Penny Singleton
Penny Singleton (
September 15,
1908 –
November 12,
2003) was a
Hollywood actress best known for her role in the series of motion pictures and subsequent
radio comedy based on the comic strip
Blondie.
Born
Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and known as
Dorothy McNulty, she was the daughter of an Irish-American newspaperman, Benny McNulty. She began her show business career as a child by singing at a silent movie theater, and toured in
vaudeville as part of an act called
The Kiddie Kabaret. She sang and danced with
Milton Berle (whom she had known since childhood) and actor Gene Raymond, and appeared on
Broadway in
Jack Benny's
Great Temptations.
She married a dentist, Lawrence Singleton, in 1937, and moved to Hollywood, where she later became billed as Penny Singleton. They had one child, a daughter, and divorced in 1939. She married Robert Sparks in 1941. They had one child, a daughter. Sparks died on
July 22,
1963.
She appeared as a nightclub dancer in
After the Thin Man (still credited under her real name). She was cast opposite
Arthur Lake (as
Dagwood) in the feature film
Blondie in
1938, based on the
comic strip by
Chic Young. They repeated their roles on a
radio comedy beginning in
1939, and in guest appearances on other radio shows. As Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead, they proved so popular that a succession of 27 sequels were made from 1938 until
1950 (the radio show ended the same year). Husband Robert Sparks produced a number of these sequels. Singleton dyed her brunette hair blonde for the rest of her life.
She was active in union affairs and was the first woman president of an
AFL-CIO union. She led a strike by the
Radio City Rockettes.
She became familiar to
television audiences as the voice of
Jane Jetson in the
animated series The Jetsons, which originally aired from
1962 until
1963, reprising the role for a
syndicated revival which (from
1985 through
1988) and assorted specials, records, and
Jetsons: The Movie. She also toured in nightclubs and roadshows of plays and musicals.
Singleton died in
Sherman Oaks, California following a
stroke at the age of 95, and was interred in
San Fernando Mission Cemetery in
Los Angeles, California.
Good News - 1930
Love in the Rough - 1930
After the Thin Man - 1936
Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 - 1937
Sea Racketeers - 1937
Swing Your Lady - 1938
Outside of Paradise - 1938
Racket Busters - 1938
Men Are Such Fools - 1938
Mr. Chump - 1938
Boy Meets Girl - 1938
Secrets of an Actress - 1938
Campus Cinderella - 1938
Garden of the Moon - 1938
Mad Miss Manton, The - 1938
Hard to Get - 1938
Blondie - 1938 - her first appearance on film as Blondie Bumstead
Blondie Meets the Boss - 1939
Blondie Takes a Vacation - 1939
Blondie Brings Up Baby - 1939
Blondie on a Budget - 1940
Blondie Has Servant Trouble - 1940
Blondie Plays Cupid - 1940
Blondie Goes Latin - 1941
Blondie in Society - 1941
Go West, Young Lady - 1941 (a non-Blondie film)
Blondie Goes to College - 1942
Blondie's Blessed Event - 1942
Blondie for Victory - 1942
It's a Great Life - 1943
Footlight Glamour - 1943
Leave It to Blondie - 1945
Young Widow - 1946 (a non-Blondie film)
Life with Blondie - 1946
Blondie's Lucky Day - 1946
Blondie Knows Best - 1946
Blondie's Big Moment - 1947
Blondie's Holiday - 1947
Blondie in the Dough - 1947
Blondie's Anniversary - 1947
Blondie's Reward - 1948
Blondie's Secret - 1948
Blondie's Big Deal - 1949
Blondie Hits the Jackpot - 1949
Blondie's Hero - 1950
Beware of Blondie - 1950
Jetsons: The Movie - 1990
*
Blondie: The Movie Series
