Obituaries

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/26/2001

Ann Sothern, a glamorous actress/comedian known for playing wisecracking heart-of-gold blondes-who were "dizzy," but smarter than their bosses-died at 92.

A movie and TV personality who came early to the latter medium and starred in her own series, she is perhaps best remembered for a role in the thoroughly denounced series My Mother the Car, in which hers was the voice of the mother. Sothern's own series were Private Secretary, in which she played the assistant to a talent agent and became the heroine of secretaries across the nation, and The Ann Sothern Show, in which she helped manage a snazzy Manhattan hotel.

She also appeared in Best Sellers , an anthology series, and specials, including Holiday in Las Vegas. She was a guest on the I Love Lucy show, having become friends with Lucille Ball when both were at MGM, where Sothern starred in a long series of popular Maisie movies. She was nominated for an Oscar at age 79 for The Whales of August. Peggy Converse, a versatile actress who appeared on television from its beginnings, as well as in movies and in hundreds of stage productions, died at 95. She was still working at 85.

Among her TV credits: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Danny Thomas Show, numerous episodes of Perry Mason with Raymond Burr, and roles in soap operas The Young and the Restless, General Hospital and Days of Our Lives.

A daughter, the actress/singer Melissa Converse, survives her as does a son, Don Porter Jr. She also leaves three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her longtime husband, actor Don Porter, died in 1997.

-Beatrice Williams-Rude