Alabama actress portrayed a beloved TV mom - AL.com

Jean Byron, a classic, dark-haired beauty, was known for starring in B movies and numerous television shows when she landed the role of one of America’s favorite and most wholesome moms. The actress who lived out her retirement in Mobile, Ala., portrayed Natalie Lane, the mother on the popular “Patty Duke Show,” for 119 episodes from 1963-1966.

According to her IMDb entry, Byron had 94 film and TV credits in a career that lasted from 1952 to 1999. Early film credits included 1952’s “Voodoo Tiger,” 1953’s “Magnetic Monster” and 1955’s “Jungle Moon Men.” But it was in television roles that she excelled. For a time, she was a “Lux Girl,” the spokesperson for Luxe Soap. She also played the teacher on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.”

Early life

Byron was born Imogene Audette Burkhart on Dec. 10, 1925, in Paducah, Kentucky but her family moved to Louisville when she was very young and then to Los Angeles when she was 19.

In the 2000 book, “Screen Sirens Scream,” authors Paul Parla and Charles P. Mitchell wrote: “She was noted for her professional poise and demeanor.”

Initially, she planned to be a dancer but quickly realized being in the chorus was a hard life. She sang with some nightclub acts before landing the role of Phyllis Bruce in “Voodoo Tiger.” The film was part of the Jungle Jim series that also starred Johnny Weissmuller, an Olympic swimmer known for his portrayals of Tarzan.

“The picture was simply hysterical,” Byron told Parla and Mitchell. Not only did she carry a seven-year-old chimp on her hip for much of the movie but the plot involved art-stealing Nazis, treasure-hunting gangsters and headhunters.

Posters for two Jean Byron films from the 1950s. (Wikimedia Commons | Fair Use)

TV roles

In addition to “The Patty Duke Show” and “The Many Loves of Dbie Gillis,” Byron’s most notable television roles included Minnie in “Mayor of the Town” (1954), Anita Nose in “Pat Paulsen’s Half a Comedy Hour” (1970) and one-off parts on such shows as “Our Miss Brooks,” “Mike Hammer,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “Here’s Lucy,” “Columbo” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” See a full list of credits here.

In the 1950s and 1960s, some shows were live and had live commercials. Byron recalled in the book “Screen Sirens Scream” the day she had to go on the air without the bottom half of her dress, which had caught fire.

“I almost died doing one show,” she recalled. “It was a quiz show called Can-Do from CBS in New York and the host was Robert Alda. It was a live show for Revlon and opening night was Nov. 26, 1956. Just before airtime, my gown exploded. It was an expensive gown that was imported and not flame retardant. It was a strapless beaded gown with a tight crepe skirt under a larger tulle skirt that went down to the floor.” Somehow, as she went to do her live shot, she passed a table where a cigarette was set in an ashtray, her gown “exploded” in flames, she said. Bryon recalled the staff ripping off the blackened tulle skirt and then she walked to her spot. The camera operator was quick enough to realize he could only do a head-and-shoulders shot, she said.

“I am a very, very lucky lady,” she said of the event, “because I also had long hair."

Byron retired from acting in the 1980s and moved to Mobile, Ala., although she did appear in a Patty Duke Show reunion in 1999. Byron’s mother, Annie Bastin Burkhart was living in Mobile at the time. Byron, who had been married only briefly and had no children, died in 2006 at age 80. She is buried near her mother in Mobile Memorial Gardens Cemetery.

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Alabama actress portrayed a beloved TV mom - AL.com
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