Florida Friebus

Florida Friebus (October 10, 1909 – May 27, 1988) was an American actress and writer who worked across stage, film, and television. Born in Auburndale, Massachusetts, to Theodore Friebus and Beatrice Flagg Mosier Friebus, she was named after her mother's favorite aunt rather than the state of Florida — a distinction she was known to make clear when asked. Her paternal grandmother shared the same name.

Friebus began her professional acting career in 1929 in New York City, appearing in The Cradle Song with the Civic Repertory Theater. Her Broadway career spanned from 1929 to 1953 and included productions such as The Primrose Path, The Women Have Their Way, Collector's Item, and Tea and Sympathy. Among her most notable stage contributions was her collaboration with Eva Le Gallienne to dramatize Alice in Wonderland, an adaptation the two completed in 1932. The production was presented on Broadway and later televised as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Beyond the stage, Friebus became widely recognized for two television roles. She played Winifred "Winnie" Gillis, the mother of Dwayne Hickman's character Dobie Gillis, on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and later portrayed Mrs. Lillian Bakerman on The Bob Newhart Show. Her television work also included appearances on Perry Mason, Father Knows Best, Gunsmoke, Peyton Place, Ironside, Sanford and Son, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Partridge Family, Barnaby Jones, Rhoda, and numerous other programs. In Los Angeles, she read stories to children on Look and Listen, broadcast on KNXT.

Friebus devoted more than sixteen years to the board of Actors' Equity Association and received the Phil Loeb Award for extraordinary service to her profession. In her personal life, she married actor Richard Waring in 1934. The couple had one child, who died in infancy, and divorced in 1952. Friebus did not remarry. She died in May 1988, and her papers are housed at the New York Public Library.