
Barbara Pepper
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.
Acting (93 movies)

Manpower
1941

They Made Me a Criminal
1939

The Strange Case of Dr. Meade
1938

The Music Man
1962

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
1945

Inferno
1953

Who's Minding the Store?
1963

Show Boat
1936

The Rogues' Tavern
1936

Kiss Me, Stupid
1964

A Maid Made Mad
1943

Birth of the Blues
1941

A Child Is Waiting
1963

Flight at Midnight
1939

Framed
1940

Our Daily Bread
1934

Murder, He Says
1945

Girls in Chains
1943

Forty Naughty Girls
1937

The Singing Vagabond
1935

Waterfront Lady
1935

The Outcasts of Poker Flat
1937

Hollywood Stadium Mystery
1938

Army Girl
1938

The Sagebrush Troubadour
1935

What Becomes of the Children?
1936

The Girl Downstairs
1938

Taming the Wild
1936

Many Unhappy Returns
1937

The Crooked Way
1949

The Big Game
1936

Too Many Wives
1937

Sappy Pappy
1942

Wide Open Faces
1938

Wanted: Jane Turner
1936

Let 'em Have It
1935

The Lady in the Morgue
1938

The D.I.
1957

M'Liss
1936

One Thrilling Night
1942

The Fuller Brush Girl
1950

The Big Shot
1937

You Can't Buy Luck
1937

The Amazing Mr. Williams
1939

So This Is Washington
1943

Aerial Gunner
1943

South of Tahiti
1941

Mummy's Boys
1936

Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid
1944

A Star Is Born
1954

Castle on the Hudson
1940

Three Sons o' Guns
1941

Bachelor Mother
1939

The Women
1939

Of Mice and Men
1939

Portia on Trial
1937

Dark Meeting
1956

Winterset
1936

The Lady Eve
1941

The Snake Pit
1948

Unmasked
1950

Foreign Correspondent
1940

Forced Landing
1935

The Westland Case
1937

Trouble Chasers
1945

The Return of Frank James
1940

The Bramble Bush
1960

Auntie Mame
1958

Terror Trail
1946

Let's Face It
1943

Three Sons
1939

Roman Scandals
1933

Ghost Buster
1952

Music for Madame
1937

My Favorite Spy
1942

My Blue Heaven
1950

So This Is Love
1953

The Eddie Cantor Story
1953

Colorado Sunset
1939

Frisco Waterfront
1935

Off the Record
1939

Once Upon a Time
1944

Sailor's Lady
1940

Sex Kittens Go to College
1960

The Inspector General
1949

The Chaser
1938

No Way Out
1950

The Naughty Nineties
1945

Forgotten Girls
1940

Strictly Dynamite
1934

Out of the Fog
1941

It's Only Money
1962

After the Thin Man
1936
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