Arlene Golonka

Arlene Leanore Golonka was an American actress born in Chicago, Illinois, on January 23, 1936, to Elinor (née Wroblewski) and Frank Golonka, a family of Polish descent. Before pursuing acting professionally, she worked as a waitress and began performing in her early teens, joining a summer-stock troupe as her first professional engagement. She went on to build a career spanning stage, film, and television, frequently cast in supporting roles as bubbly, eccentric blondes. She died on May 31, 2021, in West Hollywood, California, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 85.

Golonka's Broadway career ran from 1958 to 1981. Her first major stage production was The Night Circus, in which she appeared alongside Ben Gazzara. The play had its trial run at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, opening on November 17, 1958, before transferring to Broadway on December 2, 1958, where it closed after seven performances. She subsequently appeared in the musical Take Me Along, which starred Jackie Gleason, Walter Pidgeon, and Robert Morse and ran for 448 performances from late 1959 to late 1960. She also performed in Neil Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, which ran 677 performances between February 1961 and October 1962, and in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring Kirk Douglas, which played from November 1963 through January 1964. Additional Broadway credits include I Won't Dance, The Wayward Stork, and Ready When You Are, C.B.!, among other productions.

A life member of The Actors Studio, Golonka also took supporting roles in films produced in the New York City area during the mid-1960s while continuing her stage work. On June 14, 1964, she recorded the comedy album You Don't Have to Be Jewish. When its sequel, When You're in Love the Whole World Is Jewish, went into production, Golonka was unavailable and encouraged her roommate, aspiring actress Valerie Harper, to audition in her place.

In 1967, Golonka relocated to Los Angeles to pursue television work. She became widely recognized for playing Millie Hutchins on The Andy Griffith Show and Millie Swanson on Mayberry R.F.D. Her television appearances extended across numerous series, including Car 54, Where Are You?; Get Smart; I Spy; That Girl; The Flying Nun; Barnaby Jones; The Mary Tyler Moore Show; M*A*S*H; All in the Family; Maude; Cannon; Alice; The Rockford Files; The Streets of San Francisco; One Day at a Time; The San Pedro Beach Bums; Taxi; $weepstake$; Murder, She Wrote; Valerie; Sunset Beat; Matlock; and The King of Queens, among others. She had a recurring role on the short-lived series Joe & Valerie and provided the voice of Debbie on the animated series Speed Buggy. She also contributed voice work to The New Yogi Bear Show, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and Capitol Critters. In 1992, she appeared as Sally Nash in the episode Fool for Love during the fifth season of In the Heat of the Night, opposite Carroll O'Connor and Robert Ginty.

Golonka appeared in supporting roles across approximately 30 films, including Harvey Middleman, Fireman (1965), Penelope (1966), The Busy Body (1967), Welcome to Hard Times (1967), Hang 'Em High (1968), The Elevator (1974), Airport '77 (1977), The In-Laws (1979), Love at First Bite (1980), The Last Married Couple in America (1980), My Tutor (1983), The End of Innocence (1990), and A Family Affair (2001). She also performed in productions for the West Coast Jewish Theatre.

Golonka was married and divorced three times. Her first husband was Christopher Michael Haenel. In 1962 she married jazz pianist and composer Mike Longo, and the two divorced in 1967. She married actor Larry Delaney, who appeared with her in an episode of Mayberry R.F.D., in 1969, and they divorced in 1977.