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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
May 31, 1915
Died
July 18, 1969
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Barbara Pepper
0.5 Popularity
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Barbara Pepper (born Marion B. Pepper; May 31, 1915 – July 18, 1969) was an American stage, television, radio, and film actress. She is best known as the first "Doris Ziffel" on the sitcom Green Acres. Pepper was born in New York City, the daughter of actor David Mitchell "Dave" Pepper, and his wife, Harrietta S. Pepper. At age 16 she started life in show business with Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company where she met lifelong friend Lucille Ball. Pepper began making movies. Among her later film parts were small roles in My Fair Lady and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. She also performed radio parts. In 1943, she married actor Craig Reynolds (né Harold Hugh Enfield), and the couple later had two sons. After Reynolds died in 1949 in a California motorcycle accident, Pepper was left to raise their children alone. She never remarried. After gaining weight, her roles were mostly confined to small character parts on television, including several appearances on I Love Lucy, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Petticoat Junction, and The Jack Benny Program. She made four appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Martha Dale, mother of the title character, in the 1957 episode "The Case of the Vagabond Vixen". A long-time friend of Lucille Ball, Barbara was considered for the role of Ethel Mertz on "I Love Lucy," but was passed over due to the fact that she was reportedly a drinker. William Frawley ("Fred Mertz") was, likewise, reportedly, a drinker and was already cast. It was felt that having two drinkers in the cast might eventually cause difficulties so they auditioned and found Vivian Vance to play Ethel instead. She may be best remembered as the first Doris Ziffel on Petticoat Junction in 1964, although her character's name on the "Genghis Keane" episode of Petticoat Junction was Ruth Ziffel. Her role as Doris Ziffel continued on Green Acres from 1965 to 1968, until heart ailments finally forced her to leave that weekly series. Veteran actress Fran Ryan replaced her on Green Acres, which would continue to run for another three years. Her final performance was in the 1969 film Hook, Line & Sinker, in which she played Jerry Lewis's secretary.
Known For
5.7
Emma
Mayberry R.F.D.
1968
6.3
Laredo
1965
7.3
Doris Ziffel
Green Acres
1965
7.0
Big Bertha
Kiss Me, Stupid
1964
6.9
Mrs. Shanks
Daniel Boone
1964
6.9
Customer at Bargain Sale (uncredited)
Who's Minding the Store?
1963
5.8
Ruth Ziffel
Petticoat Junction
1963
5.8
Doris Ziffel
Petticoat Junction
1963
6.0
Cleaning Woman
Burke's Law
1963
7.2
Matty
The Fugitive
1963
Credits
Mayberry R.F.D.
as Emma
1968
5.7
Laredo
1965
6.3
Green Acres
as Doris Ziffel
1965
7.3
Kiss Me, Stupid
as Big Bertha
1964
7.0
Daniel Boone
as Mrs. Shanks
1964
6.9
Who's Minding the Store?
as Customer at Bargain Sale (uncredited)
1963
6.9
Petticoat Junction
as Ruth Ziffel
1963
5.8
Petticoat Junction
as Doris Ziffel
1963
5.8
Burke's Law
as Cleaning Woman
1963
6.0
The Fugitive
as Matty
1963
7.2
🎬
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
5.0
A Child Is Waiting
as Miss Brown (uncredited)
1963
6.8
It's Only Money
as Fisherwoman
1962
6.1
The Music Man
as Mrs. Hawkes
1962
7.1
Mister Ed
1961
6.8
My Three Sons
1960
6.5
Sex Kittens Go to College
as Circe
1960
3.2
The Bramble Bush
as Polly Welk
1960
5.5
Auntie Mame
as Mrs. Krantz (uncredited)
1958
7.0
The Texan
1958
5.5
Shirley Temple's Storybook
as First Choir Lady
1958
6.2
The Walter Winchell File
1957
5.0
Perry Mason
as Martha Dale
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Mrs. Diamond
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Mrs. Dwyer - Fat Woman
1957
7.7
Perry Mason
as Mrs. Williamson
1957
7.7
M Squad
as Landlady
1957
5.2
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
7.4
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Mrs. Brody
1957
6.2
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
as Clara Chase
1957
6.2
The D.I.
as Woman Customer
1957
7.1
Tales of Wells Fargo
as Boxcar Annie
1957
6.3
Dark Meeting
as Clara
1956
0.0
The Millionaire
as Fat Woman
1955
5.0
Father Knows Best
as Shopper
1954
6.5
A Star Is Born
as Esther's Neighbor (uncredited)
1954
7.1
The Eddie Cantor Story
as Beer Garden Patron
1953
5.0
Inferno
as Waitress (uncredited)
1953
6.2
So This Is Love
as Fat Girl with Sailor in Nightclub (uncredited)
1953
4.5
🎬
Four Star Playhouse
as Clara
1952
6.3
Ghost Buster
as Mrs. Nolan
1952
6.0
I Love Lucy
as Nurse
1951
7.9
I Love Lucy
as Woman On Bus
1951
7.9
I Love Lucy
as Neighbor
1951
7.9
I Love Lucy
as Woman Shopper
1951
7.9
I Love Lucy
as Showgirl #2
1951
7.9
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
as Miss Buell
1951
7.3
The Fuller Brush Girl
as Wife Watching TV (uncredited)
1950
6.0
My Blue Heaven
as Susan (uncredited)
1950
7.0
No Way Out
as Woman (uncredited)
1950
6.9
Unmasked
as Mrs. Schmidt
1950
5.2
The Inspector General
as Buxom Villager (uncredited)
1949
6.5
The Crooked Way
1949
6.2
Studio One
as Ellie
1948
5.0
The Snake Pit
as Asylum Patient (uncredited)
1948
7.1
Terror Trail
as Karen Kemp, the Louisville Lady
1946
0.0
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
as Annie
1945
6.3
Murder, He Says
as Bonnie Fleagle
1945
6.6
The Naughty Nineties
as Gilded Cage Hostess (uncredited)
1945
6.8
Trouble Chasers
as Goldie
1945
0.0
Once Upon a Time
as Cabbie (uncredited)
1944
5.8
Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
as Miss LaRue ("Wild Rose")
1944
0.0
Let's Face It
as Daisy (uncredited)
1943
4.5
So This Is Washington
as Betty - Taxi Driver (uncredited)
1943
5.0
Girls in Chains
as Barbara Pepper
1943
4.7
🎬
Blonde and Groom
as Rex's Fiancée
1943
0.0
Aerial Gunner
as Blonde at Shooting Gallery (uncredited)
1943
4.4
A Maid Made Mad
as Blonde
1943
0.0
Sappy Pappy
as Female Customer
1942
0.0
🎬
Carry Harry
as Edith, Harry's Girl Friend
1942
0.0
My Favorite Spy
as Speedy
1942
5.2
One Thrilling Night
as Lettie
1942
5.2
Birth of the Blues
as Maizie
1941
5.5
South of Tahiti
as Julie
1941
6.0
Manpower
as Polly
1941
6.7
Three Sons o' Guns
as Francie LaRue
1941
5.0
Out of the Fog
1941
6.4
The Lady Eve
as Lady Wrestler Type on Ship (uncredited)
1941
7.2
Foreign Correspondent
as Dorine
1940
7.0
The Return of Frank James
as Nellie Blane
1940
6.3
Sailor's Lady
as Maude
1940
4.0
Forgotten Girls
as Eve Abbott
1940
5.0
Framed
as Goldie Green
1940
5.8
Castle on the Hudson
as Goldie
1940
6.8
Of Mice and Men
as Second Girl (uncredited)
1939
7.3
The Amazing Mr. Williams
as Muriel - Wedding Guest (uncredited)
1939
5.8
Three Sons
as Viola
1939
3.2
The Women
as Tough Girl (uncredited)
1939
7.1
Flight at Midnight
as Mildred
1939
4.5
Colorado Sunset
as Ginger Bixby
1939
0.0
Bachelor Mother
as Dance-Hall Hostess (uncredited)
1939
7.1
They Made Me a Criminal
as Budgie Massey
1939
6.1
Off the Record
as Flossie - Telephone Operator (uncredited)
1939
6.0
The Girl Downstairs
as Woman at bar (uncredited)
1938
4.5
The Strange Case of Dr. Meade
as Mattie
1938
5.0
Army Girl
as Riki
1938
6.0
The Chaser
as Mabel, Drunken Girl
1938
6.0
The Lady in the Morgue
as Kay Renshaw
1938
6.3
Wide Open Faces
as Belle
1938
8.5
Hollywood Stadium Mystery
as Althea Ames
1938
5.7
Portia on Trial
as Evelyn
1937
5.4
The Westland Case
as Agatha Hogan
1937
6.0
Many Unhappy Returns
as Sophie - Cigar Store Counter Girl
1937
0.0
Music for Madame
as Blonde on Bus (Uncredited)
1937
5.0
Forty Naughty Girls
as Alice
1937
5.2
The Big Shot
as Mamie
1937
5.0
You Can't Buy Luck
as Store Clerk
1937
4.5
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
as Blonde Saloon Lady (uncredited)
1937
6.0
Too Many Wives
as Angela Brown
1937
6.7
Wanted: Jane Turner
as Marge Sanders
1936
5.3
What Becomes of the Children?
as Elsie Ford
1936
5.0
Winterset
as Girl
1936
5.7
The Big Game
as Lois
1936
5.8
Mummy's Boys
as Mary Browning
1936
4.7
M'Liss
as Clytie Morpher
1936
5.0
The Rogues' Tavern
as Marjorie Burns
1936
5.8
Show Boat
1936
6.7
Taming the Wild
as Hazel White
1936
5.5
The Singing Vagabond
as Honey
1935
7.0
Frisco Waterfront
as The Blonde Stranger
1935
0.0
The Sagebrush Troubadour
as Joan Martin
1935
5.5
Forced Landing
as Nancy 'Dusty' Rhodes
1935
0.0
Waterfront Lady
as Gloria Vance
1935
4.0
Let 'em Have It
as Milly Adams
1935
7.0
Our Daily Bread
as Sally
1934
6.8
Strictly Dynamite
as Party Girl (uncredited)
1934
5.3
Roman Scandals
as Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
1933
6.0