# Lucille Benson

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{{Short description|American actress (1914–1984)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name            = Lucille Benson
| image           = Lucille Benson in Private Parts.jpg
| caption         = Benson in ''[Private Parts](/source/Private_Parts_(1972_film))'' (1972)
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1914|07|17}}
| birth_place      =  [Scottsboro, Alabama](/source/Scottsboro%2C_Alabama), U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1984|02|17|1914|07|17}}
| death_place      = Scottsboro, Alabama, U.S.
| resting_place    = Cedar Hill Cemetery
| occupation       = Actress
| years_active     = 1930–1983
| spouse           = 
}}

'''Lucille Benson''' (July 17, 1914 – February 17, 1984) was an American character actress.

==Biography==

===Personal life===
Born in  [Scottsboro, Alabama](/source/Scottsboro%2C_Alabama), on July 17, 1914, Benson was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. John Benson, after her mother died of [tuberculosis](/source/tuberculosis). She was [valedictorian](/source/valedictorian) and president of her class at Jackson County High School. She attended [Huntingdon College](/source/Huntingdon_College) in [Montgomery](/source/Montgomery%2C_Alabama), and later attended [Northwestern](/source/Northwestern_University)'s School of Drama in Evanston, Illinois. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York in the 1930s.

===Acting career===
Benson's career began in New York in the 1930s. She appeared on Broadway in several plays including ''Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath''; ''[Walking Happy](/source/Walking_Happy)''; ''Hotel Paradiso''; ''Good Night, Ladies'';<ref>{{cite web|title=("Lucille Benson" search results)|url=http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&people=on&theatres=on&q=Lucille+Benson&qasset=00000150-ac83-d16d-a550-ecbf908e0005|website=Playbill Vault|publisher=Playbill|accessdate=14 June 2017|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20170614010837/http://www.playbill.com/searchpage/search?shows=on&people=on&theatres=on&q=Lucille+Benson&qasset=00000150-ac83-d16d-a550-ecbf908e0005|archivedate=14 June 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''[The Doughgirls](/source/The_Doughgirls_(play))''; ''[The Day Before Spring](/source/The_Day_Before_Spring)''; ''Happy Birthday''; ''As The Girls Go''; and ''[Period of Adjustment](/source/Period_of_Adjustment)''.{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} She performed at the [Coconut Grove Playhouse](/source/Coconut_Grove_Playhouse) in Miami, appearing in the [Tennessee Williams](/source/Tennessee_Williams) play ''[Orpheus Descending](/source/Orpheus_Descending)''.

Benson's break in motion pictures came while performing with [Donald O'Connor](/source/Donald_O'Connor) in the play ''Little Me'' during a three-month run in Las Vegas. She said "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come to Hollywood to try out for a [Paramount](/source/Paramount_Pictures) film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite [Robert Redford](/source/Robert_Redford) in ''[Little Fauss and Big Halsy](/source/Little_Fauss_and_Big_Halsy).''"{{Citation needed|date=June 2017}} <!-- She may be the actress seen reciting the Lord's Prayer in the train holdup scene of the ''[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid](/source/Butch_Cassidy_and_the_Sundance_Kid)'' (1969). {{Citation needed|date=   }} -->

Benson played a lady running a roadside "Snakerama" exhibit in [Steven Spielberg](/source/Steven_Spielberg)'s 1971 movie ''[Duel](/source/Duel_(1971_film))'', starring [Dennis Weaver](/source/Dennis_Weaver). She worked with Spielberg again in 1979, in ''[1941](/source/1941_(film)),'' as a gas station owner whom [John Belushi](/source/John_Belushi) orders to refuel his fighter plane.

Benson even had the rare opportunity of enjoying a leading role in a feature film when she was cast as Aunt Martha, the nefarious proprietor of the sleazy King Edward Hotel in [Paul Bartel](/source/Paul_Bartel)'s 1972 cult dark-comedy-horror-thriller ''[Private Parts](/source/Private_Parts_(1972_film))''.

In ''[Silver Streak](/source/Silver_Streak_(film))'' (1976), Benson portrayed rancher Rita Babtree, who comes to [Gene Wilder](/source/Gene_Wilder)'s rescue by ferrying him in her bi-plane to a small-town train station.  

Benson portrayed Birdie Huff in the crime drama ''[Nashville 99](/source/Nashville_99_(TV_series))'' (1977).{{r|etvs|page1=744}} She had a recurring role on the sitcom ''[The Ropers](/source/The_Ropers)'' as Helen's mother.{{r|etvs|page1=910}} Her big commercial break was ''[Bosom Buddies](/source/Bosom_Buddies)'',<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|pages=125–126|edition=2nd}}</ref> a situation comedy based on ''[Some Like It Hot](/source/Some_Like_It_Hot)''. During the show's first season (1980–1981), Benson played Lilly Sinclair, the manager of the female-only hotel where two young men ([Tom Hanks](/source/Tom_Hanks) and [Peter Scolari](/source/Peter_Scolari)) dress as women to take advantage of the inexpensive rent.

Benson played Mrs. Elrod in the 1981 [John Carpenter](/source/John_Carpenter) horror movie ''[Halloween II](/source/Halloween_II_(1981_film))''.

==Death==
Benson died on February 17, 1984, in a hospital in Scottsboro, Alabama,<ref>{{cite news|title=Versatile actress Lucille Benson dies at 69|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/74701951/?terms=%22Lucille%2BBenson%22%2Bactress|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=February 19, 1984|location=California, San Bernardino|page=3|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)|accessdate = June 13, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> aged 69, from [liver cancer](/source/Hepatocellular_carcinoma). She was cremated and her remains are buried under a modest bronze headstone, at Cedar Hill Cemetery, in her hometown of Scottsboro.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[The Fugitive Kind](/source/The_Fugitive_Kind)'' (1960) – Beulah Binnings
* ''[WUSA](/source/WUSA_(film))'' (1970) – Second Matron
* ''[Little Fauss and Big Halsy](/source/Little_Fauss_and_Big_Halsy)'' (1970) – 'Mom' Fauss
* ''Escape'' (1971) – Trudy
* ''[Duel](/source/Duel_(1971_film))'' (1971) – Lady at Snakerama (Filling Station Owner)
* ''Cactus in the Snow'' (1971) – Mrs. Sawyer
* ''[Women in Chains](/source/Women_in_Chains)'' (1972) – Billie
* ''Delphi Bureau'' (1972) – Mrs. Loveless
* ''[Slaughterhouse-Five](/source/Slaughterhouse-Five_(film))'' (1972) – Billy's Mother
* ''[Private Parts](/source/Private_Parts_(1972_film))'' (1972) – Aunt Martha
* ''[The Devil's Daughter](/source/The_Devil's_Daughter_(1973_film))'' (1972) – Janet Poole
* ''[Tom Sawyer](/source/Tom_Sawyer_(1973_film))'' (1973) – Widow Douglas
* ''[The Blue Knight](/source/The_Blue_Knight_(film))'' (1973) – Elmira Gooch
* ''[Mame](/source/Mame_(film))'' (1974) – Mother Burnside
* ''[Huckleberry Finn](/source/Huckleberry_Finn_(1974_film))'' (1974) – Widow Douglas
* ''[Reflections of Murder](/source/Reflections_of_Murder)'' (1974) – Mrs. Turner
* ''[Betrayal](/source/Betrayal_(1974_film))'' (1974) – Eunice Russell
* ''[Collision Course](/source/Collision_Course%3A_Truman_vs._MacArthur)'' (1976) – Bess Truman
* ''[Silver Streak](/source/Silver_Streak_(film))'' (1976) – Rita Babtree
* ''[The Greatest](/source/The_Greatest_(1977_film))'' (1977) – Mrs. Fairlie
* ''[Black Market Baby](/source/Black_Market_Baby_(film))'' (1977) – Mrs. Krieg
* ''Charleston'' (1979) – Miss Fay
* ''Ebony, Ivory and Jade'' (1979) – Mrs. Stone
* ''[Concrete Cowboys](/source/Concrete_Cowboys_(1979_film))'' (1979) – Peg, the Madam
* ''[1941](/source/1941_(film))'' (1979) – Gas Mama (Eloise)
* ''[Amy](/source/Amy_(1981_film))'' (1981) – Rose Metcalf
* ''[Halloween II](/source/Halloween_II_(1981_film))'' (1981) – Mrs. Elrod
* ''When Your Lover Leaves'' (1983) – Greta
* ''Moon Face'' (released after her death in 1984)
{{div col end}}

==Television appearances==
* ''[The New Andy Griffith Show](/source/The_New_Andy_Griffith_Show)'' (1971) – Mrs. Gaddis
* ''[Cannon](/source/Cannon_(TV_series))'' (1971) – Proprietress
* ''[Bonanza](/source/Bonanza)'' (1972) – Mrs. Melody
* ''[Mannix](/source/Mannix)'' (1972-1974) – Myra / Ida
* ''[Emergency!](/source/Emergency!)'' (1973-1976) – Annie / Martha
* ''The Day the Earth Moved'' (1974 TV movie) – Miss Virginia Porter 
* ''[Police Woman](/source/Police_Woman_(TV_series))'' (1976) – Aunt Benjamin
* ''[The Waltons](/source/The_Waltons)'' (1976) – Tilly Shanks
* ''[Petrocelli](/source/Petrocelli)'' (1974-1976) – Lucille Davis / Madge Briar / Lucille Field / Angie Crawford
* ''[Nashville 99](/source/Nashville_99)'' (1977) – Birdie Huff
* ''[The New Adventures of Wonder Woman](/source/Wonder_Woman_(TV_series))'' (1978) – Flo
* ''[Eight Is Enough](/source/Eight_Is_Enough)'' (1978)
* ''[How the West Was Won](/source/How_the_West_Was_Won_(TV_series))'' (1978-1979) – Miss Agnes / Miss Walker
* ''[Trapper John, M.D.](/source/Trapper_John%2C_M.D.)'' (1979) – Clarissa Mae Purcell
* ''[Little House on the Prairie](/source/Little_House_on_the_Prairie_(TV_series))'' (1979) – Miss Trimble
* ''[The Ropers](/source/The_Ropers)'' (1979-1980) – Mother
* ''[The Dukes of Hazzard](/source/The_Dukes_of_Hazzard)'' (1980) – Mama Coltrane
* ''[Bosom Buddies](/source/Bosom_Buddies)'' (1980-1981) – Lilly Sinclair
* ''[The Love Boat](/source/The_Love_Boat)'' (1981) – Doris
* ''[Simon & Simon](/source/Simon_%26_Simon)'' (1982) – Mrs. Dorothy Bartlett
* ''[The Wonderful World of Disney](/source/Walt_Disney_anthology_television_series)'' (1978-1982) – Mrs. Levelor / Grandma Hopkins
* ''[Bring 'Em Back Alive](/source/Bring_'Em_Back_Alive_(TV_series))'' (1982)
* ''[Alice](/source/Alice_(American_TV_series))'' (1982-1983) – Grace / Lucille

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{Find a Grave|10290964}}
*{{IMDb name|0072569}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Lucille}}
Category:1914 births
Category:1984 deaths
Category:People from Scottsboro, Alabama
Category:Actresses from Alabama
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Huntingdon College alumni
Category:Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Category:Deaths from liver cancer in Alabama
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actors from Jackson County, Alabama

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Lucille Benson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Benson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_Benson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.