Elvia Allman

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Elvia Allman (September 19 1904 - March 6 1992) was a character actress and voice over performer in Hollywood films and television programs for over 50 years. She is best-known for her semi-regular roles on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction and for being the voice of Walt Disney's Clarabelle Cow.

Allman's first known credit as a voice performer for cartoons was in 1936 with the Porky Pig cartoon Porky's Moving Day. She may have originated the character of Clarabelle Cow prior to this, but there are no records indicating which specific cartoons she voiced Clarabelle in (Clarabelle Cow was featured in 28 Disney cartoons from 1928 to 1942). In 1937 Allman voiced the title role in the cartoon "Little Red Walking Hood", a spoof of Little Red Riding Hood.

Allman made her film debut as an actress in 1940's Road to Singapore in an unbilled bit as a homely woman pursuing Bob Hope. The role was an unbilled bit like the majority of Allman's motion picture appearances in the 1940's. She worked most successfully during this period as a radio comedienne playing assorted guest parts, typically as a shrewish woman. One of her more steady radio gigs was on the Blondie radio series in the part of Cora Dithers, the domineering wife of Dagwood Bumstead's boss, J. C. Dithers.

Allman became a familiar face to television viewers in the 1950's with numerous guest appearances on many programs of the era, usually situation comedies. She made multiple appearances on I Married Joan, December Bride, Love That Bob, and The Abbott and Costello Show and most notably, three appearances on I Love Lucy including a featured part in the classic Job Switching episode as an aggressive foreman who makes Lucy and Ethel's stint on the candy conveyer belt difficult. The clip in which Ball and Vance can't keep up with the belt is invariably played at tributes to Ball. It is Allman who yells, "Speed'er up a little!"

In 1957, she reprised her role of Cora Dithers in a short-lived TV adaption of Blondie. She also appeared on seven episodes of the series The Jack Benny Show, having worked often with Benny on his radio program in the 1940's and 1950's.

Her visibility on television increased in the 1960's with guest shots on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Hazel, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Bewitched, The Lucy Show (Allman worked with Lucille Ball seven times on her various television programs), and The Doris Day Show. Allman's greatest fame came with her semi-regular roles on Petticoat Junction, a local busy body Selma Plott (14 appearances, 1963-1970) and a near-duplicate character, Elverna Bradshaw on The Beverly Hillbillies (13 appearances, one in 1963, the rest 1968-1970). The 1960's proved to be her most prolific era with 58 appearances on various television series as well as five motion pictures including Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Nutty Professor.

Allman's career slowed down considerably after 1972 and her only television work in the late 1970's was in an Addams Family tv movie. Her career revived a bit in the 1980's with eleven TV gigs including two appearances on Murder She Wrote. Allman's final work appropiately brought her full circle, reviving the voice of Clarabelle the Cow for the first time in over 50 years in the Mickey Mouse cartoon feature version of The Prince and the Pauper in 1990.

[edit] Trivia

Elvia Allman worked as a real estate agent in addition to her acting in the 1970's and 1980's. Mary Tyler Moore in her autobiography credits her with finding her house.

[edit] External Link

• Elvia Allman at Find-A-Grave