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Betsy Palmer

Betsy Palmer built the kind of career that refuses to fit neatly into one genre. Born Patricia Betsy Hrunek in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1926, she performed in school plays before attending business college and working as a railroad stenographer and secretary. The isolation of that job did not suit her. After an aptitude test pointed toward the arts, she studied at the Goodman School of Drama while working days and commuting to night classes. Palmer developed her craft in regional theatre, including stock productions with Paul Newman and Imogene Coca, before moving to New York with $400 in savings and a new professional name. Less than a week after arriving, she landed her first television role, joining the weekday soap opera Miss Susan in 1951. She went on to create the role of Virginia in Paddy Chayefsky’s original 1953 teleplay of Marty and became a familiar television presence as a Today reporter and a regular panelist on I’ve Got a Secret from 1958 until 1967. Her 1950s film work placed her alongside some formidable casts. She played Kitty Carter in The Long Gray Line, Ann Girard in Mister Roberts and Carol Lee Phillips in Queen Bee, all released in 1955. She later appeared with Anthony Perkins and Henry Fonda in The Tin Star and took the dual role of Phyllis Carter and Lynn Stuart in The True Story of Lynn Stuart. Theatre remained central to Palmer’s career. A life member of the Actors Studio, she appeared in seven Broadway shows, replaced Lauren Bacall in Cactus Flower and Ellen Burstyn in Same Time Next Year, and was chosen by Tennessee Williams to play Alma Winemiller in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale. For many moviegoers, however, Palmer’s defining screen turn was Mrs. Voorhees in Friday the 13th. She initially disliked the film and accepted the job partly to pay for a new car, but later embraced its place in her career. Further television roles in As the World Turns and Knots Landing, along with later horror and film appearances, completed a career that moved comfortably among stage, cinema, television and voice work.