MAXINE SEMON
April 8, 1909
Maxine Semon was born on April 8, 1909 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She made her screen debut in October 1944 in one of RKO’s Edgar Kennedy short films titled “Feather Your Nest”. In 1936, Lucille Ball had appeared in one of the shorts titled “Dummy Ache”.
In 1950 she made her television debut as Honeybee Gillis on four episodes of “The Life of Riley” starring Jackie Gleason. Two of them also featured Bobby Jellison (aka Bobby the Bellboy). Coincidentally, on radio the role was played by Shirley Mitchell aka Marion Strong) and when the series was re-booted in 1953 starring William Bendix, Honeybee was played by Gloria Blondell (aka Grace Foster).
In August 1955, she did an episode of the “I Love Lucy” summer replacement series Desilu’s “Those Whiting Girls.” Just prior to that she had done three episodes of “I Married Joan,” NBC’s answer to “I Love Lucy.”
On November 3, 1955, she played a nurse on “I Love Lucy” in “Nursery School” (ILL S5;E9) which aired on December 5, 1955.
She returned to the series six months later to film “Lucy and Bob Hope” (ILL S6;E10) on June 5, 1956. The episode aired on October 1, 1956. She played a baseball fan at Yankee Stadium sitting in the box next to Hope with Dick Elliott. Semon and Elliott both order hot dogs from Lucy with Hope as the go-between.
On a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” set in Las Vegas, Semon played a chambermaid at the Sands hotel.
“Lucy Hunts Uranium" (1958) also featured Bobby Jellison, with whom she made her TV debut on “Life of Riley” in 1950.
From 1962 to 1964 she played the recurring character of the heard-but-not-seen Mrs. Jillson on "The Joey Bishop Show" filmed at Desilu Studios. Her on-screen husband was played by Joe Besser. Semon appeared on camera as other characters in three of her thirteen episodes of the series.
Back on the Desilu Studios backlot in 1966, she played nosey neighbor Tillie Kinkaid (above left) in two episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
The following year she did a day on “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” on the Desilu backlot, playing a Marine Sergeant. “The Lucy Show” did a cross-over episode with “Gomer Pyle” in November 1966.
Her last time on the Desilu lot was to film an episode of “My Three Sons” in 1967. She had previously done an episode in 1964 opposite William Frawley.
Her final screen appearance was on a January 1973 episode of “Maude”. She played a confused patient in a doctor’s office and had no dialogue.
She died on October 18, 1985 at age 76 of undisclosed causes.
