessee, United States. Daughter of John B. and Elma Lee (Kirby) B. Bachelor of Arts Huntington College Appeared in: Broadway plays Hotel Paradiso.
She attended Huntingdon College, in Montgomery, and later attended Northwestern"s School of Drama, in Evanston, Illinois.
Personal life
She was valedictorian and president of her Jackson County High School class at Jackson County High School. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York in the 1930s. Acting career
Her career started in New York in the 1930s.
She appeared on Broadway in several plays including, The Doughgirls, The Day Before Spring, Happy Birthday, As The Girls Go, Hotel Paradiso, Period of Adjustment and Walking Happy.
She performed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, appearing in the Tennessee Williams play, Orpheus Descending. Benson"s break in motion pictures occurred while performing with Donald O"Connor in the play Little Maine during a three-month run in Las Vegas.
She said, "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come up Hollywood to tryout for a Paramount film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy."
Benson played the owner of the Snake-A-Rama in Steven Spielberg"s 1971 movie Duel, starring Dennis Weaver.
She had a recurring role on the sitcom The Ropers as Helen"s mother.
Her big commercial break was Bosom Buddies, a situation comedy based on Some Like lieutenant Hot. During the show"s first season (1980–1981), Benson played "Lilly Sinclair", the manager of the female only Susan B. Anthony Hotel where two young men (Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari) dress as women to take advantage of the inexpensive rent. She may be the actress seen reciting the Lord"s Prayer in the train holdup scene of the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
However, the actress is uncredited.
She did work with the stars of that film in the following year: with Paul Newman in WUSA, and with Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy. She died on February 17, 1984, in her native Scottsboro, Alabama, aged 69, from liver cancer.
She was cremated and her remains are in Cedar Hill Cemetery. Alice
Bonanza
Bosom Buddies
Bring "Econometrica Back Alive
Cannon
The Dukes of Hazzard
Eight is Enough
Emergency! Little House on the Prairie
The Love Boat
Mannix
The New Andy Griffith Show
Petrocelli
Police Woman
The Ropers
Simon & Simon
Trapper John, Doctor of Medicine The Waltons
Wonder Woman
The Wonderful World of Disney.
Member Screen Actors Guild, Actors Equity, American Federation television and Radio Artists.