Irene Tedrow

Irene Tedrow (August 3, 1907 – March 10, 1995) was an American character actress in stage, film, television and radio. Tedrow is also the mother of actress Enid Kent.

Career

She was born in Denver, Colorado. She earned a BA degree in drama from Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1929. Tedrow was a founding member of San Diego's Old Globe Theater and was cast as an ingénue in the beginning of her career. As she grew older, she found more work in films as the meddling old woman. However, she did have an intermittently recurring role as Mrs. Elkins on the Dennis the Menace television sitcom in the 1950s where her character was a dignified, yet domineering woman, who was a nemesis to the pompousness of George Wilson, played by Joseph Kearns. Being a character actor she was never given substantial roles, despite having appeared in many shows, including The Twilight Zone, Dundee and the Culhane, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Diff'rent Strokes and Facts of Life.

During the late 1940s, she was the voice of Dorothy Regent in the radio series Chandu the Magician. Theater offered a better outlet and Tedrow appeared on Broadway even through her eighties, in such productions as Our Town and Pygmalion. In 1955, she appeared on The Jack Benny Program as a contestant with Jack Benny on a mock You Bet Your Life segment with Groucho Marx. In the early 1960s she made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Amy Douglas in "The Case of the Ominous Outcast," and an appearance in Bonanza in "Abner Willoughby's Return."

Death

On March 10, 1995, Tedrow died of a stroke in Hollywood. Her grave is located at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Selected Radiography

Selected filmography

Award nominations

External links

• Irene Tedrow at the Internet Movie Database
• Irene Tedrow at Find a Grave
• Irene Tedrow at the Internet Broadway Database