Barbara Pepper

Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper.[2] At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met lifelong friend Lucille Ball during production of Eddie Cantor's Roman Scandals in 1933.[3]

From 1937 to 1943 Barbara was a very prolific actress, appearing in 43 movies, mostly in supporting roles or in minor films, with exceptions being main characters in The Rogues' Tavern and Mummy's Boys, both feature films released in 1936 [3] Among her later film parts were small roles in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and My Fair Lady (1964). She also performed radio parts. In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né Harold Hugh Enfield), and the couple later had two sons. After Reynolds died in 1949 in a California motorcycle accident, Pepper was left to raise their children alone.[4] She never remarried.

After gaining weight, her roles were mostly confined to small character parts on television, including several appearances on I Love Lucy, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Petticoat Junction, and The Jack Benny Program. She made four appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Martha Dale, mother of the title character, in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Vagabond Vixen".[5] In 1958 Pepper appeared as Boxcar Annie on the TV western Tales of Wells Fargo in the episode titled "Butch Cassidy."

A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Barbara was considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy, but was passed over due to the fact that she was reportedly a drinker. William Frawley ("Fred Mertz") was, likewise, reportedly, a drinker and was already cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so they auditioned and found Vivian Vance to play Ethel instead.

She may be best remembered as the first Doris Ziffel on Petticoat Junction in 1964, although her character's name on the "Genghis Keane" episode of Petticoat Junction was Ruth Ziffel. Her role as Doris Ziffel continued on Green Acres from 1965 to 1968, until heart ailments finally forced her to leave that weekly series. Veteran actress Fran Ryan replaced her on Green Acres, which would continue to run for another three years. Her final performance was in Hook, Line & Sinker (1969), in which she played Jerry Lewis's secretary.[6]

Barbara Pepper died of a coronary thrombosis at age 54 on July 18, 1969, in Panorama City, California. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

• Barbara Pepper on IMDb
• Barbara Pepper at the Internet Broadway Database
• Barbara Pepper at Find a Grave