Julie Bennett(1932-2020)

Glamorous, red-haired American radio, stage and screen actress of effervescent personality, best known for her work in voice-overs. Julie was born in Manhattan but grew up in Los Angeles where she attended Beverly Hills High School and subsequently studied drama under Max Reinhardt and Florence Enright. She exhibited a knack for showbiz by the age of six, and, at age fifteen, her career got under way with a role on the airwaves in The Lux Radio Theatre. The following year (1948) she moved back to New York and quickly found employment on the stage and in early television anthology drama. Remaining heavily in demand for radio work was primarily due to her ability to interpret difficult to master accents and dialects (a talent she accounted for by saying she had a "keen musical ear"). Between 1953 and 1967, Julie appeared in support on screen in episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950), Adventures of Superman (1952), Leave It to Beaver (1957), Dragnet (1951) and Get Smart (1965), usually as waitresses, receptionists or vamps. She also starred in several instalments of Matinee Theatre for NBC. By 1959, she began to specialise in cartoon voice-overs, beginning with Sagebrush Sal in Quick Draw McGraw (1959). By and by, her later credits included Miss Prissy (one of several jobs in which she subbed for June Foray) for Warner Brothers and (famously) the Southern-accented, parasol-carrying Cindy Bear on The Yogi Bear Show (1961). In all, her work took her to most of the animation studios, from Termite Terrace to Jay Ward, UPA, MGM and Hanna-Barbera. The skilled actress also dubbed for Brigitte Bardot in a 1959 movie trailer and provided the voice for James Stewart's three year old grandchild in The FBI Story (1959). In the early 90's, Julie Bennett adopted a new dual identity (and voice) as Marianne Daniels, California realtor and personal manager.