LURENE TUTTLE

August 29, 1906

Lurene Tuttle was born in Pleasant Lake, Indiana into a family with strong ties to entertainment. Her father had been a performer in minstrel shows and her grandfather managed an opera house and taught drama. Lurene discovered acting after moving with her family to Glendale, Arizona. After her family moved to Southern California, Tuttle appeared in productions at the Pasadena Playhouse, then joined the vaudeville troupe. By the Great Depression, Tuttle put her vocal versatility to work in radio, and within a decade, she became an in-demand actress in the medium often appearing in 15 shows per week. She became known as the “First Lady of Radio”. 

In radio, Lurene’s best known part was as Effie, Sam Spade’s girl-Friday on “The Adventures of Sam Spade” opposite Howard Duff. “Lucy” performer Sandra Gould (Nancy Johnson in “Oil Wells”) played the ‘new secretary’ while Tuttle was on vacation in June 1948.  When Duff played himself on a 1959 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” (along with his real-life wife, Ida Lupino), Duff mentioned the radio series. When Duff left the series in 1950, Tuttle stayed on with Stephen Dunne playing Spade. 

Dunne had starred in “Danger, Dr. Danfield” heard on ABC radio from 1946 to 1947. Dunne had a small role in Lucille Ball’s Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949) and was in several episodes of the short-lived TV series “My Favorite Husband” based on Lucille Ball’s radio show. Busy Lurene Tuttle was also in “Danger, Dr. Danfield”.  Is this where they got the name for the fictional New York suburb where Lucy Carmichael lived?  

Lurene Tuttle was cast on “I Love Lucy” as the outgoing president of The Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League in “The Club Election” (ILL S2;E19) in 1953.  

“Well…Um….Alright….Caucus!”

On film she played the brief part of the sheriff’s wife Mrs. Chambers in Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic Psycho (1960). 

That same year she played her only leading role on film in the low budget movie Ma Barker’s Killer Brood (1960), about the real-life Kate Barker (1873-1975), mother of several ruthless criminals during the 1930s.  The film also featured “Lucy” actors Tristram Coffin (Harry Munson) and Paul Dubov.  Barker was mentioned in  “Lucy and the Great Bank Robbery” (TLS S3;E5) and “Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (TLS S5;E18). Ma Barker was parodied as Ma Parker in a 1970 episode of “Here’s Lucy” starring Carole Cook. 

Tuttle went on to appear with Lucy in the 1960 film Critic’s Choice. She plays one of the actors in Sisters Three, the play written by Lucy’s character, Angela Ballantine. 

From 1957 to 1964 Tuttle played three different characters on “The Danny Thomas Show,” filmed on the Desilu lot, one with Lucy’s pal Mary Wickes. The Williams Family of “The Danny Thomas Show” moved into the Ricardo home in a 1958 cross-over episode of “The Lucy-Comedy Hour”.  

Tuttle has the distinction of being the only actor to play four different defendants on “Perry Mason” (1957-66). She played two other characters as well, for a total of six appearances. 

Staying on the Desilu backlot in 1960 and 1964 she did two episodes (as different citizens of Mayberry) on “The Andy Griffith Show.”  

In 1964 she was also on the Desilu lot for an episode of the short-lived “My Living Doll” starring Julie Newmar and Bob Cummings. Tuttle had done two episodes of “The Bob Cummings Show” in 1956. 

Also in 1960 (and 1961) she did two episodes of Desilu’s “The Ann Sothern Show”. To kick off the show’s second season in October 1959, Lucille Ball played Lucy Ricardo on a cross-over episode. Desi Arnaz was Executive Producer of the series. 

In 1961 she did two episodes of “Pete and Gladys” as Mrs. Slocum. The series was a spin-off of Desilu’s “December Bride” starring Verna Felton and Harry Morgan. 

She was nominated for an Emmy for her role of Hannah Yarby on “Julia” (1968-70) starring Diahann Carroll. 

She has two stars on Hollywood Boulevard; one for radio and one for television. 

In 1928 Tuttle married actor Melville Ruick (above), and had a daughter. Tuttle and Ruick divorced in 1945. In 1950 she married engineer Frederick W. Cole. She sued him for divorce in 1956. Tuttle’s daughter, Barbara, died in 1974.

Lurene Tuttle died from cancer May 28, 1986. Her Sam Spade radio co-star Howard Duff, delivered her eulogy:

“She could just take hold of a part and do something with it…I think she never met a part she didn’t like. She just loved to work; she loved to act. She’s a woman who was born to do what she was doing and loved every minute of it.”