Billie Hayes

Billie Hayes, born Billie Armstrong Brosch on August 5, 1924, in Du Quoin, Illinois, was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, and television. She died on April 29, 2021, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 96. Her parents were Charles Brosch, a German-born coal miner who led the local miners' union, and Marie Armstrong Brosch, an Illinois native who worked in administration relief. Hayes had one older brother, Louis Brosch.

Hayes began performing professionally at nine years old, tap dancing in local theatres. During high school she performed with bandleader Vince Genovese's orchestra, and she later toured the Midwest with her own singing and dancing act. After relocating to New York City, she auditioned for producer J.J. Shubert and was cast in principal roles in three roadshow operettas: The Student Prince, The Merry Widow, and Blossom Time.

Her Broadway career ran from 1956 to 1965 and included three productions. She originated the role of Mammy Pansy Yokum in the 1956 musical Li'l Abner, a character she would reprise in the 1959 film adaptation and a 1971 television special. Her other Broadway credits included New Faces of 1943 and Hello, Dolly!. In 1966, she toured nationally with Hello, Dolly! alongside Betty Grable.

Hayes became widely recognized for her television role as Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo in the NBC Sid and Marty Krofft series H.R. Pufnstuf, which ran for 17 episodes in 1969–70. She reprised the character in the 1970 film Pufnstuf, in the Krofft series Lidsville, where she also played Weenie the Genie, and in The Paul Lynde Halloween Special in 1976. She played a gingerbread-house witch in Season 8, Episode 10 of Bewitched in 1971, and appeared as Maw Weskitt in Episode 39 of the second season of The Monkees. Additional television credits included Murder, She Wrote and General Hospital, where she appeared in 1981 and 1985 as Robert Scorpio's mentor O'Reilly.

Voice acting became a significant part of Hayes's later career. Her first voice role was Orgoch in the 1985 animated film The Black Cauldron. Subsequent voice credits included Mother Mae-Eye in Teen Titans, One-Eyed Sally in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, Granny Applecheeks in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and roles in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Rugrats, Shrek Forever After, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, Johnny Bravo, The Batman, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Duckman, Bonkers, Bubble Guppies, W.I.T.C.H., The Brothers Flub, Problem Child, Siegfried and Roy: Masters of the Impossible, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, and Bewitched. Hayes retired from acting in 2016. Outside of her professional work, she served as president of the animal rescue organization Pet Hope.