Pamela Britton

Pamela Britton, born Armilda Jane Owens on March 19, 1923, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was an American actress whose career spanned Broadway, Hollywood film, and television. She died on June 17, 1974, at the age of 51, following treatment for brain cancer at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Britton came from a theatrical family. Her mother, Ethel Waite — also known as Ethel Waite Owen and Ethel Owen — was a stage, radio, and early television actress who portrayed Ralph Kramden's mother-in-law in the Honeymooners television series of the 1950s. One of Britton's two sisters, Virginia, worked as an actress for RKO Radio Pictures, while the other, Mary, became a social worker. Britton attended Holy Angels Academy and the State Teacher's Normal School in Milwaukee. She began performing in summer stock at age nine, and Hollywood expressed interest when she was ten, though her mother declined, preferring that her daughter develop as a stage actress rather than pursue child stardom. At fifteen, Britton began auditioning under the name Gloria Jane Owen, later adopting the stage name Pamela Britton — Pamela drawn from a British book and Britton chosen to reflect that origin — partly to avoid the professional expectations that followed recognition of her mother's name.

Her Broadway career ran from 1943 to 1950. An early career milestone came when she was cast as Gertie and served as understudy to Celeste Holm in the role of Ado Annie in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma!, later assuming Holm's role when the production went on tour. In November 1944, courtesy of MGM, Britton traveled to Camp Roberts, California, to entertain troops, starring in The New Moon alongside Joseph Sullivan. She followed a touring stint with bandleader Don McGuire before returning to Broadway to play Meg Brockie in the original 1947 production of Brigadoon. Britton reprised that role in a 1954 production and also appeared in Annie Get Your Gun at the Santa Barbara Bowl. She returned to Broadway to replace an ailing Janis Paige in Guys and Dolls.

In film, Britton's first significant role was as Frank Sinatra's girlfriend in Anchors Aweigh, followed by a smaller part in A Letter for Evie in 1946. She returned to the screen in 1950 opposite Clark Gable in Key to the City and that same year appeared in D.O.A., a film noir for which she became particularly well known. A third film that year was the Red Skelton vehicle Watch the Birdie, released in 1951. Approximately nineteen years elapsed before she made another theatrical film appearance. On television, she portrayed the title character in the 1957 series Blondie, based on the Chic Young newspaper comic strip, opposite Arthur Lake as Dagwood Bumstead. Beginning in 1963 and continuing through 1966, Britton played Mrs. Lorelei Brown, the landlady, in My Favorite Martian — a role for which she became widely recognized. Following that series, she appeared in the films If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium and Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came. She also toured with Don Knotts in The Mind with the Dirty Man.

On April 8, 1943, Britton married Captain Arthur Steel in Texas, having met him on a blind date arranged by one of her sisters. Steel was subsequently posted to Italy for active service. The couple had a daughter, Katherine Lee, born September 8, 1946. After the war, Steel worked as an advertising executive and later managed the Gene Autry hotels; Steel and Autry were first cousins. As her daughter grew up, Britton worked primarily in West Coast theater.