Barbara Pepper

Barbara Pepper was an actress with a prolific career in film and television that spanned the early 1930s to the late 1960s, primarily in supporting roles. Early in her career, she joined the stock female dance company the Goldwyn Girls, where she first met and worked with legendary comedian Lucille Ball. The two became lifelong friends. The first phase of Pepper's career included more than 20 years in well over 100 film roles, many of them secondary or uncredited, however. One early exception was the mystery-romance "The Rogues Tavern" in 1936, where she had a main part as Marjorie Burns. That same year, she had another significant part in the romantic comedy, "Mummy's Boys," but as with most if not all of her film roles, it lacked complexity, and failed to put her in Hollywood's limelight. The second phase of Pepper's career essentially began in 1952, when she teamed up with Lucille Ball on the comedy classic "I Love Lucy," appearing on eight episodes over four seasons. In 1954, Pepper began appearing on one of the other legendary comedies of the era, "The Jack Benny Program," a seven-episode run that lasted until 1962. In 1965, at 50, Pepper landed her most active TV part, as Doris Ziffel on the family comedy "Green Acres," about the New York City couple who adjust to a new life on the farm. Pepper appeared on 29 episodes, from 1965 to '68. She died from a coronary thrombosis at the age of 54.