Betty Lou Gerson Collection

Betty Lou Gerson
(1914 – 1999)

If you were a devotee of radio dramas at any time during the 1930's, 40's, or 50's, you probably spent a great deal of time listening to the acting stylings of Ms. Gerson.

She played the title role in Arnold Grimm's Daughter, taking over for Luise Barclay, joining a cast of Don Merrifield, Robert Ellis, and Jeanne Dixon.  From there it was The Guiding Light, on which she played Charlotte Wilson Brandon.  This series was inspired by the comfort its creator, Irna Phillips, found in sermons pertaining to the brotherhood of man, and centered around the Reverend John Ruthledge.  Charlotte was one of the peripheral characters.

But Gerson's career was just getting started.  From there, she'd become a radio mainstay on such programs as Lux Radio Theatre, The Whistler, Mr. President, and Escape.

One of her Lux Radio Theater appearances was as Glinda the Good Witch on an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.   This shows her versatility: she is actually best known for her part as the villain Cruella De Vil in the 1961 smash One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  In fact, a whole generation of folks grew up familiar with her voice work, if not knowing anything about the woman behind the animated characters.  She played the narrator in 1950's Cinderella, Old Crone in 1964's Mary Poppins and Frances in the 1997 movie Cats Don't Dance.  

In Gerson we have the consummate professional, a skilled crafts woman much sought after for the drama she could evince on the air.