Eleanor Audley was born Eleanor Zellman in Newark, New Jersey. Audley was a New York born actress who performed in eight Broadway plays between 1926 and 1944. She began using the last name Audley before 1940.
On radio, she appeared in several episodes of Lucille Ball’s “My Favorite Husband,” such as “The Mother-in-Law” (1949), “George is Messy” (1950), “Dinner for 12″ (1950), and “The Two Mothers-in-Law” (1951), in which she plays George’s mother, Letitia Cooper.
She specialized in snobbish society matron types, most notably as Eddie Albert’s high society mother on TV’s “Green Acres” (1965-69).
Audley's film roles began in 1949 with an uncredited role in The Story of Molly X starring June Havoc.
Her first television appearances was in the pilot of “The Mickey Rooney Show” in 1954.
She is probably best known, however, as the voice of two of Disney’s most memorable animated villainesses: Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella (1950); and the evil Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959). She served as the physical model for both characters.
Also for Disney, she provided the voice of Madame Leota, the disembodied head in the crystal ball of the Haunted Mansions, still heard in the theme parks today.
In 1956 she did a single appearance on “Our Miss Brooks” opposite Gale Gordon and Eve Arden, which was filmed by Desilu. She played an eccentric new headmistress named Mrs. Pryor.
Audley was first seen with Lucille Ball as Mrs. Spaulding, the first owner of the Ricardo’s Westport home in “Lucy Wants to Move to the Country” (ILL S6;E15). Her husband Gerald was played by Frank Wilcox.
Audley and Wilcox both appeared in the 1950 films Three Secrets and Gambling House as well as appearing together on a 1958 episode of “Jane Wyman’s Fireside Theatre” and a 1962 episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies,” in which Wilcox was a recurring character. After this episode they would again play husband and wife in a 1964 episode of "The Cara Williams Show” and again in two episodes of "Pete and Gladys” (1961 and 1962) - but not as the same couple!
Lucy changes her mind about moving to Connecticut and schemes to get their deposit back from the Spauldings by pretending to be undesirables. The plan backfires when the Spauldings defend themselves and Ricky suddenly shows up not knowing what is going on.
She returned to “I Love Lucy” to play one of the garden club judges in “Lucy Raises Tulips” (ILL S6;E26) in April 1957.
When Lucy accidentally runs over Ethel’s tulips with the lawn mower, she replaces them with wax ones. Little does she know, Ricky did the same thing to hers! The wax tulips melt in the hot summer sun, right in front of the judges (Audley and Peter Brocco).
After “I Love Lucy,” in 1959, she returned to Desilu for an episode of “The Real McCoys,” a Desilu production. That same year she also did two episodes of “The Ann Sothern Show” as Mrs. Thompson.
In March 1960, she did an episode of Desilu’s hit crime show “The Untouchables”. That same year she also did an episode of “The Danny Thomas Show,” filmed at Desilu.
For three out of her four appearances on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” from 1961 to 1963, she played Mrs. Billings. On those episodes, she appeared opposite “I Love Lucy” regulars Jerry Hausner and Shirley Mitchell. The show was filmed at Desilu Studios.
Audley appeared one last time with Lucille Ball in a “Lucy Saves Milton Berle” (TLS S4;E13) in 1965. She played a society reporter named Eleanor.
Audley died from respiratory failure on November 25, 1991. She was 86 years old.
