{{short description|American actress (1909–88)}} {{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Florida Friebus | image = Florida Friebus 1968.JPG | caption = Friebus in 1968 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|10|10|mf=y}} | birth_place = Auburndale, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|5|27|1909|10|10|mf=y}} | death_place = Laguna Niguel, California, U.S. | other_names = Florida Freebus<br />Florida Freibus | occupation = Actress, screenwriter | years_active = 1929–1978 | spouse = {{marriage|Richard Waring|1934|1952|end=divorced}} | children = 1 }}
'''Florida Friebus''' (October 10, 1909 <ref group=note>Her obituary in the ''Los Angeles Times'' gives her birth year as 1908.</ref><ref name=lat/> – May 27, 1988) was an American writer and actress of stage, film, and television. Friebus's best-known roles were Winifred "Winnie" Gillis, the sympathetic mother of Dwayne Hickman's character Dobie Gillis on ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'',{{r|etvs|page1=267}} and Mrs. Lillian Bakerman on ''The Bob Newhart Show''.<ref name="etvs">{{cite book| last1=Terrace| first1=Vincent| title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&q=friebus| date=January 10, 2014| publisher=McFarland| location=Jefferson, N.C.| isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7| pages=119–120| edition=2nd}}</ref> She is known for her 1932 adaptation of ''Alice and Wonderland''.
==Early years== Florida Friebus was born in Auburndale, Massachusetts, to Theodore Friebus and Beatrice Flagg Mosier Friebus.<ref group=note>Her obituary in the ''Los Angeles Times'' gives her place of birth as Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.</ref><ref name=lat/> She was known to make it clear to curious people that she was named after her mother's favorite aunt—not after the state of Florida. Her paternal grandmother was named Florida as well.<ref>{{cite news| title=A Question for You, Mr. Shakespeare| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11523408/jefferson_city_posttribune/| newspaper=Jefferson City Post-Tribune| date=May 18, 1962| page=16| via=Newspapers.com| access-date=June 6, 2017}}{{Open access}}</ref>
==Personal life== Friebus married actor Richard Waring in 1934. They had one child who died in infancy. The couple divorced in 1952. Friebus never remarried.<ref name=nypl>[http://archives.nypl.org/the/21637 Florida Friebus papers, 1926-1988], Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; accessed July 9, 2015.</ref> She died in May, 1988.
==Career== Friebus first acted professionally in 1929 in New York City, appearing in ''The Cradle Song'' with the Civic Repertory Theater.<ref name=lat/> On Broadway she starred as Maggie Wallace in ''The Primrose Path'' (1939).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-the-primrose-path-a-kind/195241083/|title=''The Primrose Path'' a Kind of Upstate ''Tobacco Road''|first=Burns|last= Mantle|work=New York Daily News|date= January 6, 1939| page= 49}}</ref>
She appeared on television in such programs as ''The Ford Theatre Hour'', ''Perry Mason'', ''Bachelor Father'', ''Father Knows Best'', ''The Rookies'', ''Peyton Place'', ''Ironside'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''Sanford and Son'', ''Ben Casey'', ''The Doris Day Show'', ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Room 222'', ''The Partridge Family'', ''Chico and the Man'', ''Barnaby Jones'', ''Alice'', and ''Rhoda''.
She also read stories to children on ''Look and Listen'' on KNXT in Los Angeles, California.<ref name="lat">{{cite news| last1=McGraw| first1=Carol| title=Florida Friebus; Played Mother of Dobie Gillis| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-06-02-mn-5490-story.html| access-date=June 6, 2017| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=June 2, 1988| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606015616/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-02/news/mn-5490_1_dobie-gillis| archive-date=6 June 2017}}</ref>
As a writer, Friebus collaborated with Eva Le Gallienne to dramatize ''Alice in Wonderland''. The adaptation by Le Gallienne and Friebus was presented on Broadway and later on the ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' on television.<ref name=lat/>
==Actors' Equity== Friebus spent more than 16 years on the board of Actors' Equity Association. She was presented the Phil Loeb Award "for extraordinary service to her profession."<ref name=lat/>
==Papers== Friebus's papers are housed at the New York Public Library.<ref name=nypl/>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Film |- ! Year ! Film ! Role ! Notes |- | 1958 | ''High School Confidential!'' | Mrs. Staples | Uncredited |- | 1978 | ''Jennifer'' | Miss Tooker | |- |- ! colspan="4" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | Television |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- | rowspan=3|1950 | ''Lights Out'' | | 1 episode |- | ''Escape'' | | 1 episode |- | ''Pulitzer Prize Playhouse'' | | 1 episode |- | 1950–1951 | ''The Philco Television Playhouse'' | | 2 episodes |- | 1950–1953 | ''Kraft Television Theatre'' | | 3 episodes |- | 1953 | ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' | | 1 episode |- | 1954 | ''Lamp Unto My Feet'' | | 1 episode |- | rowspan=2|1956 | ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' | Karoline | 1 episode |- | ''The Alcoa Hour'' | Mrs. Franklin | 1 episode |- | 1957 | ''The Joseph Cotten Show'' | Helen Fogarty | 1 episode |- | 1957–1958 | ''Bachelor Father'' | Mrs. Banks<br>Mrs. Marquand | 3 episodes |- | rowspan=2|1958 | ''Father Knows Best'' | | 1 episode |- | ''Gunsmoke'' | Mrs. Meggs | 1 episode |- | rowspan=2|1959 | ''Playhouse 90'' | | 1 episode |- | ''The Donna Reed Show'' | Helen Brooks | 1 episode |- | 1959–1963 | ''The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis'' | Winifred Gillis | 87 episodes |- | 1960 | ''The Chevy Mystery Show'' | Lois Halsey | 1 episode |- | 1963 | ''Perry Mason'' | Marian Lamont | 1 episode |- | rowspan=2|1964 | ''The New Phil Silvers Show'' | Mrs. Bradshaw | 1 episode |- | ''Peyton Place'' | Maggie Riggs | Unknown episodes |- | 1965 | ''My Mother the Car'' | Miss McFee | 1 episode |- | rowspan=2|1966 | ''This Is the Life'' | | 1 episode |- | ''Ben Casey'' | | 1 episode |- | 1968 | ''Ironside'' | Middle-Aged Woman | 1 episode |- | 1971–1972 | ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' | Mrs. Marshall<br>Nun | 2 episodes |- | rowspan=4|1972 | ''Sanford and Son'' | Woman | 1 episode |- | ''Ghost Story'' | Mrs. Prescott | 1 episode |- | ''The Doris Day Show'' | Miss Peabody | 1 episode |- | ''Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law'' | | 1 episode |- | 1972–1978 | ''The Bob Newhart Show'' | Mrs. Lillian Bakerman | 17 episodes |- | rowspan=5|1973 | ''Room 222'' | | 1 episode |- | ''Cannon'' | Julie McElroy | 1 episode |- | ''Gunsmoke'' | Mrs. Tavers | 1 episode |- | ''The Partridge Family'' | Mrs. Hendleman | 1 episode |- | ''The Rookies'' | Sister Elizabeth | 1 episode |- | 1973–1977 | ''Barnaby Jones'' | Molly McMurty<br>Connie Graham | 2 episodes |- | 1974–1978 | ''Rhoda'' | Harriet Strongen<br>Edna Brundidge<br>Mrs. Swensen | 3 episodes |- | rowspan=4|1975 | ''Chico and the Man'' | Althea Nelson | 1 episode |- | ''Miles to Go Before I Sleep'' | Ruth | Television movie |- | ''Love Nest'' | Jenny | 1 episode |- | ''Kate McShane'' | | 1 episode |- | rowspan=2|1976 | ''Amelia Earhart'' | Miss Perkins | Television movie |- | ''Switch'' | Fiona | 2 episodes |- | rowspan=2|1978 | ''Kaz'' | | 1 episode |- | ''ABC Weekend Special'' | Miss Kelly | 1 episode |}
==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal bar|Biography|United States|California|Film|Television|Theatre}} * {{IMDb name|0294934}} * {{IBDB name}} * {{iobdb name|34200}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Friebus, Florida}} Category:1909 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Actresses from Newton, Massachusetts Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Boston Category:Writers from Newton, Massachusetts Category:American film actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Screenwriters from Massachusetts Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American screenwriters