Helen Kleeb

Born in 1907, the former radio performer and veteran actress Helen Kleeb began her onscreen career with mostly uncredited roles in films such as "Witness to Murder" and "Magnificent Obsession" before making her television debut on the seminal cop drama "Dragnet." In 1955, Kleeb guested as a Hollywood agent's secretary on an episode of "I Love Lucy," kicking off a career rife with (usually) comedic portrayals of receptionists, housewives, and town gossips in films and on TV series such as "Mister Ed," "The Munsters," "Dennis the Menace," "The Beverly Hillbillies," and "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte." While the actress showcased an even broader variety of comic talents on the long-running sketch series "The Red Skelton Hour," she carved out a second niche appearing on Westerns such as "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," and "The Virginian." It was this old-fashioned persona that helped garner Kleeb the recurring role of Miss Mamie Baldwin on the Depression-era family drama "The Waltons." Beyond the original 1972-1981 series, the actress portrayed the elderly moonshine manufacturer in a subsequent five TV movies (and appeared in such similar fare as "Little House on the Prairie"). Kleeb died in 2003.