Billie Mae

Billie Mae Richards, born Billy Mae Dinsmore on November 21, 1921, in Toronto, Canada, was a Canadian actress whose career spanned stage, radio, television, and film. The daughter of Garnett and Eva May (Stanton) Dinsmore, she began performing at an early age after her father enrolled her in dancing lessons as a toddler. By the age of five she was appearing in a stage show alongside World War I veterans. She died on September 10, 2010, following a stroke, at the age of 88.

Richards made her Broadway appearance in 1931, performing in the play The Wooden Soldier. She later served in the Royal Canadian Navy and took part in Meet the Navy, a touring production that traveled across Canada and into Europe. She subsequently studied at the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto, which led to work at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where she performed in radio dramas as both a speaker and singer. From 1950 to 1956, she voiced the Kid in the long-running CBC radio series Jake and the Kid.

Her most enduring credit came in 1964, when she was cast as the voice of Rudolph in the Rankin/Bass television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. She continued in that role through 1979, reprising it in Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979). Richards appeared in four additional Rankin/Bass productions: Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, The King Kong Show, The Smokey Bear Show, and The Daydreamer.

Richards also contributed voices to the Spider-Man television series from 1967 to 1970, playing Billy Conner, Boy, and additional characters. In The Undersea Adventures of Captain Nemo (1974), she voiced both Chris and Robbie, as well as all female characters, while Len Carlson voiced all the male roles. She served as narrator and voiced multiple characters in The Toothbrush Family from 1977 to 1983. In the Canadian television productions We Live Next Door and its spin-off Calling All Safety Scouts, she voiced puppet characters including Joey and Mayor Morris.

In animation, Richards voiced Tenderheart Bear in The Care Bears Movie (1985) and Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), as well as in the DIC version of the Care Bears television series from 1985 to 1988. She voiced Brightheart Raccoon in the Nelvana-produced version of the same series. She made guest appearances on the television programs War of the Worlds, My Secret Identity, The Hidden Room, and Maniac Mansion. Her film work included a bit part in the 1998 horror film Shadow Builder and a role in the 2001 short Bluehair.

In her personal life, Richards married musician Bill Richards in 1946 in Yorkshire, England. The marriage ended in divorce in 1966. Together they had four children: Stephen Richards, Judi Richards, Barbara Jayne Richards, and Cynthia Richards-Jamieson. She was also survived by 12 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.