Lucille Benson was a plump, distinctive, and marvelously quirky
character actress with a heavy down-home Southern accent who portrayed
an offbeat and enjoyable array of colorful supporting dotty old lady
roles in both films and TV shows alike. Benson was born on July 17,
1914 in Scottsboro, Alabama. She was adopted and raised by her aunt
after her mother died of tuberculosis. Lucille graduated from Jackson
County High School, where she was valedictorian and president of her
class. Benson attended both Huntingdon College in Montgomery and
Northwestern's School of Drama in Evanston, Illinois. She worked
briefly as a teacher prior to moving to New York to pursue an acting
career in the 1930's. Lucille appeared in the Broadway plays "The
Doughgirls," "The Day Before Spring," "Happy Birthday," "As the Girls
Go," "Hotel Paradiso," "Period of Adjustment," and "Walking Happy."
Benson acted in the Tennessee Williams play "Orpheus Descending" at the
Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida and co-starred alongside
Donald O'Connor in a three month Las Vegas stage production of "Little
Me." She made her film debut in the 1959 feature Der Mann in der Schlangenhaut (1960).
Lucille was memorably funny and spirited as the flaky lady at the
Snakerama in Steven Spielberg's terrific made-for-TV thriller classic
Duell (1971) She later parodied this particular part in the hilariously
raucous 1941 - Wo bitte geht's nach Hollywood (1979). Benson gave a splendidly creepy and delightful
performance as wacky fleabag hotel owner Aunt Martha in Paul Bartel's
deliciously perverse horror exploitation oddity Endstation Horror (1972). Other
noteworthy film roles include tough lifer prison inmate Billie in
Terror in Block C (1972), Billy Pilgrim's mother in Schlachthof 5 (1972), the
eccentric Janet Poole in The Devil's Daughter (1973), stern, but friendly
whorehouse madam Peg in Die Supertypen (1979), and the doddery Ms.
Elrod in Halloween 2 - Das Grauen kehrt zurück (1981). Lucille had a recurring role as hotel manager
Lilly Sinclair in the sitcom Bosom Buddies (1980). Among the TV shows Benson
made guest appearances on are Imbiß mit Biß (1976), Simon und Simon (1981), Love Boat (1977), Ein Duke kommt selten allein (1979), Unsere kleine Farm (1974), Eight Is Enough (1977), Die Waltons (1972), Wonder Woman (1975), Cannon (1971), and Bonanza (1959). She
also acted in TV commercials. Lucille Benson died at age 69 from liver
cancer on February 17, 1984.
