- Doris Packer
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Doris Packer Born Doris Edwards
May 30, 1904
Menominee, Michigan, USADied March 31, 1979 (aged 74)
Glendale, California, USASpouse Rowland G. Edwards (1928-1953) Doris Packer (May 30, 1904 – March 31, 1979) was an American actress, possibly best known as Mrs. Cornelia Rayburn, Theodore Cleaver's principal in Leave It to Beaver.
She also portrayed the mother of millionaire playboy Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. (Steven Franken), on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Prior to playing Chatsworth's mother, she played Clarice Armitage, mother of Milton Armitage (Warren Beatty), whose character Chatsworth replaced.
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Background
Packer was born in Menominee in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Her family moved to southern California when she was quite young. She became interested in acting while in high school. After attending the University of California at Los Angeles, she moved to New York City to study under noted drama teacher Evelyn Thomas. Packer appeared in many Broadway shows.[citation needed]
In 1954, she appeared as Florence on an episode ("Sixteen Vertical") of Rod Cameron's crime drama series, City Detective. In 1955-1956, Packer appeared three times as a nurse in the NBC sitcom It's a Great Life, featuring Frances Bavier. In 1958, she guest-starred in 1958 on Rod Cameron's subsequent syndicated series, State Trooper, in "The Last Stage Robbery" episode. She played wealthy society matrons on The Burns and Allen Show and I Love Lucy. She had a recurring role as Clara Mason in the 1960-1961 NBC trivial sitcom Happy, set at a Palm Springs motel and featuring a talking baby. Her co-stars included Ronnie Burns and Lloyd Corrigan. She also appeared as the wealthy Mrs Huntingdon in a 1963 episode ["I'm No Henry Walden!) of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Packer appeared on NBC's anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show. In 1964–65, Packer appeared on the short-lived CBS sitcom, Many Happy Returns, starring John McGiver and set in the complaint division of a fictitious Los Angeles department store called Crockmyer's.
Family
Packer was married to stage director Rowland G. Edwards for twenty-five years — from 1928 until his death in 1953; they had no children.[citation needed]
Death
She died at the age of seventy-four in 1979 in Glendale, California, from natural causes.
External links
Categories:- 1904 births
- 1979 deaths
- People from Menominee, Michigan
- American film actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
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