{{short description|American actress (1916–1979)}}
{{Infobox person | name = Jody Gilbert | image = Jody Gilbert in The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942).jpg | alt = | caption = Jody Gilbert in ''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942) | birth_name = Joe Ray Swartzburg<ref name="texasbirths">[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6PL9-S6N?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AX2PK-2Z4&action=view&cc=1803956&lang=en&groupId= Texas. Birth Certificates 1916]. Retrieved 29 May 2026 from familysearch.org.</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|3|18}} | birth_place = Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|2|3|1916|3|18}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | resting_place = Hollywood Forever Cemetery | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1937–1953, 1965–1978 }}
'''Jody Gilbert''' (née '''Joe Ray Swartzburg'''<ref name="texasbirths" />) (March 18, 1916 – February 3, 1979) was an American actress.
==Biography== Gilbert was born in Fort Worth, Texas. She was the daughter of Reba Gilbert and Chas. Swartzburg.<ref name="texasbirths" />
Gilbert studied voice and acting at Columbia University, and was a graduate of Pasadena Playhouse.<ref name="funeral notice">{{cite news |title=Funeral Services Slated for Actress Jody Gilbert |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 2, 1979 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26353923/the_los_angeles_times/ |access-date=December 19, 2018 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
After numerous uncredited film roles, Gilbert delivered a brief but memorable performance in ''Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' (1941). She played a sarcastic diner waitress who engages in a verbal duel with her customer W.C. Fields. Over the next decade, she appeared dozens of times (although still mostly uncredited) in movies and television, often in humorous supporting parts as "sizeable" but confident women.<ref>{{cite web |website=AllMovie |url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/jody-gilbert-an30820 |title=Jody Gilbert - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos |accessdate=November 14, 2021}}</ref> Her best-known radio roles were as Marie Wilson's partner in ''My Friend Irma'', and as Rosa in ''Life with Luigi''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jody Gilbert, character actress |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |page=17 |date=February 8, 1979 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/373345517/ |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Gilbert's acting career was interrupted by the Hollywood blacklist. In November 1952, a writer named Harvey Narcisenfield testified to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Gilbert was a Communist.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vaughn |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Vaughn |title=Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |year=1972 |page=287 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Commentary/Only-Victims-Robert-Vaughn-1972.pdf |via=World Radio History}}</ref> When she was summoned before the committee in March 1953, she used the Fifth Amendment's shield against self-incrimination.<ref name=IMDb_bio>{{cite web |title=Jody Gilbert Biography |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318101/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm |publisher=IMDb}}</ref> But first she made light of the proceedings by invoking the Nineteenth Amendment, and joking that it gave women "equal rights to decline" to answer questions.<ref name=LAT_HUAC>{{cite news |title=Quiz on Reds Hears Account of Blacklisting |date=March 27, 1953 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=21 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/386224568/ |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> When asked her profession by HUAC counsel Frank Tavenner, she replied, "Well, now, right at the moment my profession, I would say, is a witness."<ref name=LAT_HUAC /> In addition to the Fifth Amendment, she also cited the Fifth Commandment ("Honor thy father and thy mother") when refusing to answer about her Communist Party membership.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fort Worth-Born Actress Gives House Red Hunters Difficult Time |date=March 27, 1953 |page=3 |newspaper=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/637112048/ |url-access=subscription |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
After her HUAC testimony, Gilbert was barred from TV work until 1965. Her next film role was not until 1969 in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''. Her final screen appearances included small parts in episodes of the TV shows ''Sanford and Son'', ''Police Woman'', ''Starsky and Hutch'', and ''Switch''.
On February 3, 1979, Jody Gilbert died at her Sherman Oaks home from complications arising from an automobile accident that she had been involved in the previous autumn. She was 62.<ref name="funeral notice"/>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1939|| ''Confession'' || Actress || uncredited |- |1939|| ''Chasing Danger'' || Teena || |- |1939|| ''New Frontier'' || Rusty's Dance Partner || uncredited |- |1939|| ''No Place to Go'' || Mrs. Hazelhurst || uncredited |- |1939|| ''Ninotchka'' || Streetcar Conductress - Moscow Roommate || uncredited |- |1939|| ''Everything Happens at Night'' || Hilda || |- |1940|| ''Little Old New York'' || Hilda || |- |1940|| ''Seventeen'' || Ethel Boke || uncredited |- |1940|| ''Star Dust'' || Swedish Maid || |- |1940|| ''Ski Patrol'' || Fanni Nerkuu || |- |1940|| ''Grand Ole Opry'' || Women's Club President || uncredited |- |1940|| ''Brigham Young'' || Stout Woman Who Can't Swim || uncredited |- |1940|| ''Flowing Gold'' || Tillie / Mrs. Harris || |- |1940|| ''Hit Parade of 1941'' || || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Hudson's Bay'' || Germaine || |- |1941|| ''Maisie Was a Lady'' || Curly the Bearded Lady || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Pot o' Gold'' || Helga Svenson || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Sergeant York'' || Fat Woman || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Wild Geese Calling'' || Swede || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Never Give a Sucker an Even Break'' || The Waitress || |- |1941|| ''Shadow of the Thin Man'' || Lana - Spider Webb's Girl || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Hellzapoppin''' || Louie's Girlfriend || uncredited |- |1941|| ''Remember the Day'' || Mrs. Martha Avery || |- |1942|| ''Ride 'Em Cowboy'' || Moonbeam || uncredited |- |1942|| ''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' || Effie || |- |1942|| ''The Affairs of Martha'' || Hadwig || uncredited |- |1942|| ''Iceland'' || Fat Girl || uncredited |- |1942|| ''Wrecking Crew'' || Hefty Girl || uncredited |- |1942|| ''The Black Swan'' || Flossy Woman with Tommy || uncredited |- |1942|| ''Journey for Margaret'' || Madame Bornholm || uncredited |- |1942|| ''Reunion in France'' || Brunhilde - Stout Customer || uncredited |- |1943|| ''The Hard Way'' || Anderson - Masseuse || uncredited |- |1943|| ''Hers to Hold'' || Babe || uncredited |- |1943|| ''Wings Over the Pacific'' || Native Woman with Black Eye || |- |1943|| ''Hi Diddle Diddle'' || Agitated Wife || uncredited |- |1943|| ''Hi'ya, Sailor'' || Plump Hostess || uncredited |- |1943|| ''The Unknown Guest'' || Mrs. Green || uncredited |- |1943|| ''Princess O'Rourke'' || Woman Truck Driver || uncredited |- |1944|| ''The Story of Dr. Wassell'' || Head Nurse || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Ladies of Washington'' || Nurse's Aide || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Marriage Is a Private Affair'' || Girl Taxi Driver || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Lost in a Harem'' || Native Laundress || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Music for Millions'' || Burly Woman Cab Driver || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Together Again'' || Fat Woman Fleeing Nightclub Raid || uncredited |- |1944|| ''Can't Help Singing'' || Bath House Attendant || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Roughly Speaking'' || Woman in Store || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Christmas in Connecticut'' || Mrs. Gerseg || uncredited |- |1945|| ''That Night with You'' || Masseuse || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Strange Confession'' || Mrs. Todd || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Hold That Blonde'' || Matron || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Life with Blondie'' || Buxom Woman || uncredited |- |1945|| ''Texas Panhandle'' || Millie the Blacksmith || uncredited |- |1946|| ''Partners in Time'' || The Bad Cook || uncredited |- |1946|| ''Deadline for Murder'' || Tiny || |- |1946|| ''Two Guys from Milwaukee'' || Big Woman || uncredited |- |1946|| ''Singing on the Trail'' || Casey || uncredited |- |1946|| ''Decoy'' || Mrs. Noonan || uncredited |- |1946|| ''Cross My Heart'' || Miss Stewart || uncredited |- |1946|| ''The Show-Off'' || Woman || scenes deleted |- |1947|| ''Blondie's Holiday'' || Cynthia Thompson (Class of '32) || |- |1947|| ''Fun on a Weekend'' || Customer in Clothing Shop || uncredited |- |1947|| ''Second Chance'' || Policewoman || uncredited |- |1947|| ''Roses Are Red'' || Jill's Landlady || uncredited |- |1947|| ''Heading for Heaven'' || Mable Foster || uncredited |- |1948|| ''Albuquerque'' || Pearl Eager || |- |1948|| ''Are You with It?'' || Mrs. Minerva Henkle || |- |1948|| ''Casbah'' || American Woman || uncredited |- |1948|| ''Shaggy'' || Tessie || |- |1948|| ''Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven'' || Lady || uncredited |- |1948|| ''Million Dollar Weekend'' || Big Woman at Airline Counter || uncredited |- |1948|| ''My Dear Secretary'' || Hilda Sneebacher || uncredited |- |1948|| ''Bungalow 13'' || Mrs. Martha Barton || |- |1948|| ''The Paleface'' || Woman in Bathhouse || uncredited |- |1949|| ''Knock on Any Door'' || Gussie || uncredited |- |1949|| ''The Lost Tribe'' || Zulta, the Barmaid || uncredited |- |1949|| ''The Lovable Cheat'' || Madame Violette || |- |1949|| ''Hellfire'' || Full Moon || |- |1949|| ''One Last Fling'' || Amy Dearing || |- |1949|| ''Brimstone'' || Fat Lady on Stage || uncredited |- |1949|| ''The Doctor and the Girl'' || Mrs. Vlacsek || uncredited |- |1950|| ''The Blonde Bandit'' || Bertha Fannon || |- |1950|| ''Blonde Dynamite'' || Sarah Dumbrowski || |- |1950|| ''House by the River'' || Flora Bantam || |- |1950|| ''The Yellow Cab Man'' || Cecil's Mother || uncredited |- |1950|| ''My Friend Irma Goes West'' || Fat Woman || uncredited |- |1951|| ''Gene Autry and The Mounties'' || Squaw || uncredited |- |1951|| ''Slaughter Trail'' || Fat Woman at Dance || uncredited |- |1952|| ''Something to Live For'' || Woman in Telephone Booth || uncredited |- |1952|| ''Actor's and Sin'' || Mrs. Egelhofer || (segment "Woman of Sin") |- |1952|| ''Jumping Jacks'' || Mr. White's Secretary || uncredited |- |1953|| ''Houdini'' || Fat Girl || uncredited |- |1969|| ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' || Large Woman || |- |1967|| ''Dragnet: "The Fur Job" S9, E9'' || Mrs. Hilliard || |- |1971|| ''Willard'' || Charlotte Stassen || |- |1976|| ''Lifeguard'' || Woman || |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0318101}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilbert, Jody}} Category:1916 births Category:1979 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:American film actresses